Regulations of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on the Filing and Examination of Normative Documents
Regulations of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on the Filing and Examination of Normative Documents
(Adopted at the 31st Session of the Standing Committee of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on May 21, 2021; amended in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on the Amendments to Regulations of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on the Filing and Examination of Normative Documents adopted at the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on November 28, 2024)
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1
With a view to further standardizing the work of filing and examination, better exercising the supervisory duties and powers entrusted to standing committees of the local people's congresses by the Constitution and laws, giving full play to the significant roles of the filing and examination system in ensuring the implementation of the Constitution, laws and rules and in safeguarding the unity of the national legal system, improving the ability and quality of the filing and examination, rectifying and revoking the normative documents that violate the Constitution, laws and rules, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the Legislative Law of the People's Republic of China, the Supervision Law of the Standing Committees of the People's Congress at All Levels of the People's Republic of China, and the other laws, as well as the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Improving and Strengthening the Filing and Examination System, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.
Article 2
These Regulations shall apply to the filing and examination of the normative documents by the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress (hereinafter referred to as SCMPC).
The normative documents mentioned in these Regulations refer to the documents which are formulated and promulgated by the relevant state organs within the administrative regions of this Municipality in accordance with the statutory authority and procedures, involving the rights and obligations of the citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and which have universal binding force and may be repeatedly applied within a certain period of time. The following normative documents shall be submitted to SCMPC for filing:
1. the regulations formulated by the Municipal People's Government;
2. the normative documents such as decisions, orders, provisions and measures formulated by the Municipal People's Government;
3. the normative documents formulated by the Municipal People's Government and its relevant departments under the requirements of local rules for supporting the implementation of the local rules;
4. the normative documents formulated by the Municipal Supervisory Commission for the implementation of the national laws and rules or in accordance with authorization;
5. the normative documents for guidance, standard trial and procuratorial work formulated by the municipal high people's court and the municipal people's procuratorate;
6. the resolutions and decisions made by the district people's congresses and their standing committees;
7. and other normative documents that shall be submitted to SCMPC for filing according to law.
Article 3
The SCMPC shall carry out the work of filing and examination in accordance with the Constitution and laws, adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, uphold the unity of the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance, ensure the strict enforcement of orders and prohibitions of the CPC Central Committee, guarantee the implementation of the Constitution and laws, protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations, safeguard the integration of the national legal system, and promote the legislative level of the normative documents by the state organs of this Municipality.
Article 4
The work of filing and examination shall be carried out in accordance with the statutory limits of authority and procedures, and the principle of filing all normative documents, examining all filings and rectifying all wrongs shall be adhered to.
Article 5
The general office of SCMPC (hereinafter referred to as the SC general office) shall be responsible for receiving, registering, transferring and filing the normative documents submitted for filing.
The legal work committee of SCMPC (hereinafter referred to as the legal work committee) is the daily work organization for the filing and examination of the normative documents, responsible for the distribution, coordination, collection, study and report of the filing and examination.
The special committee of the Municipal People's Congress and the working committee of SCMPC (hereinafter referred to as the relevant committees) shall, in accordance with their respective functions and duties, be responsible for the examination and study of the normative documents in relevant fields.
Article 6
The SCMPC shall strengthen the construction of the filing and examination informatization, establish and improve the information platform of filing and examination covering the whole Municipality with interconnection and convenient operation, improve online examination proposals, electronic filing, online examination, and other platform functions, expand the data collection and legislative service functions of the information platform, and thereby gradually achieve the digitalization and intelligentization of the work of filing and examination.
Article 7
The working offices of SCMPC shall strengthen the contact and cooperation with the general office of the Municipal Committee of CPC, the general office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Supervisory Committee, the municipal higher people's court and the municipal people's procuratorate, so as to form a linkage mechanism for the work of filing and examination. Coordination and collaboration shall be strengthened in respect of case transfer, solicitation of opinions, consultation and coordination, information sharing, capacity improvement, so as to give play to the joint forces of filing and examination system and enhance its overall effectiveness.
Article 8
The working offices of SCMPC shall strengthen the contact with and guidance for the work of filing and examination of the normative documents of the standing committees of the district people's congresses, and take measures including convening symposiums on filing and examination, organizing training programs on filing and examination, and carrying out case discussion and theoretical research on filing and examination, so as to improve the ability and quality of the standing committees of the district people's congresses on their work of filing and examination.
Article 9
The work of filing and examination shall implement the concept of people's democracy throughout the whole process, and shall ensure the public's right to know, to participate, to express, and to supervise, thereby making the system and work of filing and examination an important form and an institutional carrier for practicing the whole-process people's democracy.
The SCMPC shall give full play to democracy and strengthen investigations and research when carrying out the work of filing and examination, and integrate the work of filing with the work of deputies to people's congresses. The SCMPC shall give play to the role of local legislative outreach offices as direct channels for the public opinions and shall guide all walks of life to participate in the work of filing and examination in an orderly manner.
Chapter II Filing
Article 10
The normative documents shall be submitted for filing within 30 days from the date of promulgation.
For filing, three print texts and one electronic text of the filing reports, the formal text of the normative documents and the relevant explanatory materials shall be submitted together as required.
The submitting units shall submit the electronic texts of all the filing documents via the filing examination information system of SCMPC, and the submitted electronic texts shall meet the format standards and requirements issued by the working offices of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
Article 11
The normative documents shall be submitted for filing by the following organs:
1. The normative documents formulated by the Municipal People's Government and its relevant departments shall be submitted by the General Office of the Municipal People's Government for filing;
2. The normative documents formulated by the Municipal Supervisory Committee shall be submitted by the General Office of the Supervisory Committee for filing;
3. The normative documents formulated by the municipal higher people's court and the municipal people's procuratorate shall be submitted by the office of the municipal higher people's court and the office of the municipal people's procuratorate for filing;
4. The normative documents formulated by the district people's congresses and their standing committees shall be submitted by the office of the standing committees of the district people's congresses for filing.
Article 12
The SC general office shall, within five working days from the date of receiving the documents for filing, conduct examination and approval, and shall, if the documents for filing comply with the statutory scope and procedures, are complete, and meet the format standards and requirements, accept and register the documents, and then transfer them to the legal work committee. For those that do not comply with the statutory scope and procedures, are incomplete or do not meet the format standards and requirements, the filing units shall be required to supplement or return them for refiling and explain the reasons. Supplementary filing materials or refiling shall be completed within 10 working days from the date of receiving the notice.
The legal work committee shall examine and study the documents submitted for filing and send them to the relevant committees for examination and study according to the division of responsibilities.
The working offices of SCMPC shall supervise and inspect the filing of normative documents submitted by the formulating organs, and shall serve notice of any concealment, delay or omission of filing in a timely manner.
Article 13
Before January 31 of each year, the formulating organs shall submit to the SC general office the catalogues of the normative documents formulated, revised or abolished in the previous year for examination.
The general office of SCMPC publishes the catalogues of the normative documents filed in the previous year to the public via the communique of SCMPC and the public websites of the Shanghai People's Congress.
Chapter III Examination
Section 1 Examination Responsibilities
Article 14
The SCMPC shall, in accordance with the requirement of examining all filed documents, improve the working mechanism of examination, refine the contents to be examined, standardize the examination procedures, and use a combination of initiative examination, examination upon application, special examination, transfer examination, and joint examination to carry out the examination of normative documents in accordance with the law.
Article 15
The relevant committees and the legal work committee shall take the initiative to examine the normative documents submitted for filing in accordance with their functions and powers. The above-mentioned committees shall improve the working mechanism and methods of initiative examination, improve the efficiency and quality of initiative examination by implementing the major national and municipal decisions and arrangements and focusing on examining typical problems and tendencies that may trigger off political issues in normative documents.
The relevant committees shall, within 30 days from the date of receiving the distributed reports, put forward written examination and study opinions and send them to the legal work committee for comprehensive study, except where letters to the formulating organs are required to make an explanation.
Article 16
The requirements for the examination of the normative documents submitted by the state organs to SCMPC in writing according to law shall be received and registered by the SC general office, and reported to the secretary general to approve and transfer to the relevant committees for examination and study in conjunction with the legal work committee.
Article 17
The examination proposals on the normative documents submitted by state organs, social organizations, enterprises, institutions and citizens in writing to SCMPC according to law shall be received and registered, examined by the legal work committee, which shall examine and study them together with the relevant committees.
Article 18
After preliminary study, if any of the following circumstances exists in the examination proposal, the examination procedure may not be initiated:
1. The relevant provisions of the normative documents proposed for examination have been amended or repealed;
2. The relevant provisions of the normative documents proposed for examination have been communicated with the formulating authorities before, and the formulating authorities expressly agree to modify or repeal;
3. The same provisions of the normative documents proposed for examination have been examined before, and the examination conclusions have been reached;
4. The reasons for the proposed examination are not clear or obviously unfounded;
5. Or other circumstances that are not suitable for initiate the examination procedure.
Article 19
After the preliminary examination and study of the examination proposal, if the legal work committee considers it necessary to initiate the examination procedure, it shall, with the approval of the secretary general, submit them to the relevant committees for examination and study according to the division of responsibilities specified in Article 5.
Article 20
In combination with the implementation of the strategic decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee of CPC, major reforms and policy adjustments of the State, important laws, and the decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the legal work committee shall, in conjunction with the relevant committees, carry out special examination on the relevant normative documents centering on this Municipality's work priorities, so as to concentrate on addressing issues which commonly exist in normative documents within a specific field or category. Where common issues are found in other relevant normative documents when conducting initiative examination, examination upon application and transfer examination, a special examination may be conducted together.
Article 21
With regard to the examination proposals for the normative documents that do not fall within the scope of the examination of SCMPC, the legal work committee shall, in accordance with the law, transfer them to the organs that have the rights to examine for handling, or inform the citizens and organizations that put forward the examination proposals to directly put forward the examination proposals to the organs that have the rights to examine.
The working offices for examining the filed documents of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Supervisory Commission, the municipal high people's court, and the municipal people's procuratorate shall handle the examination suggestions transferred by the working office of the SCMPC in accordance with the law.
The legal work committee shall study and deal with the examination proposals transferred by relevant authorities in accordance with the relevant provisions of these Regulations.
Article 22
Where common issues in normative documents fall within the filing and examination responsibilities of another organ, the working offices of SCMPC may conduct joint investigation or joint examination with the filing and examination office of the organ, and put forward examination opinions and suggestions through joint research.
Article 23
When necessary, the SCMPC and its working offices may conduct a centralized clean-up of relevant normative documents, or propose suggestions on such a clean-up to relevant formulation organs, urging the department concerned to timely amend or abolish normative documents that do not comply with, have consistency with, or adapt to the provisions of laws and rules, the spirit of the CPC Central Committee, or the requirements of the times, and to formulate supporting provisions in a timely manner. The scope, main content, and time limit of a clean-up shall be specified when a centralized clean-up is organized.
Section 2 Examination Procedure
Article 24
In the course of initiative examination, transfer examination or special examination, or in the course of examination and study in accordance with examination requirements and proposals, the formulating organs may be required to explain relevant situations in writing or supplement relevant materials.
Article 25
When examining and studying the normative documents, opinions of the relevant state organs, social organizations, enterprises and institutions, deputies to the people's congresses, experts and scholars, as well as interested parties may be heard via symposiums, hearings, demonstration meetings, entrusting third-party research, etc.
Article 26
When examining and studying the normative documents, on-the-spot investigation may be conducted according to the needs so as to have a deep understanding of the actual situations.
Article 27
The legal work committee shall strengthen communication and coordination with the relevant committee(s) in the work of filing and examination, and timely learn about the work of filing and examination from the relevant committee(s). In case of any important issue or circumstance, the legal work committee and the relevant committee(s) may conduct joint research and consultation, and may hold a joint examination conference according to the need of the work.
If there are major differences of opinions between the relevant committees and the legal work committee in the examination and study, they shall report to the meeting of directors with the consent of the secretary general.
Section 3 Examination Criteria
Article 28
When examining and studying the normative documents, if it is found that there may be problems in violation of the constitutional provisions, constitutional principles or the spirit of the Constitution, the normative documents shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
Article 29
When examining and studying the normative documents, if it is found that there may be problems inconsistent with the major strategic decisions and arrangement of the Central Committee of CPC or the directions of major national reform, opinions shall be put forward.
Article 30
When examining and studying the normative documents, if a normative document is found to be under any of the following circumstances in violation of the provisions of laws and rules, opinions shall be put forward:
1. in violation of Article 11 of the Legislative Law of the People's Republic of China, making provisions on matters for which only law may be formulated;
2. setting up the rights and obligations of citizens, legal persons and other organizations in violation of the law, or setting up the power and responsibility of the state organs by exceeding authorities and in violation of the law;
3. setting up administrative license, administrative penalty or administrative compulsion in violation of the law, or in violation of the law, making adjustments and changes to the administrative license, administrative penalty and administrative compulsion set up by laws and rules;
4. there existing provisions obviously inconsistent with the provisions of laws and rules, or obviously contrary to the legislative purposes and principles of laws and rules, aiming at offsetting, changing or evading the provisions of laws and rules;
5. violating the authorization decision and exceeding the scope of authorization;
6. violating the legal procedures;
7. or other circumstances in violation of laws and rules.
Article 31
When examining the normative documents, if a normative document with obvious inappropriate problems is found to be under any of the following circumstances, opinions shall be put forward:
1. obviously violating the socialist core values and public order and good customs;
2. the provisions on the rights and obligations of citizens, legal persons or other organizations obviously unreasonable;
3. the measures taken do not comply, proportionately, with their objectives;
4. not suitable for further implementation due to major changes in the actual situations;
5. or other obviously inappropriate situations.
Chapter IV Handling
Article 32
In the course of examination and study, the relevant committees and the legal work committee may communicate with the formulating organs or inquire about the formulating organs in written form if they find that the normative documents may be under the circumstances specified in Section 3 of Chapter III of these Regulations.
Article 33
If, after examination and study, the normative documents are found to be under the circumstances specified in Section 3 of Chapter III of these Regulations and need to be rectified, the legal work committee shall, in conjunction with the relevant committees, put forward study opinions, communicate with the formulating organs and request the formulating organs to amend or abolish them.
If, after communication, the formulating organs modify or abolish the normative documents in a timely manner, or puts forward clear plans and time limits for handling the cases in writing, the examination shall be suspended.
If there is no result after communication, the legal work committee and the relevant committees shall put forward written examination and study opinions according to law. The general office shall send letters to the formulating organs upon the decision of the meeting of directors, and request that the formulating organs submit written handling opinions within two months.
Article 34
If the formulating organs rectify the relevant normative documents and complete the relevant work in accordance with the requirements of the meeting of directors or the opinions of the working bodies of the standing committee, the examination shall be terminated.
If the formulating organs fail to amend or abolish the relevant normative documents in accordance with the written examination and study opinions decided by the meeting of directors, the relevant committees or the legal work committee shall put forward motions or proposals to the meeting of directors on the revocation of the normative documents, and the meeting of directors shall decide to submit them to the meeting of SCMPC for deliberation and decision.
For normative document that may cause ambiguity, improper implementation, or other issues, the working office of SCMPC may notify the formulating organ by letter, so as to remind, suggest, or offer an opinion.
Article 35
After a normative document is rectified or revoked, other normative documents with the same issues shall be amended or abolished by the relevant formulating organ in a timely manner.
Where a normative document is amended or abolished, the formulating organ shall inform of the relevant information in writing in a timely manner and resubmit it for filing in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.
Article 36
After the examination of the normative documents is completed, the SC general office shall feed back the examination results to the state organs for the examination requirements put forward by the state organs; the results of the examination shall be fed back by the legal work committee on the examination proposals put forward by state organs, social organizations, enterprises, institutions and citizens.
Feedback may be in written form or oral form if necessary. The examination proposals put forward via the Municipal People's Congress filing and examination information system may be fed back via the examination information system.
Article 37
After the examination of the normative documents is completed, the relevant examination and study materials shall be filed in a timely manner.
Chapter V Reporting
Article 38
The legal work committee shall report to SCMPC every year the situations of carrying out the filing and examination of the normative documents, which shall be deliberated at the meeting of SCMPC.
Article 39
The contents of the report on the filing and examination generally include: the situation of receiving the filing, carrying out the examination, rectifying and handling the normative documents, carrying out the filing and examination system and capacity building, the consideration and suggestions for the following work, etc. When drafting reports on the work of filing and examination, the legal work committee shall consult each committee and the SC general office, report them to the meeting of directors for decision and submit them to the meeting of SCMPC for deliberation.
Article 40
The reports on the work of filing and examination shall be published in the bulletins of SCMPC and the public websites of Shanghai People's Congress after being revised according to the deliberation opinions of the members of the Standing Committee. The dynamic process, important progress, and typical cases of filing and examination shall be made known to the public in a timely manner.
Article 41
The standing committees of the district people's congresses of this Municipality shall, with reference to these Regulations, file and examine the relevant normative documents formulated by the local state organs under the supervision of the standing committees of the people's congresses at the corresponding levels.
Article 42
These Regulations shall be effective as of July 1, 2021. Provisions of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on the Filing and Examination of the Normative Documents adopted at the 33rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on April 19, 2012 shall be repealed at the same time.