The “Discretion Benchmark for Administrative Penalty for Emergency Management” has been implemented since November 1, 2024

The laws and regulations related to safety production, such as the “Safety Production Law” and the “Law on the Prevention & Control of Occupational Diseases” and etc., clarify the discretionary scope of administrative penalties. On October 1, 2010, the “Regulations on the Application of Discretionary Administrative Penalties for Work Safety (Trial)” has further specified the principles regarding the application of the relevant laws. On November 1, 2023, the “Interim Provisions on the Discretion Benchmark for Administrative Penalty for Emergency Management” prescribes a relatively detailed discretion benchmark, and replaced the regulation as implemented since October 1, 2010. On November 1, 2024, the “Discretion Benchmark for Administrative Penalty for Emergency Management” (hereinafter referred to as the “2014 Benchmark”) has been released and implemented.

The “2014 Benchmark” has clarified the detailed discretion benchmarks for 233 specific situations, and provide a list of situations that can be exempted from administrative penalties for minor violations.

Regarding the 233 specific situations, the “2014 Benchmark” describes the specific illegal behaviors, references relevant legal provisions and punishment basis, and sets discretion levels based on the severity of different illegal behaviors, based on which it stipulates corresponding punishment benchmarks. The highlight of the “2014 Benchmark” is that it has stipulated quantitative indicators in the vast majority of case.

Regarding minor illegal acts that are not subject to administrative penalties, the “2014 Benchmark” stipulates 7 specific situations, as follows:

  1. Production and business units that fail to truthfully record the investigation and treatment of accident hazards or fail to inform their employees.
  2. Production and business units that fail to report the statistical analysis table for accident hazard investigation and management in accordance with regulations.
  3. Production and business units that fail to conduct risk identification, assessment, and emergency resource investigation in accordance with regulations before drafting emergency plans.
  4. Production and business units that fail to conduct emergency plan reviews in accordance with regulations.
  5. If the accident risk may affect surrounding units and personnel, and the production and operation unit fails to inform the surrounding units and personnel of the nature, scope of impact, and emergency prevention measures of the accident risk.
  6. Production and business units that fail to conduct emergency plan assessments in accordance with regulations.
  7. Production and operation units that fail to implement emergency supplies and equipment as stipulated in the emergency plan.

However, it should be noted that the “first violation without punishment” principle as stipulated in the “Administrative Penalty Law” implemented in 2021 requires three conditions to be met simultaneously, namely first-time violation, minor harmful consequences, and timely correction. Therefore, the seven specific situations for exemption from punishment stipulated in the “2014 Benchmark” also need to meet the same conditions aforementioned.