Press Conference on Hebei “Four Regulations” governing Administration According to Law. Photo by Liu Xiang.

The Hebei provincial government announced passage of four new regulations on government responsibilities, including the “Assessment Methods of Hebei Province on Performance of Government Duties According to Law”, which became effective as of Feb 1. The new regulations were announced at a news conference on March 2.

Zhang Guojun, director of the Hebei provincial legal affairs office, said at the news conference that the four regulations will offer a systematic guarantee for the implementation of administrative activities ranging from decision making to supervision. The “Regulation of Hebei Province on the Formulation of Normative Documents” focuses on normalizing the government decision-making activities, which is conducive to handling illegal activities or improper problems existing in normative documents.

The regulation entitled “Guiding Opinions of Hebei Provincial Government on Setting Standard Systems on Administrative Discretionary Power” emphasizes standardizing specific administrative activities. The regulation is designed to refine and quantify administrative discretionary power, reduce the discretionary space of the law enforcement personnel, avoid improper law enforcement discretion and unfair verdicts. The regulation also will end the different ways of dealing with the same case and inappropriately severe punishment, as well as increase justice and public trust in administrative law enforcement. The new regulation called “Methods of Hebei Province on Investigating the Responsibility for Faults in Performing Government Duties” stresses efforts to strengthen the supervision of administrative law enforcement activities.

The regulation entitled “Assessment Methods of Hebei Province on Performance of Government Duties According to Law” was enacted to enhance the assessment and evaluation of administrative law enforcement activities.