Fewer certificates, more convenience --- MOJ’s great effort to advance pilot program of notification and commitment

Introduction 

Since the beginning of 2019, continued effort has been made to advance the campaign of reducing the burden of proof so as to provide further convenience for the public. Meanwhile, a reduction of administrative certificates required to start new businesses has also been repeatedly demanded in order to bring more convenience to enterprises and individuals. 

In May 2019, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) launched a pilot program of notification and commitment in 13 provincial-level regions and five ministries.

As of the end of 2019, those regions and ministries had applied the new practice to about 2,500 administrative matters that had previously required certificates in more than 60 areas including residence registration, transport, human resources and social security.

Background

By systemically trimming burdensome administrative procedures and significantly reducing the number of unreasonable administrative certificates, the practice of notification and commitment aims to bring convenience to the public, improve the business environment and raise the government's ability to provide services.

After adding the pilot program to its yearly agendas on overall law-based government and judicial administration for 2019, the MOJ issued a circular on further trimming administrative certificates, laying out the details of the program.

During the pilot period, the ministry took a variety of measures to ensure the effect of the program, including conducting on-site inspections in several involved regions and ministries, strengthening communications with them, opening a special section on its website and inviting influential media organizations to publicize the program.

Major achievements

1. Significant increase in enterprises' and people's sense of gain and happiness 

By simplifying related administrative procedures and needed materials, the involved regions and ministries tremendously relieved the burden on enterprises and the public, boosting their sense of gain and happiness.

As of the end of September 2019, the program had been applied to 63 administrative matters, leading to removal of as many as 73,194 certificates.

2. Perceived improvement in streamlining administrative procedures

As shown by an online complaint-filing platform set up by the ministry at 12348.gov.cn, China's official public legal service website, the number of certificate-related complaints fell sharply after the launch of the pilot program. For example, the platform received 865 such complaints in September 2018, whereas it got only 15 complaints in November 2019. 

3. Constant improvement in the governance capability of involved regions and ministries

As of mid-December 2019, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, for instance, had implemented notification and commitment in the application process for 12 professional technician qualification exams with over 5.32 million applicants completing their applications by making commitments online. It also handled six types of social security-related matters 151,638 times using the practice.

The city of Changshu in Jiagsu province, which was also involved in the program, applied the practice to 67 types of administrative matters, effectively shortening the processing time and lowering the cost of administrative services.

Major measures

1. Determining scope of pilot programs based on actual situations

(1) Specifying the scopes independently

Involved regions and ministries all independently determined the extent of the program as required by a work plan released by the Ministry of Justice. Regions like Liaoning and Shandong rolling out the program across their jurisdictions while other places like Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces tried the practice in selected areas.

(2) Accurately selecting administrative matters.

Involved regions and ministries selected administrative matters based on the principle of taking steps where the greatest convenience for people could be created. Some of them chose matters that are close to people's daily lives. The Ministry of Public Security, for example, decided to apply the practice in the management of residence registration. 

Others chose matters where certification is difficult. For instance, the Ministry of Natural Resources adopted the practice in the process of real estate registration.

(3) Strictly specifying the coverage of the practice 

Involved regions and ministries all strictly specify the coverage of notification and commitment according to the work plan, excluding those with a poor credit record or a history of making misrepresentations.

2. Setting rules and establishing standardized procedures

(1) Supporting the programs with rules 

Regions like Tianjin and Liaoning focused on designing at the top level, stipulating the practice of notification and commitment in their regional and departmental rules.

(2) Standardizing procedures with specific instructions 

Regions such as Sichuan, Shandong, Zhejiang and Shaanxi all issued specific instructions to standardize the procedures for notification and commitment. Some of the instructions regulate whole procedures while others target specific parts.

(3) Issuing guidelines

Jiangsu province and the Ministry of Justice, for example, developed detailed guidelines to help applicants and grassroots-level authorities grasp the procedures for notification and commitment. Jiangsu released an instruction on notification and commitment for legal aid while the Ministry of Justice formulated a template for lawyer-related administrative licensing.

3. Exploring efficient and convenient in-process and post-event checking methods

(1) Enhancing the application of information technology and facilitating online checking

Regions including Shandong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Hainan, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai have raised their checking efficiency by strengthening information sharing with one another. 

(2) Enhancing administrative assistance to guarantee offline checking

Regions like Shaanxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Gansu and Shandong conducted offline checking for matters that can't easily be checked online by administrative means. The city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province, for example, established an inter-departmental investigation assistance mechanism and formulated a request letter for such assistance.

(3) Making commitment letters public in order to invite social supervision

Provinces like Jiangsu and Guangdong invited social supervision by publicizing commitment letters or receiving complaints through hotlines.

4. Intensifying credit management and discipline

(1) Setting up credit archives

Regions such as Tianjin, Sichuan, Hainan, Guangdong and Liaoning as well as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security all established a credit archive system which records bad-faith behaviors and publicizes them on public credit information-sharing platforms.

(2) Intensifying joint discipline

Regions including Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Hainan as well as the Ministry of Transport strengthened the mechanism for information sharing and joint response, imposing inter-agency and cross-regional disciplinary measures against bad-faith actors in order to ensure smooth implementation of notification and commitment procedures.

(3) Establishing an exit mechanism

Jiangsu province combined its disciplinary measures with an exit mechanism in the process of piloting notification and commitment. The goal of the exit mechanism is to give applicants who made false commitments an opportunity to correct their mistakes by allowing them to apply to revoke their commitments.

(4) Exploring credit restoration mechanisms

Regions like Zhejiang and Shaanxi are also exploring credit restoration and removal of bad-faith credit while advancing the practice of notification and commitment, aimed at helping individuals with bad-faith records rectify their mistakes and building a benign credit system in society.

5. Strengthening risk control

Apart from selecting administrative matters with controllable risks, restricting the coverage of notification and commitment, strengthening in-process and after-event supervision and strengtheningdiscipline against dishonest behaviors, involved regions and ministries have also explored other effective risk control measures.

(1) Introducing a notarization and liability insurance system to diversify risks

The Ministry of Natural Resources and regions like Zhejiang and Shandong added

notarization requirements and a liability insurance system into the process of conducting notification and commitment, effectively improving their risk control ability.

(2) Establishing a commitment publicity system to prevent risks

Regions like Sichuan and Hebei have each established a commitment publicity system, effectively preventing risks arising from false commitments.

6. Scientific evaluation

(1) Improving the evaluation system

Regions like Zhejiang and Liaoning have improved their evaluation systems in an effort to promote the pilot program. Liaoning's evaluation system, for example, evaluates the work with three kinds of results, namely, good, qualified and failed, and gives awards or punishments accordingly.

(2) Summarizing and assessing the work

Regions like Hebei, Sichuan and Jiangsu have summarized what they achieved in advancing the pilot program and honestly assessed their progress.

(3) Establishing a fault tolerance and impunity mechanism

Regions like Tianjin, Shandong and Gansu have established their own fault tolerance and impunity mechanisms. For instance, Tianjin sees any mistaken administrative approval decision that is made based on an applicant's commitment as tolerable and won't give it a negative assessment. By doing so, it has greatly motivated officials who are responsible for applying the pilot practice.