The Measures for Administrative Punishment of Natural Resources were amended in accordance with the Decision of the Ministry of Natural Resources on the Second Batch of Repealed and Revised Departmental Regulations at the first ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Natural Resources on March 20, 2020, and the first ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Natural Resources on January 24, 2024, promulgated on January 31, 2024, and officially implemented on May 1, 2024. Shi Xining, the chief lawyer of Beijing Jingkang Law Firm, would like to talk to you about the key points worth paying attention to in the "Measures for Administrative Punishment of Natural Resources".
Interpretation of the new regulations
"Measures for Administrative Punishment of Natural Resources" is the Ministry of Natural Resources after several ministerial meetings finally formed departmental regulations, the Ministry of Natural Resources to issue and implement the "Measures", mainly because of social development and the rapid development of natural resources, the issuance and implementation of the "Measures" can more effectively punish a variety of acts related to natural resources, the "Measures" to the original "Administrative Punishment Measures for Natural Resources" has made a more comprehensive revision, the length has increased from 47 to 58 articles, of which there are several points worthy of your attention:
1. General Provisions
Additions, deletions, and amendments coexist in the newly revised General Provisions of the Measures for Administrative Punishment of Natural Resources. First of all, the addition of legal bases includes the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Management of Urban Real Estate, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Surveying and Mapping, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Urban and Rural Planning. Secondly, the number of law enforcement entities includes comprehensive law enforcement departments, township people's governments, sub-district offices and other law enforcement entities, which is more efficient than the previous "Measures for the Punishment of Natural Resources", making the punishment of natural resource violations more efficient. Finally, Article 5 is added at the end of the General Provisions: The provincial-level competent department of natural resources shall, in light of the actual situation of the social and economic development of the region, formulate the discretionary criteria for administrative punishment in accordance with the law, standardize the exercise of the discretionary power of administrative punishment, and announce it to the public.
II. Jurisdiction and Application
There are a number of additions to the jurisdiction and application of Chapter II. First of all, Article 6 gives jurisdiction over cases of illegal land, minerals, and urban and rural planning to the competent department of natural resources at the county level where the immovable property is located, and confirms the jurisdiction of the case of illegal cases of surveying, mapping and geographic information to the competent department of natural resources at the county level where the illegal act occurs. It has effectively improved the efficiency of stopping and punishing such illegal acts. Second, at the end of this chapter, jurisdictional issues related to assistance, suspected crimes, and restitution of illegal gains have been added, which greatly enriches the deficiencies in jurisdiction before the Measures.
3. Case filing, investigation and trial
Chapter III adds provisions on the right to apply for recusal if a party or relevant person believes that the investigator has a direct interest in the case or other relationships that might affect the impartial enforcement of the law, but it also provides that the party's request for recusal shall be reviewed by the competent department of natural resources in accordance with law, and the decision shall be made by the responsible person, and the investigation shall not be stopped before the decision is made. Compared with the previous provisions, such provisions not only increase the number of parties applying for recusal and protect the parties from illegal investigations, but also ensure that the investigation activities of the case will not be affected before the review decision is made. Chapter III of the Measures adds provisions on the suspension and cessation of investigations, thus avoiding an excessively lengthy investigation process.
Fourth, improve the provisions on the calculation of illegal gains and improve the listing supervision system
First of all, the Administrative Punishment Law authorizes departmental rules to provide for the calculation of illegal gains. In order to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties to the administrative punishment, combined with the actual law enforcement work of natural resources for a long time, this amendment reserves space for the reasonable determination of the scope of illegal gains, stipulating that "illegal gains refer to the funds obtained from the implementation of illegal acts of natural resources, but legal costs and inputs can be deducted, and the specific deduction measures shall be separately stipulated by the Ministry of Natural Resources".
Secondly, listing supervision is a measure for superiors to supervise subordinates and accept social supervision, which will have a significant impact on the rights and interests of the parties. Many localities have reported that the competent departments of natural resources have greater discretion in selecting and supervising cases. In order to standardize the listing supervision system, this revision clarifies that there are eight major illegal cases that can be supervised by the competent departments of natural resources at or above the provincial level, such as illegal occupation of cultivated land, especially a large area of permanent basic farmland, causing serious damage to planting conditions, and upgrading the practice of natural resources administrative law enforcement to rules and regulations.
To sum up, I can see that the "Measures for Administrative Punishment of Natural Resources" announced and implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources this time is more perfect. Compared with the original Measures for Administrative Punishment of Natural Resources, the new Measures focus on improving the scope of application, types of penalties, jurisdictional provisions, calculation of illegal gains, and supervision of listing. This has played an important role in standardizing the exercise of administrative penalties for natural resources and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and will inevitably become an important basis for administrative reconsideration and litigation to review the legality of administrative punishments.
Director Shi reminded
Demolition and relocation is a long-term struggle that requires comprehensive professional knowledge, control of the overall situation, and rational application of the law. Even a lawyer with many years of litigation experience is constantly learning and updating, so that he can calmly analyze and make correct judgments in a case. And for non-law-abiding people, this is a huge subject that cannot be achieved by just a short period of time. Therefore, when encountering any demolition problems, you may wish to ask a lawyer and carry out professional rights protection under the guidance of a lawyer.