The public right to lodge complaints against government actions and decisions was strengthened by a new regulation that took effect yesterday.

The Regulation on Implementing Administrative Review Law follows the Administrative Review Law adopted in 1999.

Compared with the older law, the new version obliges the government to respond to all complaints from the public.

"If the administrative review department does not accept and carry out a review, a higher administrative department can order it to do so, and can directly hear a complaint when necessary," the law says.

"If the application does not meet the requirements for a review, government departments should inform the applicant.

"The public can also apply for a public hearing for a review during major complaint cases."

For example, officials from a company with 500 employees can apply for a public hearing during a review if the firm's license has been revoked by an industrial and commerce department.

In order to encourage the public to attempt more administrative reviews, the regulation also ensures that no additional punishments will result from the process.

To ensure officials do not pass the buck, the regulation also stipulates that government bodies at all levels must take petitions seriously or their chief officials could be sacked.

Qing Feng, director of the coordination department of the State Council's legal office, said administrative reviews were an important tool that administrative organs could use to solve disputes, ease social problems and improve internal supervision.

"The new law will make it easier for the public to file complaints to the government than to file lawsuits or petitions," he said.

"Many disputes can be settled at the grassroots level and do not have to go to court."

The regulation also says that higher-level governments and review departments are responsible for advising lower departments that have had complaints filed against them.

Administrative reviews of local governments will also be included in the annual appraisals of government work.

Mo Yuchuan, a professor at Renmin University of China, told China Daily that resolving complaints is a key part of building a service-oriented government.

Though an average of more than 80,000 disputes are resolved through administrative reviews every year, nearly 120,000 still end up in court. Seventy percent of those did not go through a review beforehand.

(China Daily 08/02/2007 page3)