Chai Qian Hu
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China: Open Government Regulations Take Effect
(July 2, 2008) China's new Regulations on Open Government Information took effect on May 1, 2008; they were issued by the State Council a year earlier, on April 5, 2007. As the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) points out, adoption of such provisions is not entirely new, as “over 30 provincial and city-level governments throughout China as well as central government agencies and departments have adopted OGI rules in the last several years,” with Guangzhou being the first municipality to do so in 2002. (China Commits to 'Open Government Information' Effective May 1, 2008, CECC Web site, May 12, 2008, http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=105351 [Note: the article contains a link to an English translation of the Regulations as well as the Chinese text].) As CECC points out, two highlights of the Regulations are that “government agencies at all levels have an affirmative obligation to disclose certain information, generally within 20 business days,” and “[c]itizens, legal persons, and other organizations (Requesting Parties) may request information and are entitled to receive a reply within 15 business days and no later than 30 business days.” (Id.) The scope of disclosure is based on, among other criteria, “information that involves the vital interests of citizens, legal persons or other organizations” or that “needs to be extensively known or participated in by the general public” (art. 9, item 1). The Regulations set forth in separate articles the types of information that government agencies are to disclose at the county level and above, at the municipal level, and at the township level. For example, in the first category, county-level or above people's governments and their departments are to emphasize disclosure of information regarding plans for national economic and social development; budgets and accounts; items subject to administrative fees and the legal basis and standards therefore; matters subject to administrative licensing; information on the approval and implementation of major construction projects; policies and measures on poverty assistance, education, medical care, social security, and the like; emergency plans for “sudden public events”; and information on environmental protection, public health, safe production, and food, drug, and product quality. At the city and township level, among other types of information emphasized for disclosure is that on “requisition or land appropriation, household demolition and resettlement, and the distribution and use of compensation or subsidy funds relating thereto.” (arts. 11 & 12.) In the CECC's view, in the course of the Regulations' implementation, certain “areas to watch” include the following problematic issues: the Regulations have “no clear presumption of disclosure”; some provisions may discourage official disclosure; persons requesting information may be denied access to it on the grounds that the request does not have a recognized purpose; there may be insufficient funding and public awareness for adequate implementation; and the access to information might not apply to media. (Id.) In addition, article 8 of the Regulations contains the general prescription, “[t]he government information disclosed by administrative agencies may not endanger state security, public security, economic security and social stability.”
Full text: The Right to Development: China's Philosophy, Practice and Contribution(7)
Democratic election is an important element of citizens' political rights. Since the policy of reform and opening up was introduced in 1978, great progress has been made toward establishing people's democracy and an equal right to vote. In 2010, the NPC adopted an amendment to the Electoral Law providing wider equality of voting rights. Among other measures it requires that deputies be elected to the people's congresses based on the same population ratio in urban and rural areas. Between 2011 and 2012, the election of deputies to county-level people's congresses saw more than 981 million registered voters and a turnout rate of 90.24 percent; the election of deputies to township-level people's congresses recorded more than 723 million registered voters and a turnout rate of 90.55 percent. In these elections, measures were taken based on the conditions in each constituency to ensure the right to vote of the 200 million floating population, and to facilitate their voting. The basic principle was that voters cast their votes in the constituencies where their registered permanent residences are, while they may vote by proxy with a letter of entrustment, and voters who have their voter qualification certificates in the constituencies where their registered permanent residences are may vote in the constituencies where they currently live. The 2,987 deputies elected in 2013 to the Third Session of the 12th NPC included 401 workers and farmers accounting for 13.42 percent, 699 women accounting for 23.4 percent, and 409 deputies from all the 55 ethnic minority groups of China accounting for 13.69 percent. Consultative democracy is an important channel for orderly participation in the political process. An extensive, multi-layered, institutionalized system of consultative democracy inclusive of multiple parties, people's congresses, governments, people's organizations, the grassroots, and non-governmental organizations has been created to expand orderly participation in the political process and ensure the citizen's right to development. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is an essential organ for implementing consultative democracy, involving the participation of nine political parties including the CPC, eight people's organizations, 56 ethnic groups, five major religions and 34 sectors of society. The CPPCC has more than 3,000 committees and over 600,000 members at all levels. In 2015, the CPPCC organized 41 major consultation events, and 107 inspection and survey tours, forming a political consultation framework employing a range of options such as plenary sessions, standing committees' thematic discussions on administrative affairs and thematic consultative seminars, and biweekly consultative seminars. In the Third Session of the 12th CPPCC convened in 2015, 87.5 percent or 1,948 of the CPPCC members submitted 5,857 proposals, of which 85.1 percent or 4,984 were taken up for consideration. Since the First Session of the 12th CPPCC held in 2013, the rates of proposal handling and response have reached 99.5 percent or above. Regional ethnic autonomy is an important channel for ethnic minorities to exercise their political rights. China has created the system of regional ethnic autonomy under the unitary system of government to effectively protect the democratic rights of ethnic minorities. Of the 55 ethnic minority groups in China, 44 have established ethnic autonomous areas. 71 percent of the ethnic minorities exercise regional autonomy, and the land area under ethnic autonomous areas accounts for 64 percent of the national territory. By the end of July 2016 ethnic autonomous areas had formulated and amended 967 autonomous regulations and separate regulations in effect, solidifying the legal foundation for ethnic minorities' exercise of their right to development. Heads of governments of the five autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties are citizens from ethnic groups exercising regional autonomy. Leaderships and functional departments of CPC committees, people's congresses, governments, CPPCC committees at all levels in ethnic autonomous areas contain ethnic minorities, whose proportions are generally close to or higher than the percentages of ethnic minorities in the local population. By the end of 2015 ethnic minority civil servants numbered 765,000 - nearly four times the figure in 1978 - and 10.7 percent of the total number of civil servants across the country. 8.3 percent of civil servants at or above county level were ethnic minorities. Grassroots democracy is an effective way for people to safeguard and realize equal right to development. China has established a system of grassroots self-governance implemented by rural villagers' committees and urban neighborhood committees. Approximately 98 percent of the 581,000 villagers' committees across the country practice direct election and have formulated village regulations and rules for villagers' self-governance. The turnout rates of direct elections average 95 percent among 600 million eligible voters. The 100,000 urban neighborhood committees in China utilize the services of 512,000 staff and 5.4 million volunteers. Urban residents' participation in democracy has been remarkably broadened and their self-governance capabilities and levels have been improved, through multiple channels, including direct elections, gridded management platforms, volunteer services, hearings, coordination meetings, appraisal meetings, community liaison, communities' online forums, and community public concern stations, all contributing to China's system of grassroots self-governance. The workers' congress system has been widely applied in enterprises and public institutions. 4.64 million or 88.6 percent of enterprises and public institutions with trade unions have established separate systems for publicizing enterprise affairs. There are 2.75 million grassroots trade unions across the country, with 280 million members, including 109 million migrant workers from rural areas. By June 2016, non-governmental organizations that had registered at offices of civil affairs numbered 670,000, including 329,000 mass organizations, 5,028 foundations, and 336,000 private non-profit units. These non-governmental organizations' services and influence extend to education, science and technology, culture, health, sports, communities, environmental protection, public welfare, charity, rural economy and other fields of public life. Public participation provides citizens with ready access to decision-making processes. China has furthered democratic legislation and improved the channels and forms of public participation in legislation. Efforts have also been made to establish a system of commissioning third parties to draft legislation and evaluate the drafts, and improve the mechanisms for soliciting public opinion on drafts of laws and regulations and giving feedback on responses. Some local authorities have adopted regulations on administrative decision-making procedures for major issues, which list public participation as an important legal procedure and define the forms and methods of public participation in administrative decision-making. Open solicitation of public opinion, hearings, seminars and questionnaires are widely applied for this purpose. In 2007 the State Council enacted Regulations on Open Government Information, emphasizing open information concerning administrative approval, financial budgets and final accounts, government-subsidized housing for the poor, food and drug safety, land appropriation, and household demolition and resettlement. The Regulations provide for prompt and accurate disclosure of government information to the public and protection of their right to know, and ensure effective scrutiny over government work while enhancing transparency in government information and efficiency in law-enforcement.
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南京拟出台拆迁新规 拆迁户对补偿不满可办听证会
昨天，南京市政府法制办就《南京市国有土地上房屋征收与补偿办法（征求意见稿）》进行公示。新版拆迁办法明确规定，超过半数被征收人对征收补偿方案持有异议的，市、区人民政府应当组织由被征收人和人大代表、政协委员等公众代表参加的听证会，根据听证意见修改补偿方案并及时公布。 四类情况不得增加拆迁补偿 听说要拆迁了马上私搭乱建，想乘机捞一把，如今这样的做法可能会得不偿失。新版办法明确：征收范围公告后，存在下列情形的，不得增加补偿费用和申购保障性住房的面积、套数： 一是新建、扩建、改建房屋及其附属物和改变房屋、土地用途的；二是房屋或者建设用地使用权证转让、分割、赠与的；三是新增、变更工商营业登记的；四是其他不当增加补偿费用和申购保障性住房的行为。 此外，新版办法重申，被认定为违法建筑和超过批准期限的临时建筑，不予补偿。 拆迁超千户须市政府拍板 新版办法规定，市、区人民政府依法作出房屋征收决定，并在五日内予以公告，公告期限不少于二十日。 公告应当载明下列内容：征收补偿方案、房屋征收实施单位、现场接待地点和联系方式，行政复议、行政诉讼等救济权利，监督举报电话等事项。 房屋征收涉及被征收人一千户以上的，房屋征收决定应当经政府常务会议讨论决定。 一半拆迁户不满补偿咋办 根据新版办法，市、区人民政府组织有关部门对征收补偿方案进行论证，并将论证后的征收补偿方案在征收范围内公开征求意见。征求意见期限不得少于三十日，征求意见情况应当及时公布。征收补偿内容包括： 被征收房屋价值，搬迁、临时安置费用，因征收房屋造成的停产停业损失。被征收房屋的价值，由具有相应资质的房地产价格评估机构依法评估确定。 如果拆迁户觉得补偿标准低了应该如何合理维权，新版办法也给出了明确路径。 对于旧城区改建项目，超过半数被征收人对征收补偿方案持有异议的，市、区人民政府应当组织由被征收人和人大代表、政协委员等公众代表参加的听证会，根据听证意见修改补偿方案并及时公布。 公房承租人可获9成征收补偿 公房承租人遭遇拆迁，补偿款将如何发放，这一办法做出了细致的规定。对直管公房承租人按照下列方式进行补偿：征收住宅房屋的，房屋征收部门应当将房地产评估价格的百分之十支付给房屋所有权人，百分之九十支付给直管公房承租人。租赁双方另有约定的，从其约定；征收非住宅房屋的，租赁双方有约定的，从其约定；未约定的，其分配比例按照市相关规定执行。 此外，征收因国家有关私房改造政策形成租赁关系的私有出租房屋，对执行政府租金标准的原承租人，按照房地产评估价格的百分之九十给予补偿。 破墙开店的不给停业补偿 破墙开店的住户遭遇拆迁，是按照住宅算还是商铺算？新版办法明确，被征收人擅自改变房屋用途的，按照房屋原用途予以补偿。被征收人擅自将住宅房屋改变为经营性用房的，征收时不给予停产停业损失补偿；擅自改变非住宅房屋用途的，按照原用途计算停产停业损失。 规定也有例外，那就是“老人老办法”。新版办法规定，2010年7月1日《江苏省城乡规划条例》实施前被征收人将住宅房屋改变为经营性用房的，凭其合法有效的工商营业执照、完税凭证，按照市相关规定给予补偿。
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Examples
1 "Household Demolition" should be taken good care of by Chinese government.
2 "Household Demolition" has a comprehensive standard formulated by Chinese government.
3 "Household Demolition" can enjoy the allowance given by the Chinese government.