Abstract
The Administrative Penalty Law underwent its first major revision in January 2021, among which revision the Entire-process Record-keeping System (the "ERS") was introduced. The introduction of the ERS is a remarkable progress of rule of law in China. This note sorts out the development of the ERS from both ministerial and regional levels, understand its specific requirements, and reveal its possible impact through a comparative law perspective. Finally this note concludes that the ERS constitutes a reasonably mature system beneficial for strengthening the protection of concerned parties in the enforcement of administrative penalties, but has a potential negative influence on privacy.
The development of Chinese administrative law represents one of the most remarkable aspects of legal progress leading to the rule of law in China. The aim of building a comprehensive administrative law system is primarily realized through several major pieces of legislation, among which the Administrative Penalty Law of the PRC makes the important contribution of bringing administrative penalties under legal control. Adopted in 1996, the Administrative Penalty Law underwent its first major revision on Jan. 22, 2021, the revised version expected to come into force on July 15 the same year. The long-awaited revision responds to problems which emerged in the past 20 years through incorporating scholarly proposals and successful government practices.
Among various highlights of the recent revision, this Note intends to focus on the newly introduced Article 47 of the Administrative Penalty Law. This provision introduces an Entire-process Record-keeping System (the "ERS") which requires the entire administrative penalty process to be recorded and filed. Section II traces its development from the perspectives of overall design and regional as well as ministerial, responses. Section III delineates its content through a closer inspection of Article 47 with the help of relevant regulatory documents. Section IV reveals the potential implications of the ERS from a comparative angle focusing on the relatively recent introduction of police body cameras in Germany and America.
