Luwei (Fujian) Salt Industry Import and Export Co., Ltd. Suzhou Branch v. The Salt Administration Bureau of Suzhou Municipality, Jiangsu Province, A Salt Industry Administrative Penalty Case Guiding Case No. 5 (Discussed and Passed by the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People’s Court Released on April 9, 2012) CHINA GUIDING CASES PROJECT English Guiding Case (EGC5) June 30, 2015 Edition * * The citation of this translation of the Guiding Case is:《鲁潍（福建）盐业进出口有限公司苏州分公司 诉江苏省苏州市盐务管理局盐业行政处罚案》 (Luwei (Fujian) Salt Industry Import and Export Co., Ltd. Suzhou Branch v. The Salt Administration Bureau of Suzhou Municipality, Jiangsu Province, A Salt Industry Administrative Penalty Case ), CHINA GUIDING CASES PROJECT , English Guiding Case (EGC5), June 30, 2015 Edition , available at http://cgc.law.stanford.edu/guiding -cases/guiding -case -5. This document was primarily prepared by CUI Heshan, REN He, Christine Qingyu Liu, Carl Rubinstein, Joelle Tjahjadi, WEI Chuchu, and Randy Wu. The document was finalized by Dimitri Phillips, Jordan Corrente Beck, and Dr. Mei Gechlik. Minor editing, such as splitting long paragraphs, adding a few words included in square brackets, and boldfacing the headings to correspond with those boldfaced in the original Chinese version, was done to make the piece more comprehensible to readers. The following text, otherwise, is a direct translation of the original text and reflects formatting of the Chinese document released by the Supreme People’s Court. The following Guiding Case was discussed and passed by the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China and was released on April 9, 2012, available at http://www.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2012/04/id/478572.shtml. See also 《最高人民法院关于发布第二批指导 性案例的通知》 (The Supreme People’s Court’s Notice Concerning the Release of the Second Batch of Guiding Cases ), Apr. 9, 2012, available at http://tjjnfy.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2014/05/id/1298622.shtml. Copyright 2015 by Stanford University 2 2015.06.30 Edition Keywords Administrative Administrative Licensing Administrative Penalty Refer to Rules Salt Industry Administration Main Points of the Adjudication 1. [Since] the laws and administrative regulations on salt industry administration do not establish administrative licensing for industrial salt transportation permits, neither local regulations nor local government rules can establish any new administrative licensing for industrial salt transportation permits. 2. [Since] the laws and administrative regulations on salt industry administration do not impose administrative penalties on [any] enterprises other than salt industry companies for operating salt wholesale business, local government rules cannot establish administrative penalties for this behavior. 3. Where local government rules establish licensing or penalties in violation of legal provisions, the people’s courts [shall] not apply [the local government rules] in administrative adjudication. Related Legal Rule(s) 1. Article 15, Paragraph 1; Article 16, Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 3 of the Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of China 1 2. Article 13 of the Administrative Penalties Law of the People’s Republic of China 2 3. Article 53, Paragraph 1 of the Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China ;3 Article 79 of the Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China 4 1 《中华人民共和国行政许可法》 (Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of China ), passed and issued on Aug. 27, 2003, effective as of Jul. 1, 2004, available at http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2005 - 06/27/content_9899.htm. 2 《中华人民共和国行政处罚法 》(Administrative Penalties Law of the People’s Republic of China ), passed and issued on Mar. 17, 1996, effective as of Oct.1, 1996, amended and effective as of Aug. 27, 2009, available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/wxzl/gongbao/2000 -12/05/content_5004656.htm and http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/xinwen/2009 -08/27/content_1538233.htm. 3 《中华人民共和国行政诉讼法》 (Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China ), passed and issued on Apr. 4, 1989, effective as of Oct. 1, 1990, amended on Nov. 1, 2014, effective as of May 1, Copyright 2015 by Stanford University 3 2015.06.30 Edition Basic Facts of the Case Plaintiff Luwei (Fujian) Salt Industry Import and Export Co., Ltd. Suzhou Branch ( 鲁潍 （福建）盐业进出口有限公司苏州分公司 ) (hereinafter referred to as “Luwei Company”) claimed: the Salt Administration Bureau of Suzhou Municipality, Jiangsu Province ( 江苏省苏州 市盐务管理局 ) (hereinafter referred to as the “Suzhou Salt Bureau”), the defendant, pursuant to the Implementing Measure of Jiangsu Province on the “Salt Industry Administration Regulation” (hereinafter referred to as the “Jiangsu Salt Industry Implementing Measure ”), 5 determined that Luwei Company’s purchase and transportation of industrial salt without approval was illegal, and imposed administrative penalties on Luwei Company. The specific administrative act [of the Suzhou Salt Bureau demonstrated] enforcement of law by the wrong body, as well as an erroneous application of law. The Suzhou Salt Bureau had no authority to conduct industrial salt administration and had no corresponding law enforcement power. According to various provisions including those in the Notice on the Measure for Improving the Supply, Sale, and Price Control of Industrial Salt [issued by] the former State Planning Commission and the former State Economic and Trade Commission, 6 the State had cancelled the transportation permit and the transportation seal systems for industrial salt, and industrial salt was not a commodity whose trade was restricted by the State. The relevant provisions of the Jiangsu Salt Industry Implementing Measure were inconsistent with the spirit of the aforementioned provisions. They not only violated the State Council’s Provisions on the Prohibition of Regional Blockades in 2015, available at http://www.spp.gov.cn/sscx/201502/t20150217_91466.shtml. A full text version of the Administrative Litigation Law of the People's Republic of China as first passed is available at http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2006 -10/29/content_1499268.htm (hereinafter “ Old Administrative Litigation Law ”). In this Guiding Case, all references to the “ Administrative Litigation Law ” are to the Old Administrative Litigation Law because the Guiding Case was released prior to the amendment of the law. 4 《中华人民共和国立法法》 (Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China ), passed and issued on Mar. 15, 2000, effective as of July 1, 2000, amended on and effective as of Mar. 15, 2015, available at http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2015 -03/18/content_2835648.htm. A full text version of the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China as first passed is available at http://www.gov.cn/test/2005 -08/13/content_22423.htm (hereinafter “ Old Legislation Law”). In this Guiding Case, all references to the “ Legislation Law ” are to Old Legislation Law because the Guiding Case was released prior to the amendment of the law. 5 《江苏省〈盐业管理条例〉实施办法》 (Implementing Measure of Jiangsu Province on the “Salt Industry Administration Regulation” ), passed by the People’s Government of Jiangsu Province on June 27, 1991, issued on and effective as of Oct. 4, 1991, amended four times, most recently on Feb. 16, 2012, effective as of Feb. 26, 2012, available at http://www.changshu.gov.cn/zgcs/Zfxxgk/showinfo.aspx?infoid=2609f4d3 -ecfd -4535 -a8ef - 5f38ff2b1608&categoryNum=001002002003 and http://www.js.gov.cn/jsgov/tj/bgt/201311/t20131104405412.html. 6 《国家计委、国家经贸委关于改进工业盐供销和价格管理办法的通知》 (Notice of the State Planning Commission and the State Economic and Trade Commission on the Measure for Improving the Supply, Sale, and Price Control of Industrial Salt ), issued by the State Planning Commission and the State Economic and Trade Commission on and effective as of Nov. 8, 1995, available at http://www.suzhou.gov.cn/asite/show.asp?ID=7300 (stating that “the current planned allocation of industrial salt is changed to contract orders made under the guidance of the State Plan on Total Quantity” and that “the current systems on industrial salt transportation permits and seals are cancelled.”) Copyright 2015 by Stanford University 4 2015.06.30 Edition Market Economic Activities ,7 but also violated provisions of the Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Administrative Licensing Law ”) and the Administrative Penalties Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Administrative Penalties Law ”). [These violations] were a type of establishment of administrative licensing and penalties in violation of upper -level legislation. Therefore, [the plaintiff] requested that the court revoke the (Su) Yan Zheng Yi Ban [2009] No. 001 -B Penalty Decision made by the Suzhou Salt Bureau. The Suzhou Salt Bureau, the defendant, defended its position, claiming: based on Article 4 of the State Council’s Salt Industry Administration Regulation 8 and Article 4 of the Jiangsu Salt Industry Implementing Measure , the Suzhou Salt Bureau had the corresponding authority to impose administrative penalties in the salt industry. The Jiangsu Salt Industry Implementing Measure was formulated in accordance with the authority granted by the Salt Industry Administration Regulation . [Thus,] it was a type of [legislation] authorized by regulations and was legal and valid in its entirety. The administrative penalties imposed by the Suzhou Salt Bureau in accordance with the provisions on the transportation permit system stated in the