Provisions on the Legislative Procedures for Radio，Film and Television

(Promulgated on June 18，2004 by the State Administration of Radio，Film and Television as Decree No.23 and effective as of August1，2004)

Chapter Ⅰ　General Provisions

Article 1　These Provisions are enacted in accordancewith the Legislation Law，Rule-Making Procedures for Administrative Regulations and Rule-Making Procedures for Ministerial Regulations to raise the quality of legislation and to promote the normalization and standardization of legislation on radio，film and television.

Article 2　These Provisions shall apply to the preparation of the legislative plan and the drafting，examination，adoption，promulgation，recordation，interpretation，reevaluation and repeal of laws，administrative and ministerial regulations and other normative instruments by the State Administration of Radio，Film and Television(hereinafter referred to as the SARFT).

Article 3　Formulation of laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations shall strictly comply with the principles and procedures established in the Legislation Law，Rule-Making Procedures for Administrative Regulations and Rule-Making Procedures for Ministerial Regulations.

The name of laws and administrative and ministerial regulations shall be consistentwith the content thereof.

Article 4　The Legislative Department shall be responsible for the following in the legislative process:

(1)to prepare，organize and supervise the implementation of the legislative scheme;

(2)to draft，organize and supervise the implementation of the annual legislative plan;

(3)to organize the drafting of laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations;

(4)to examine the legislative proposals prepared by the various departments;

(5)to organize，supervise and coordinate legislative studies;

(6)to prepare replies to inquiries from the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee，legislative agencies and variousministries，commissions，bureaus and offices of the State Council on laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations;

(7)to examine the recordation ofministerial regulations and other normative instruments;

(8)to coordinate the interpretation ofministerial regulations;and

(9)to organize the reevaluation and compilation of laws，administrative regulations，ministerial regulations and other normative instruments.

Article 5　Other departments shall be responsible for the following in the legislative process:

(1)to provide an annual plan for proposed laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations;

(2)to draftministerial regulations related to the responsibilities of its own department.If the proposed regulation involves the responsibilities of more than two departments，the department in charge shall coordinate with the relevant departments to prepare a joint draft;

(3)to oversee the implementation of laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations;

(4)to assist the Legislative Department in its replies to inquiries from the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee，legislative agencies and various ministries，commissions，bureaus and offices of the State Council into laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations and provide an opinion on issues pertaining to the responsibilities of its own department;

(5)to record normative instruments;and

(6)to organize and interpret ministerial regulations and other normative instruments relating to its own department's responsibilities.

Chapter Ⅱ　Legislative Plan

Article 6　The Legislative Department shall prepare the annual legislative plan.Other departmentsmay make suggestions in the annual legislative plan with regard to proposed laws，administrative regulations andministerial regulations.If the proposed legislation involves the responsibilities ofmore than two departments，the department in charge shall submit the legislative proposal jointly with the other departments.

Article 7　Legislative proposals shall include the following content:

(1)name of the laws，administrative regulations and ministerial regulations to be drafted or revised when necessary;

(2)major schemes to be established，administrative licensing and administrative penalties to be prescribed;

(3)the person responsible for drafting the proposal(including that person's contact details)，the completion date and a drafting schedule;and

(4)other issueswhich need to be clarified.

If the legislative proposal does not include analysis on the necessity of the law，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations to be drafted or revised，or if the major schemes to be established are inconsistentwith the provisions of the Administrative Licensing Law and the Administrative Penalty Law，it shall not be included in the legislative plan.

Article 8　Legislation governing matters which fall within Articles 8 and 56 of the Legislation Law shall be promulgated as laws or administrative regulations.

Legislation governing the following issueswithin the responsibilities of the SARFT shall be promulgated asministerial regulations:

(1)rules prescribing administrative penalties;

(2)rules prescribing administrative licensing;

(3)major changes to administrativemethods;

(4)matters having significant effect on the interest of the concerned party;and

(5)matters requiring the cooperation of other agencies under the State Council.

Article 9　The Legislative Department shall prepare an annual draft legislative plan based on the suggestions of other departments and submit it to the director or the deputy director in charge of approval.

Article 10　A legislative plan for laws and administrative regulations shall be submitted to the State Council or the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress after obtaining approval from the SARFT.

Chapter Ⅲ　Drafting and Exam ination

Article 11　A supervising committee and a drafting committee shall be established for the drafting of laws and administrative regulations.The supervising committee shall be presided over by the director or the deputy director in charge.The drafting committee shall be presided over by the chief of the Legislative Department or the relevant department.Members of the drafting committee shall consist of a staffmade up of the Legislative Department and the relevant departments which shall have a relatively stable personnel structure.Necessary funds shall be allocated for the drafting committee.In principle，an expert advisory team shall be assembled for the drafting.

In principle，the drafting of ministerial regulations shall be the responsibility of the relevant department.In the event that the responsibilities of more than two departments coincide，the department in charge shall undertake its drafting responsibilities jointly with other relevant departments.The Legislative Department shall participate when necessary and may also be directly responsible for the drafting.

Article 12　The drafting of laws，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations shall all conform to a standard of legal uniformity and shall not conflictwith a superior piece of legislation.Administrative regulations and ministerial regulations shall be integrated consistently with relevant lawswhich are currently valid.

If existing laws，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations are superseded by newly promulgated laws，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations，it shall be expressly stated that these laws will be repealed henceforth.

Article 13　During the drafting of laws，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations，relevant domestic and foreign legislation shall be collected.Opinions of people in the radio，film and television industries，and parties affected by the proposed legislation shall be collected through written response，seminars or discussions.If the proposed legislation is closely related to the responsibilities of other agencies of the State Council，the opinions of the relevant agencies shall be adequately considered.

If the proposed law or administrative regulation adds new administrative licensing items， new administrative penalties or increases their severity，or if the proposed ministerial regulation specifically prescribes rules for administrative licensing or administrative penalties provided by superior pieces of legislation，or if the proposed law，administrative regulation or ministerial regulation adds new payment items，a hearing shall be held regarding such changes.Public opinion shall be sought when necessary.If a hearing is held，it shall be conducted in a manner and procedure provided by relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 14　During the drafting of laws，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations，the process of seeking comments shall be documented in full detail.If there is a major divergence in opinions，thorough discussion shall be allowed.If such a divergence cannot be eliminated through discussion，this shall be noted in the draft submitted for approvalwith an explanation on why one opinion was chosen over the others.

Article 15　The drafting of laws，administrative regulations or ministerial regulations shall ensure that the proposed regulation is well-structured，logical，clear，concise，accurate and practical.It shall conform to the standards of legislative language and formalities.

Laws and administrative regulations may be organized by parts，chapters and subchapters.Complicated ministerial regulations may be organized by chapters，but in general，not as subchapters.The content of the laws，administrative regulations orministerial regulations shall be organized by articles.Each Article may be organized by clauses，items and points.Clauses shall not be numbered，and items with points shall be numbered.

The sequence of articles shall be identified by Chinese numerals.Itemswill be numbered by Chinese numerals in brackets and points shall be identified by Arabic numerals.

Article 16　An explanation of the proposed law，administrative regulation or ministerial regulation shall be prepared with the draft legislation when submitted for approval.It shall include justification of the necessity of the legislation，a summary of the drafting process explaining major issues，the results of opinion consultations and any divergence of opinions，the name，articles and contents of the normative instruments being revised.

Article 17　Drafting ofministerial regulations shall be conducted in strict compliance with the provisions of the Administrative Licensing Law and the Administrative Penalty Law，such as:

(1)no administrative licensing itemsmay be created;

(2)regarding regulations prescribing specific conditions for administrative licensing，no additional requirements shall be added in violation of superior legislation;

(3)new administrative penalties and their scope shall be limited to an administrative warning and subject to a fine of up to RMB 30，000;and

(4)prescription of administrative restrainingmeasures.

Article 18　Draft laws or administrative regulations to be submitted for approval and their accompanying explanation，and draft ministerial regulations and their accompanying explanations，prepared by the Legislative Department shall be submitted to the director or the deputy director in charge for approval and recommended for consideration at a SARFT meeting.

Article 19　If other departments are responsible for the drafting of a ministerial regulation，those departments shall send 10 copies of the draft legislation with accompanying explanations to the Legislative Department for examination.A written record of the comments it receives and relevant domestic and foreign legislation shall also be sent together.

If a complete set of materials is not received by the Legislative Department，it may require the department responsible for drafting to supply the missing documents.Otherwise，the proposed legislation shall not be examined.

Article 20　Upon examination of the drafted ministerial regulations，the Legislative Department shall consider comments from all parties and revise the draft after consultation with the department responsible for drafting.It shall then prepare the draft and a revised explanation for consideration at the SARFTmeeting.

If the Legislative Department finds that any provision of the draft conflicts with Articles 12 to 16，it shall coordinate with the department responsible for drafting to revise it accordingly.

The draft ministerial regulation and its explanation can be signed by the persons in charge of the Legislative Department and the department responsible for the drafting.If joint signatures are required，it shall be jointly signed by the relevant departments and submitted to the director or the deputy director in charge for approval and recommended for consideration at the SARFTmeeting.

Chapter Ⅳ　Adoption and Promulgation

Article 21　A draft of the proposed law，administrative regulation or ministerial regulation shall be considered and adopted at a SARFTmeeting.

The Legislative Department shall explain the proposed law or administrative regulation when it is being considered.

The Legislative Department or the department responsible for drafting shall explain the proposed ministerial regulation when it is being considered.

Article 22　A draft of the proposed law or administrative regulation that has been adopted in principle at a SARFT meeting shall be revised by the drafting committee and submitted to the director for signature.It shall then be submitted to the State Council in accordance with the procedures established in the Legislation Law and the Procedures for the Promulgation of Administrative Regulations.

A draft of the proposed ministerial regulation that has been adopted in principle at a SARFTmeeting shall be revised by the Legislative Department after consultation with the department responsible for its drafting and then submitted to the Director for endorsement and promulgation in the form of a SARFT document.

Article 23　Ministerial regulations shall be promptly published on the official SARFT web site(www.chinasarft.gov.cn)after their promulgation.

Ministerial regulations jointly promulgated by the SARFT and other agencies of the State Council shall be jointly signed for promulgation by the directors and chiefs of other agencies. The promulgation shall use the decree number of the agency in charge.

Article 24　Generally，ministerial regulations shall take effect no earlier than 30 days after their promulgation.

Chapter Ⅴ　Interpretation and Recordation

Article 25　The power to interpret laws may only be exercised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

For laws drafted by the SARFT，if the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress asks for an opinion on their interpretation，the Legislative Department shall coordinate with the department responsible for its drafting and prepare an opinion to submit to the director or the deputy director in charge for signature，approval and reply in the form of a SARFT document.

Article 26　The power to interpret administrative regulationsmay only be exercised by the State Council.

If the State Council asks for an opinion on the interpretation of administrative regulations drafted by the SARFT，the Legislative Department shall coordinate with the department responsible for its drafting and prepare an opinion to submit to the director or the deputy director who will be in charge of endorsing and approving the opinion，and replying to the State Council with an opinion in the form of a SARFT document.

Article 27　The power to interpretministerial regulations shall only be exercised by the SARFT.If aministerial regulation requires interpretation，the department responsible for its drafting shall prepare an opinion which will be sent to the Legislative Department for examination，or the Legislative Departmentmay prepare the opinion.Upon the joint signing of the relevant departments，it shall be submitted to the director or the deputy director in charge for signature and issuance in the form of a SARFT document.

Interpretation of ministerial regulations shall have equal validity as a ministerial regulation.

Article 28　Within 30 days of the promulgation of a ministerial regulation，the Legislative Department shall prepare a report and submit the same as 10 copies of the ministerial regulation and its explanation to the legislative affairs agency of the State Council for recording purposes.

The department responsible for drafting other normative instruments shall，within 30 days of the promulgation of the normative instrument，send a copy of the normative instrument to the Legislative Department for recordation.If the normative instrument is found to be illegally established in the areas of administrative licensing，administrative penalties or administrating restraining measures，the Legislative Department shall indicate this to the department responsible for its drafting andmake recommendations to the director or the deputy director in charge of the revision and repeal process.

Chapter Ⅵ　Reevaluation，Compilation，Revision and Repeal

Article 29　The Legislative Department shall frequently reevaluate existing administrative regulations and ministerial regulations with other departments and make recommendations for revision or repeals based on the result of such reevaluations.

Article 30　The Legislative Department shall annually compile all laws，administrative regulations，ministerial regulations and other important normative instruments promulgated in the previous year.

Article 31　The Legislative Department shall，at the suggestion of the relevant departments，examine the proposed revision or repeal of laws and administrative regulations and submit the same to the SARFT for approval.Upon approval，it shall be submitted to the legislative agencies of the State Council.

The Legislative Department，at the suggestion of various departments，shall examine the repeal ofministerial regulations and submit them to the SARFT for approval.Upon approval，it shall be signed by the director and promulgated as a SARFT decree.

Chapter Ⅶ　Supplementary Provisions

Article 32　Joint promulgation of regulations by the SARFT and other ministries，commissions or directly administered agencies under the State Council shall be conducted in accordance with these Provisions.

Article 33　Drafting，examination and other procedures in promulgating other normative instruments shall be conducted with reference to these Provisions.

Promulgation of local ordinances and local government regulations for radio，film and television by relevant local administrative departments may be conducted with reference to these Provisions.

Article 34　These Provisions shall take effect on August 1，2004.The Rule-Making Procedures on Radio，Film and Television promulgated by the Ministry of Radio，Film and Television on March 8，1989 as Document No.［1989］150 shall be repealed simultaneously.