The State Council, China's Cabinet, said on Friday that the country will remove or adjust 33 types of fines related to administrative regulations and departmental rules amid efforts to foster a more enabling business climate and slash operational costs for market entities.
According to an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Qiang, sustained efforts will be made to strictly regulate fines and explicitly define their criteria.
Attendees at the meeting agreed that fines that are in breach of statutory authority, fall short of economic and social development or have other regulatory or legal alternatives, should be repealed if feasible.
All related departments should enforce rigorous adherence to their discretionary power over administrative penalties and scale up rectification of arbitrary and unwarranted fines, it was stated at the meeting.
Meanwhile, a coordinated administration and joint punishment mechanism will be put in place. Misconduct related to misapplication of fines will be seriously dealt with, and violations will be disclosed to the public.
