China forbids bypassing authorities to file complaints
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E-mail Xinhua, April 23, 2014
A Chinese government regulation, made public on Wednesday, forbids citizens to bypass authorities to file complaints.
Central government departments will not take complaints about issues that should be handled by provincial governments or that are being processed by them, said Zhang Enxi, spokesman with the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, about the new regulation.
At local level, citizens should go to government departments that are authorized by law to handle relevant issues and governments at higher levels will not take their complaints if they jump rank, according to the regulation, scheduled to take effect on May 1.
"The purpose of this regulation is to clarify the jurisdiction, regulate the procedure and improve the efficiency of handling petitions," Zhang said. "It is expected to help citizens file petitions in a stepwise manner."
The governments will also turn down petitions that fall in the authorities of legislative bodies and judicial departments.
However, a few exceptions are left at the central level. They include complaints about corrupt officials of provincial and central governments, petitions about issues that should be addressed across provinces and sectors, as well as those that are not properly handled by provincial governments.
"Letters and calls" is a unique petitioning system installed inside China's administrations to help people express their opinions and solve problems.
The new regulation requires petition offices to follow protocol in taking citizens' petitions and record their cases in a national database.
Those that do not handle petitions properly and force citizens to turn to authorities of higher levels will be warned and punished if causing serious outcomes, according to the regulation.
Many complaints are filed each year in China, in which petitioners generally see injustice in land acquisition, social security, education, healthcare or environmental protection.
"With the rapid economic and social development in China, people's awareness of protecting their rights is growing and their interests and appeals are diversifying, a fact that has pushed up the number of petitions," said Yan Jirong, a professor with Peking University's School of Government.
Moreover, some cases that undermined judicial justice and independence have impaired the public's confidence in the judiciary and fueled the rise of petitions, Yan said.
Some petitioners have taken their grievances to a higher level if they failed to get satisfactory feedback from local petition offices, but officials often try to stop them from raising such cases with their superiors, which triggers a number of confrontations.
In the past few months, several new rules were issued to reform the petitioning system and smooth the channel.
In February, the State Bureau for Letters and Calls hailed a set of new rules highlighting the rule of law and protection of petitioners' rights.
Last month, a circular from the State Council prohibited putting petitioners under any form of confinement and promised to set up a system to dissolve conflicts and disputes by lawful means.
"Stopping petitioners from jumping rank does not mean leaving petitions unanswered. We just want to better distribute them so that problems can be solved better and more efficiently," Zhang said.
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