Regulations on the Filing and Review of Local Regulations and Government Rules
Article 1
These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China for the purposes of regulating the work of filing and reviewing local regulations and government rules, improving the capacity and quality of filing and review, strengthening supervision over local regulations and government rules, and safeguarding the unity of the socialist legal system.
Article 2
For the purposes of these Regulations, the term local regulations refers to:
Local regulations formulated by the people's congresses and their standing committees of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures in accordance with statutory authority and procedures;
Special economic zone regulations formulated by the people's congresses and their standing committees of the provinces and cities where special economic zones are located in accordance with statutory authority and procedures;
Pudong New Area regulations formulated by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress in accordance with statutory authority and procedures;
Hainan Free Trade Port regulations formulated by the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial People's Congress in accordance with statutory authority and procedures;
Autonomous regulations and separate regulations formulated by the people's congresses of autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties in accordance with statutory authority and procedures.
For the purposes of these Regulations, the term government rules includes departmental rules and local government rules.
Departmental rules refer to the rules formulated by the ministries, commissions, the People's Bank of China, the National Audit Office, the directly affiliated institutions of the State Council with administrative management functions, and other institutions prescribed by law (hereinafter collectively referred to as State Council departments) within their respective functions and powers in accordance with the Regulations on the Procedures for Formulating Government Rules, based on laws, administrative regulations, decisions and orders of the State Council.
Local government rules refer to the rules formulated by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures in accordance with the Regulations on the Procedures for Formulating Government Rules, based on laws, administrative regulations, and local regulations of their respective provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government.
Article 3
The work of filing and reviewing local regulations and government rules shall adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, uphold the people-centered approach, and implement the principles of filing all required documents, reviewing all filed documents, and correcting all identified errors, and shall be carried out in accordance with statutory authority and procedures.
Article 4
After local regulations and government rules are promulgated, they shall be submitted for filing in accordance with the following provisions within 30 days from the date of promulgation:
Local regulations, as well as autonomous regulations and separate regulations of autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties, shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the standing committees of the people's congresses of the respective provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
Departmental rules shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the respective State Council departments; for rules jointly formulated by two or more departments, the leading department shall submit them to the State Council for filing;
Government rules of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the respective people's governments;
Government rules of the people's governments of cities divided into districts and autonomous prefectures shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the respective people's governments, and shall also be submitted to the people's governments of the respective provinces or autonomous regions for filing;
Special economic zone regulations shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the standing committees of the people's congresses of the provinces or cities where the special economic zones are located; Pudong New Area regulations shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress; Hainan Free Trade Port regulations shall be submitted to the State Council for filing by the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial People's Congress.
Article 5
State Council departments, as well as the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures, shall perform their duties of filing government rules in accordance with the law, and strengthen organizational leadership over the filing work.
The legal affairs institutions of State Council departments, and the legal affairs institutions of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities divided into districts, and autonomous prefectures shall be specifically responsible for the filing of government rules of their respective departments or localities.
Article 6
The filing and review authority of the State Council shall, in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations, be responsible for the filing of local regulations and government rules with the State Council, perform the supervision duties of filing and review, improve the working system for filing and review, and submit an annual report on the work of filing and reviewing local regulations and government rules of the previous year to the State Council.
Article 7
The filing and review authority of the State Council shall strengthen ties with the filing and review institutions of other organs through the coordination and linkage mechanism for filing and review, and enhance collaboration in areas such as dual-filing linkage, transfer for handling, solicitation of opinions, consultation and coordination, information sharing, and capacity building.
Article 8
Local regulations and government rules submitted to the State Council for filing in accordance with these Regulations shall be directly sent to the filing and review authority of the State Council.
The submission of local regulations for filing shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the filing of local regulations.
The submission of government rules for filing shall include a filing report, the text of the rules, and an explanatory note, which shall be bound into volumes in the prescribed format and submitted in triplicate.
When submitting local regulations and government rules for filing, electronic versions of the documents shall also be submitted simultaneously.
Article 9
Where the submission of local regulations or government rules for filing complies with the provisions of Article 2 and the second, third, and fourth paragraphs of Article 8 of these Regulations, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall complete the filing registration.
Where the submission does not comply with the provisions of Article 2, filing registration shall be refused.
Where the submission complies with Article 2 but does not meet the requirements of the second, third, and fourth paragraphs of Article 8, filing registration shall be suspended.
In case of suspended filing registration, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall notify the formulation organ to supplement or resubmit the filing materials. The formulation organ shall supplement or resubmit the materials as required within 15 days from the date of receiving the notification; if the supplemented or resubmitted materials meet the requirements, filing registration shall be completed.
Article 10
A monthly catalog of the local regulations and government rules that have completed filing registration shall be published by the filing and review authority of the State Council.
The scope of compiling and publishing collections of local regulations and government rules shall be based on the published catalogs.
Article 11
The filing and review authority of the State Council shall conduct active review of the filed local regulations and government rules, and may conduct special review as needed. Active review shall generally be completed within 2 months from the initiation of the review procedure; where the circumstances are complex and difficult, the review period may be appropriately extended to ensure the quality of the review.
Where the filing and review authority of the State Council identifies common issues involving the scope of responsibilities of other organs' filing and review institutions, it may conduct joint research or joint review with those institutions, and jointly study and put forward review opinions and suggestions.
Article 12
Where a state organ, social organization, enterprise, public institution, or citizen believes that a local regulation conflicts with an administrative regulation, or that a government rule or other universally binding administrative decision or order issued by a State Council department, or the people's government of a province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government, city divided into districts, or autonomous prefecture conflicts with a law or administrative regulation, it/he may submit a written review proposal to the State Council. The filing and review authority of the State Council shall study the proposal, put forward a handling opinion, and process it in accordance with the prescribed procedures.
Article 13
In reviewing the local regulations and government rules submitted to the State Council for filing, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall examine the following matters:
Whether they conform to the major policy decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and the direction of major national reforms;
Whether they exceed the statutory authority;
Whether the subordinate law violates the provisions of the superior law;
Where local regulations and departmental rules, or different government rules, have inconsistent provisions on the same matter, whether the provisions of one or both parties should be amended or revoked;
Whether the provisions of the government rules are appropriate, and whether the measures stipulated are consistent with the legislative purpose and actual circumstances;
Whether they violate the statutory procedures.
Article 14
When reviewing local regulations or government rules, if the filing and review authority of the State Council deems it necessary to solicit opinions from the relevant State Council departments or local people's governments, the relevant organs shall reply within the prescribed time limit; if it deems it necessary to request the formulation organ to explain relevant circumstances, the relevant formulation organ shall provide such explanation within the prescribed time limit.
Article 15
When reviewing local regulations and government rules, the filing and review authority of the State Council may solicit opinions from state organs, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, experts, scholars, and stakeholders through symposia, demonstration meetings, hearings, commissioned research, field investigations, and other means, and shall give full play to the role of the Expert Committee on Filing and Review.
Article 16
If, upon review, a local regulation is found to conflict with an administrative regulation, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall transfer the matter to the working institution of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for study and handling; if necessary, the State Council shall refer the matter to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for handling.
Article 17
Where local regulations and departmental rules have inconsistent provisions on the same matter, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall put forward a handling opinion and report it to the State Council for handling in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 18
If, upon review, a government rule is deemed to require correction, the filing and review authority of the State Council may, through communication with the formulation organ or issuance of a written review opinion, recommend that the formulation organ amend or repeal the rule in a timely manner; alternatively, the filing and review authority of the State Council may put forward a handling opinion and report it to the State Council for decision, and notify the formulation organ accordingly.
Article 19
Where departmental rules, or departmental rules and local government rules, have inconsistent provisions on the same matter, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall conduct coordination; if consensus cannot be reached through coordination, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall put forward a handling opinion and report it to the State Council for decision, and notify the formulation organ accordingly.
Article 20
For government rules that are invalid in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations on the Procedures for Formulating Government Rules, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall refuse to register them for filing and notify the formulation organ.
If a government rule has technical defects in formulation, the filing and review authority of the State Council may put forward a handling opinion to the formulation organ, which shall handle the matter on its own initiative.
Article 21
The formulation organ of a government rule shall, within 30 days from the date of receiving the notification prescribed in Articles 18, 19, and 20 of these Regulations, report the handling results to the filing and review authority of the State Council.
Article 22
The formulation organs of local regulations and government rules shall, before January 31 of each year, submit the catalog of local regulations and government rules formulated in the previous year to the filing and review authority of the State Council.
Article 23
Where an organ fails to submit government rules for filing or fails to do so within the time limit, the filing and review authority of the State Council shall notify the formulation organ to submit them within a specified time limit; if the organ still fails to submit them after the time limit expires, a circular of criticism shall be issued, and the organ shall be ordered to make corrections within a specified time limit.
Article 24
The filing and review authority of the State Council shall strengthen contact with and guidance to the legal affairs institutions of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government in their work of filing and reviewing government rules, and promote these governments to improve the capacity and quality of filing and review work through training, case guidance, and other means.
Article 25
The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in accordance with the law, strengthen supervision over the government rules and other universally binding administrative decisions and orders issued by their subordinate administrative organs, establish a corresponding filing and review system in accordance with the relevant provisions of these Regulations, safeguard the unity of the socialist legal system, and ensure the correct implementation of laws and regulations.
Article 26
These Regulations shall come into force on November 1, 2024. The Regulations on the Filing of Local Regulations and Government Rules promulgated by the State Council on December 14, 2001, shall be repealed simultaneously.
