The rule of law is the best place to do business. At the recent Central Political and Legal Work Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that it is necessary to ensure high-quality development with high-level security, maintain the order of the socialist market economy in accordance with the law, and improve the level of construction of a law-based business environment.
In February 2023, the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued a notice to deploy and carry out a "small special" activity of administrative procuratorial escort for the law-based business environment in procuratorial organs across the country. Over the past year, based on reality, procuratorial organs in various regions have taken the initiative to integrate "small special" activities into the overall situation of high-quality economic and social development, focusing on the pain points, difficulties and blocking points in the development of business entities, identifying the entry point, combination point and focus point of the overall situation of administrative procuratorial service guarantees, equally protecting the property rights and legitimate rights and interests of all types of business entities in accordance with the law, optimizing the development environment of business entities, and providing strong support for promoting high-quality development.
Strengthen cross-departmental collaboration
Plug the loophole of malicious cancellation by commercial entities
One of the key points of administrative procuratorial supervision is the malicious cancellation of problematic commercial entities in an attempt to evade legal responsibility, which not only seriously damages the business environment, but also infringes on the national interest, the social public interest and the legitimate rights and interests of other creditors.
In March 2022, the Longgang District Procuratorate of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, conducted an in-depth investigation of an administrative non-litigation enforcement supervision case and found that a large number of malicious cancellation of commercial entities may exist, so it filed a case on the data integration platform of the Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate as a major supervision matter. With the technical support of the higher-level procuratorate, the Longgang District Procuratorate set up the company's cancellation time node, collided and compared more than 600 Shenzhen enterprise data with more than 150 court judgment data, and screened out a total of 119 clues of abnormal cancellation of commercial entities, of which 27 involved Longgang District, involving an amount of more than 500 yuan. Through an in-depth review of these clues, as of December 2023, the Longgang District Procuratorate has handled a total of 18 cases of malicious cancellation of procuratorial supervision by commercial entities, issued 2 procuratorial suggestions for similar cases, and 1 procuratorial recommendation for individual cases.
In the above-mentioned case, the commercial entity subject to the administrative penalty took advantage of the convenience of the simplified deregistration procedure and the information barriers between the administrative authorities to evade the administrative penalty by going through the deregistration process before fulfilling the penalty obligation, causing serious damage to the business environment. Based on this, in December 2023, the Longgang District Procuratorate, together with the Longgang Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Longgang District Bureau of Justice and other units, formulated the Guiding Opinions on the Establishment of a Coordination Mechanism for Preventing the Malicious Deregistration of Commercial Entities (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions") to plug the loopholes of malicious deregistration of commercial entities by strengthening cross-departmental collaboration.
The reporter learned that the "Guiding Opinions" from the definition of the risk of malicious cancellation of commercial entities, Provisions are made on the operational procedures for circumventing malicious deregistration, and it is clearly pointed out that where each law enforcement unit in Longgang District assesses that a commercial entity has a risk of malicious deregistration, before the implementation of the administrative punishment is completed, it shall promptly submit an application to the market regulation department through the district's enterprise credit risk classification and classification supervision platform, add a risk early warning, and promptly feedback to the market regulation department after the administrative organ implements the punishment of the commercial entity in place, and then the market regulation department will lift the risk early warning based on the feedback, and the procuratorate will follow up and supervise the whole process, so as to form an assessment, The closed loop of early warning, feedback, lifting, and supervision breaks down the administrative punishment information barriers between the administrative law enforcement departments and the market supervision departments, plugs the loopholes in the mechanism, and vigorously protects the national interests and the authority of law enforcement and justice.
"By condensing the supervision and joint efforts of the procuratorial organs and administrative law enforcement agencies, the path of commercial entities attempting to evade administrative punishment through malicious cancellation is blocked from the source, and the work effect of 'handling one case and one piece of governance' has been extended from case handling to industry governance. Huang Ruiyi, deputy procurator general of the Longgang District Procuratorate, said.
Carry out special supervision
Let the "problem boss" have nowhere to hide
Wang was given a suspended sentence for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, and during the period of community corrections, he also served as the legal representative of an electrical company. According to the relevant laws and regulations, those who have been sentenced to criminal punishment for corruption, bribery, embezzlement of property, misappropriation of property or undermining the order of the socialist market economy and whose execution period has not exceeded five years shall not serve as directors, supervisors or senior managers of the company.
The fact that a person who has been sentenced for a criminal offense still has the identity of the legal representative of an enterprise not only violates the provisions of the law on restrictions on employment, but is also not conducive to creating a fair and orderly market environment.
Since February 2023, the Cixi Municipal Procuratorate of Zhejiang Province has actively carried out special supervision of illegal practices in the company's field of employment in the "small special" activity of in-depth promotion of administrative procuratorial escort of the law-based business environment. During a routine investigation of case clues, the prosecutor of the court discovered this case in which the "problem boss" served.
This may not be an isolated case. Subsequently, the Cixi Municipal Procuratorate conducted a large-scale investigation of the positions of the people sentenced to criminal punishment in the city, and went to the relevant competent units to obtain enterprise registration information and data, as well as the data of those sentenced to criminal punishment for corruption, bribery, embezzlement of property, misappropriation of property, or crimes of undermining the order of the socialist market economy. Through the information of "directors, supervisors, senior managers, legal representatives, and other four types of personnel" in the registration data of more than 6,000 enterprises in the past five years, they collided and analyzed the data of more than 200 persons who were sentenced to criminal punishments, and found more than 50 suspected clues. The court promptly communicated with the relevant competent departments and formulated and issued procuratorial recommendations, urged the competent departments to perform their duties in accordance with the law, investigated and dealt with the illegal acts of serving as the company's "four types of personnel", and at the same time carried out special investigation and rectification of the illegal employment of the criminals in the city.
"Why do these 'problem bosses' continue to work?" With questions, the Cixi Municipal Procuratorate promptly led relevant departments such as market supervision and community corrections to hold a joint meeting to conduct in-depth communication and exchanges on the causes of such problems and governance plans. The prosecutor learned that part of the reason why there are still "problem bosses" taking up posts is that the competent authorities are unable to timely and synchronously learn the crime-related data of the "four types of personnel" of the enterprise, and the lack of information connection leads to a blank area in supervision.
In order to strengthen governance at the source, the court, together with the market supervision and judicial administrative departments, issued the "Several Opinions on the Establishment of a Coordination Mechanism for the Supervision of the Qualifications of Company Senior Executives during Their Tenure", smoothed information sharing channels, strengthened collaboration and linkage, and continuously improved the quality and efficiency of the supervision of employees. "After the operation of the coordination mechanism, our three units have formed an information sharing platform on data such as crime-related information and the registration of 'four types of personnel', which can more accurately supervise and review the qualifications of the company's 'four types of personnel' during their tenure, and promote enterprises to legally enter the market and operate in accordance with the law. The head of the city's market supervision department said.
"Carrying out a special supervision, signing a coordination mechanism, and sharing an information platform, our 'three ones' initiative has effectively solved the dilemma of finding and cracking down on violations of restrictions, and has brought some hidden 'problem bosses' to the ......surface," said a prosecutor from the administrative inspection department of the Cixi Municipal Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province.
Resolve administrative disputes
The worries are solved, and the development confidence is more sufficient
"After the procuratorate held a hearing, the company's land use procedures were approved. The worries have been solved, and the development confidence is more sufficient. After the company got on the right track, it was doing well, and received more than 200,000 tourists last year. On January 17, Shu, the person in charge of a tourism company, was particularly comfortable when he talked to the prosecutor who visited him about the changes brought by the procuratorate to the company.
Sanming City, Fujian Province was once the core area of the former Central Soviet District, and was one of the four starting points of the Central Red Army's Long March.
In 2022, the county procuratorate found in the special activity of "administrative non-litigation enforcement supervision in the field of land law enforcement investigation and handling" that a tourism company was given an administrative penalty by the county natural resources bureau in 2020 because some project land was not approved. The company paid the fine, but did not demolish the illegal building. After the Bureau of Natural Resources applied to the court for compulsory enforcement, the court ruled to reject the application for enforcement on the grounds that the application materials were incomplete. As a result, the implementation of the administrative penalty decision has reached an impasse.
Through reviewing the files, inquiring about relevant materials, visiting the scene, and questioning the relevant parties, the procurator who undertook the case finally ascertained that when a tourism company was building a certain project, due to the slow progress of government approval and the lack of coordination between the construction progress and the approval progress, the company illegally occupied land.
The prosecutor also learned that the overall land use plan of the plot involved in the case had been readjusted, and the occupation was not cultivated land or public welfare forest, and the business project of a certain tourism company was a red tourism industry introduced by the government.
In response to the above situation, in March 2022, a county procuratorate issued a procuratorial recommendation to the administrative organ, suggesting that the illegal land plot involved in the case should be properly resolved. At the same time, in order to better resolve administrative disputes and promote the healthy development of enterprises, the procuratorial organs held a special public hearing on this case to fully listen to the opinions of relevant parties, deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The participants all agreed with the solution proposed by the procuratorate, and the administrative organ promised on the spot at the hearing that it would assist a tourism company in handling the relevant land use procedures for the plot involved in the case in accordance with the law.
Under the continuous tracking and supervision of the procuratorate, in August 2023, all the land use approval procedures of a tourism company were completed. After obtaining the legal land use procedures, the tourism company has developed into a red education and training base after standardized operation, providing more than 40 jobs for the local area, and making outstanding contributions to the local red culture publicity and economic and social development.
"The procuratorial organs should adhere to systematic thinking in handling administrative procuratorial cases involving government investment promotion, and seek the best solution to urge the administrative organs to be honest and trustworthy and fulfill the obligations agreed in government documents and contract agreements, so as to ensure the implementation of administrative penalties and maintain the authority of the law, and support the reasonable demands of enterprises in accordance with the law, so as to achieve a win-win, multi-win, and win-win case-handling effect, and effectively serve and ensure the optimization and improvement of the law-based business environment. The head of the administrative prosecution department of the Fujian Provincial Procuratorate said.
Integrated performance of duties
Help enterprises build a strong wall of trade secret protection
"At present, our company has upgraded the information security system of the whole network, strictly limited the review authority of internal personnel and left traces to view, and we are grateful to the procuratorate for providing valuable advice and support. "On November 23, 2023, when the Jintan District Procuratorate of Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province sent personnel to visit Qihang Company (pseudonym), a key new energy enterprise in the jurisdiction, the relevant person in charge of the company said sincerely.
In June 2022, when Qihang Company conducted a resignation review of employee Cui Feng (pseudonym), it was found that he had secretly transferred some of the company's confidential documents to his personal mobile phone and transmitted them to his wife through WeChat, so he immediately reported the case to the public security organs. According to the judicial appraisal, 6 of the documents transmitted and stored by Cui Feng belong to technical information that is not known to the public, and the total value of the secret point assessment is more than 500 yuan.
On February 10, 2023, the criminal prosecutor of the Jintan District Procuratorate was invited to intervene in the investigation in advance. After investigation, although Cui Feng had transmitted and stored the secret, he did not disclose the trade secret to others, and the company's losses were difficult to determine, so it did not meet the standard for filing a criminal case. The public security organs later made a decision to withdraw the case.
"If such an infringement of trade secrets is not subject to criminal or administrative liability, it will cause great harm to the company's intellectual property management and protection. In response to the circumstances of the case, the Jintan District Procuratorate immediately launched an integrated and integrated performance mechanism. After conducting a comprehensive review, the administrative procuratorial department of the court found that Cui Feng's conduct had constituted an infringement of trade secrets as provided for in the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and that he should be subject to administrative punishment in accordance with law.
On March 14, 2023, the Jintan District Procuratorate issued a procuratorial recommendation to the Market Supervision Bureau of the district, and the bureau filed a case for investigation and punishment of Cui Feng's infringement of trade secrets in accordance with the law, ordered Cui Feng to stop the illegal acts, and imposed a fine of 200,000 yuan.
In view of the loopholes in the protection of trade secrets found in the handling of the case, the Jintan District Procuratorate actively extended its functions and made suggestions to Qihang Company to help the company build a solid trade secret protection wall from the aspects of improving employees' legal awareness, improving the implementation of the confidentiality system, and enhancing the company's ability to protect rights.
In the process of handling the case, Qihang Company mentioned many difficult problems in the protection of intellectual property rights, including the high cost of infringement identification and the difficulty of patent application, which attracted the attention of the procuratorate. In order to further strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and solve problems for enterprises, in April 2023, the Jintan District Procuratorate, together with the District Market Supervision Bureau, the Federation of Industry and Commerce and other departments, had a discussion and exchange with more than 20 key new energy enterprises in the district, and formed a research report on the "Status and Suggestions of Intellectual Property Protection in the New Energy Industry in Jintan District", which was highly valued by the leaders of the District Party Committee. In June of the same year, the court and the Federation of Industry and Commerce jointly established an intellectual property service center, successively entered more than 30 new energy enterprises to carry out legal popularization activities, invited enterprise representatives to participate in the procuratorial open day activities 12 times, supervised 7 cases that may affect the development of enterprises in accordance with the law, resolved 6 cases such as debt disputes and labor disputes, and urged the court to quickly lift the frozen funds of more than 250 yuan in the bank accounts of enterprises in accordance with the law. On October 9 of the same year, the court, together with the District Public Security Bureau, the District Court and the District Market Supervision Bureau, jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Collaborative Protection of Intellectual Property Rights", which carried out work from the aspects of establishing a normalized liaison mechanism, establishing and improving the information sharing mechanism, improving the expert pool and talent pool, and promoting the identification of intellectual property rights, so as to weave a dense intellectual property protection network for new energy enterprises and help Changzhou build a "new energy capital".
Photo journalism
On March 24, 2023, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Sunit Left Banner Procuratorate organized a symposium on the theme of "Strengthening Civil and Administrative Prosecution and Helping to Optimize the Business Environment".
On March 7, 2023, the prosecutor of the Pingyi County Procuratorate of Shandong Province visited Mengshan Printing Factory in Baotai Town, Shandong Province to optimize the business environment and escort the development of private enterprises.
The Wuzhi County Procuratorate of Henan Province recently organized cadres and police officers to go into small and micro enterprises in the jurisdiction to fully understand the demands of enterprises, and in-depth publicity of administrative procuratorial functions in combination with typical cases. The picture shows the procuratorial cadres and police officers conducting face-to-face communication with employees in the production workshop of the enterprise.
Source: Procuratorate Daily, Zhenghe Weekly