(Issued on May 27, 2009 in accordance with Decree No. 18 of the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality, amended for the first time on September 30, 2015 in accordance with Decree No. 132 of the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality and amended for the second time on November 14, 2019 in accordance with Decree No. 168 of the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality)

　　Article 1     These Rules are formulated in accordance with the provisionsof the Law of the People’s Republic China on Administrative Penalty and the Administrative License Law of the People’s Republic China, on the basis of the actual conditions of this Municipality and with a view to regulating the exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement by administrative law enforcement bodies, facilitating rational administration and protecting the legal rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.

　　Article 2     These Rules are applicable to the regulation and supervision of discretion over administrative law enforcement within the administrative area of this Municipality.

　　Article 3     The term “discretion over administrative law enforcement” herein refers to the power of any administrative law enforcement body to make its own judgment and take actions at its discretion within the scope and range specified in laws, regulations or rules, on the basis of the actual conditions and according to the legislative intents determined by laws, regulations or rules and the principles of fairness and rationality during the administrative law enforcement.

　　The term “administrative law enforcement” herein refers to the administrative penalty, administrative licensing, administrative non-licensing examination and approval, administrative expropriation, administrative payment, administrative compulsory measures, administrative adjudication, administrative confirmation and other acts implemented by administrative law enforcement bodies.

　　The term “administrative law enforcement body” herein refers to the municipal or district people’s government of this Municipality, its subordinate administrative organ with the administrative law enforcement power or any organization authorized by laws or regulations to administer public affairs.

　　Article 4     The municipal judicial authority shall be responsible for supervising the exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement by administrative enforcement bodies in this Municipality, and organizing the implementation of these Rules. A district judicial authority shall be responsible for supervising the exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement by administrative enforcement bodies in the district.

　　Article 5     The exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement shall be subject to laws, regulations and rules, serve the purposes of law-making, and follow the principle of rationality.

　　Article 6     Each administrative law enforcement body shall treat administrative counterparts equally, and give substantially the same treatments if facts, natures, circumstances, social damages and other factors are substantially the same or similar.

　　Article 7     Each administrative law enforcement body may adopt various means to achieve the purpose of administration, and shall make its best efforts to adopt such means that have no or minimal damage to administrative counterparts.

　　Article 8     The exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement shall follow the principle of openness, discretion criteria shall be disclosed to the public, and the public are permitted to consult discretion results other than those involving State secrets, work secrets, trade secrets or personal privacy.

　　Article 9     The administrative law enforcement bodies in this Municipality shall, in the form of administrative normative documents, reasonably refine and quantify the criteria, conditions, types, scopes, methods and time limits of the discretion over administrative law enforcement, and submit them to the municipal judicial authority for release upon review.

　　Article 10   Should laws, regulations or rules provide for, in principle only, the criteria for case filing, acceptance or other administrative law enforcement actions, the municipal administrative law enforcement body shall list the specific standards for case filing, acceptance or other administrative law enforcement actions.

　　Article 11    In regulating the exercise of discretion over administrative punishment, the following provisions shall be complied with:

　　(1) For the same illegal act, where laws, regulations and rules provide that different types of punishment are available, the specific situations for selecting the type of punishment shall be listed;

　　(2) For the same illegal act, where punishment limits are prescribed by laws, regulations and rules, the specific standards for administrative punishment shall be listed according to the circumstances, nature, facts, and social consequences of the illegal act;

　　(3) Where laws, regulations or rules provide for, in principle only, the lenient punishment, the specific situations for applying the lenient punishment shall be listed;

　　(4) Where laws, regulations, and rules provide for, in principle only, the aggravated punishment, the specific situations for applying the aggravated punishment shall be listed;

　　(5) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the mitigation of punishment, the specific situations for the mitigation of punishment shall be listed;

　　(6) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the exemption from punishment, the specific situations for exemption from punishment shall be listed;

　　(7) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the suspension of punishment, the specific situations for suspension of punishment shall be listed.

　　Article 12   In regulating the exercise of discretion over administrative licensing, the following provisions shall be complied with:

　　(1) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the conditions for licensing or the conditions for changing, withdrawing or revoking a license, the specific conditions for licensing or changing, withdrawing or revoking a license shall be listed;

　　(2) Where there are certain ranges of licensing conditions stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, the specific situations corresponding to the various ranges shall be listed;

　　(3) Where the laws, regulations and rules do not clearly specify the way of making a licensing decision or provide various ways are available, the specific way of making a licensing decision shall be listed;

　　(4) Where the laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the conditions for the cancellation of the license, the specific conditions for the cancellation of the license shall be listed.

　　Article 13   In regulating the exercise of discretion over administrative non-licensing examination and approval, the following provisions shall be complied with:

　　(1) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the conditions for examination and approval or the conditions for changing, withdrawing or cancelling examination and approval, the specific conditions for examination and approval or changing, withdrawing or cancelling examination and approval shall be listed;

　　(2) Where there are certain ranges of examination and approval conditions stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, the specific situations corresponding to the various ranges shall be listed;

　　(3) Where the laws, regulations and rules do not clearly stipulate the method of examination and approval decision or stipulate that various methods are available, the specific method for making a examination and approval decision shall be listed;

　　(4) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the conditions for cancellation approval, the specific conditions for cancellation approval shall be listed.

　　Article 14   In regulating the exercise of discretion over administrative expropriation, the following provisions shall be complied with:

　　(1) Where there is a certain range in the amount of expropriation stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, the specific situations corresponding to each range shall be listed;

　　(2) Where laws, regulations and rules provide that there are multiple methods for calculation of the expropriation amount available, the specific situations for applying each calculation method shall be listed;

　　(3) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the conditions for reduced or exempted expropriation, the specific conditions for reduced or exempted expropriation shall be listed;

　　(4) Where there is a certain range in the amount of tax reduction stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, the specific situations corresponding to each range shall be listed.

　　Article 15   In regulating the exercise of discretion over administrative payment, the following provisions shall be complied with:

　　(1) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the conditions for administrative payment, the specific situations for administrative payment shall be listed;

　　(2) Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the payment method, the specific payment method shall be listed;

　　(3) Where there is a certain range in the payment amount stipulated by laws, regulations and rules, the specific standards for the payment amount shall be listed.

　　Article 16   Where laws, regulations or rules provide for, in principle only, the types, ways, and procedures of administrative compulsory measures, the municipal administrative law enforcement body shall list the specific situations and specific procedures for determining the types and ways of administrative compulsory measures.

　　Article 17   Where laws, regulations, and rules provide for, in principle only, the procedures and standards of administrative adjudication, the municipal administrative law enforcement body shall make a list of the specific procedures and specific situations corresponding to each standard.

　　Article 18   Where laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, the procedures for administrative confirmation and the documents to be submitted, the municipal administrative law enforcement body shall make a list of the specific procedures and the specific documents required.

　　Article 19   Where the time limit for an administrative law enforcement body to perform its duties is not specified by laws, regulations or rules, the municipal administrative law enforcement body shall specify it.

　　Article 20   Where the laws, regulations and rules provide for, in principle only, that an administrative law enforcement body shall seek the opinions of the administrative counterparts or interested parties before taking specific administrative actions, the municipal administrative law enforcement body shall list the specific procedures and methods for seeking opinions.

　　Article 21   When exercising the discretion over administrative law enforcement, an administrative law enforcement body shall, before taking specific administrative actions, inform  in writing the administrative counterparts of the facts, reasons and basis it has found.

　　Article 22   If affordable and available, the administrative law enforcement body shall designate different internal law enforcement divisions or law enforcement personnel to separately perform such functions of administrative law enforcement as case filing (or acceptance), investigation and evidence obtainment (or review), hearing and decision-making.

　　Article 23   An administrative law enforcement body shall establish a mechanism for supervising the exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement by itself, its subordinate entities and entrusted organizations. The administrative law enforcement body shall include the act of exercising the discretion over administrative law enforcement into the scope of administrative law enforcement appraisal and assessment and accountability system for administrative law enforcement.

　　Article 24   The judicial authorities at all levels shall supervise the exercise of discretion over administrative law enforcement by administrative law enforcement bodies through administrative law enforcement inspection, administrative law enforcement appraisal and assessment, and handling of administrative law enforcement cases complained.

　　Article 25   Where an administrative law enforcement body violates these Rules, the judicial authority at the same level shall suggest corrections; if it refuses to make corrections, the people’s government at the same level shall circulate a notice of criticism; in case of severe violation, the competent authority shall impose sanctions on the person in charge responsible and other persons directly responsible according to law.

　　Article 26   These Rules shall come into force on July 4, 2009.