Public Participation and Its Limits
王锡锌
【全文】
Public Participation and Its Limits
An Observation and Evaluation on Public Hearings as Experimented
In China''s Administrative Process
Wang Xixin*
I. INTRODUCTION
The law reform that was initiated in the late 1970s in China marked the beginning of a long journey towards the rule of law. Today, if one could listen far enough to any political or social conversations, one would find that "legal reform" and "the rule of law" are words most frequently used. In its earlier stage, however, the law reform focused basically on instrumental use of law as a way to push economic reforms and to attract foreign investment. In this sense, it was regulation-oriented, and this is partly why the idea of "rule of law" in this country has very often been alleged by many Westerners as "rule by law".[1] Later, particularly since 1989, with the enactment of the Administrative Litigation Law of 1989(ALL), little by little, law reform efforts have been given to the concern of governing the governors. After the ALL, the Administrative Reconsideration Regulation (ARR, 1990), the State Compensation Law (SCL, 1994), the Administrative Punishment Law (APL, 1996), the Administrative Reconsideration Law (ARL, 1999), and the Law on Legislation (2000) reinforced such efforts. Administrative law reforms have gradually become one of the most remarkable aspects of the law reform outlook.
As a result of more than ten years continuing efforts, the administrative law reforms have entailed a new outlook of China''s administrative process, of which public hearing as a procedural requirement and a way of public participation in some decision-making and rule-making processes is perhaps the one most remarkable landscape. For example, the APL requires in a general way that "in imposing sanction, the affected parties shall be… given the right to be heard… otherwise, the decision that imposes a sanction shall not be valid." Furthermore, the APL sets forth a "hearing procedure" to govern some particular decision-making process through which administrative punishments may be imposed upon private parties. The uttering of "the right to be heard" was echoed by the "Price Law", enacted by the Standing Committee of NPC in 1997. Article 22 of this law requires that in price-setting or rate-fixing process, "…government agency shall solicit opinions and comments from related parties." More specifically, Article 23 of this law puts it that " in setting the rate of public facilities or services that may affect the public substantially, or setting price for monopolized products or services, a system of public hearing must be established…"
