A more stringent examination should be made of local administrative regulations to ensure they are legitimate, says an article in the Beijing News. An excerpt follows:

The municipal government of Dalian of Northeast China's Liaoning Province recently passed a regulation to prohibit begging in many parts of the city.

This is obviously absurd and the rule's legitimacy highly questionable.

People cannot help but ask whether it is discriminating to limit the personal freedom of a group just because of their unique way of living, despite the fact that they don't harm anyone.

A second question is whether a municipal government is allowed to formulate such a regulation.

China's law stipulates that only the National People's Congress (NPC) and its standing committee can make laws depriving or limiting citizens' rights or personal freedoms.

But Dalian's regulation prohibiting begging falls right into this category.

When a city coins a regulation to improve law and order, the new regulation should be legitimate according to both the Constitution and the law.

There was a similar example in Beijing last year when there was a suggestion that begging should be banned in certain areas of the city. However, the idea was soon dropped as it was thought to be against current laws.

We wonder whether the municipal government of Dalian did proper research on the legitimacy of the regulation before it was passed.

Regrettably, there has not been an effective examination of such local regulations.

In line with the legislative process, administrative regulations formulated and passed by the city government are effective as long as the mayor has signed it. In other words, the regulation cannot be revoked by any local institution although many may think it is far from reasonable.

With the prevailing laws and regulations, the only way to challenge such a local regulation is to have citizens or institutions apply to the NPC Standing Committee to have its legitimacy examined.

But are there such citizens or institutions that are willing to do so? That is the question.

(China Daily 05/18/2005 page4)