Explain by case

Case review:
In March 2025, the Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of a district government in Sichuan discovered during the review of major administrative penalty filings that the district’s market supervision bureau’s penalty decision on a company required the parties concerned to pay the fine directly into the bureau’s account. This practice was suspected of violating the mandatory provisions of the "Administrative Penalty Law" on "separation of fines and payments", and the Supervision Bureau immediately initiated supervision procedures in accordance with the law.

Supervision and investigation:
The Supervision Bureau comprehensively reviewed all administrative penalty case files of the District Market Supervision Bureau since March 2024 and questioned relevant personnel. It was found that in all penalty cases of the Bureau, the parties were informed to pay the fines to the account of the Bureau, and then the Bureau transferred them to the special financial account on their own. The Supervision Bureau ordered rectification within a time limit. While correcting violations, the Bureau also carried out special warning education and training, used cases to promote reform, drew inferences from one case, and comprehensively standardized the fine collection process.

Typical warnings:
The "separation of fines and payments" system aims to prevent corruption from the source and ensure fair law enforcement. In this case, the Market Supervision Bureau withheld fines from our account for a long time, which not only violated the express provisions of the law, but also easily led to profit-oriented law enforcement chaos. The supervision department's approach of starting from individual cases, tracing back to all case files, and urging rectification to be in place provides a replicable and promoteable model for grassroots law enforcement supervision. Lawyer Ying Ting reminds that if a company encounters similar legal problems, it can find a professional team of lawyers to protect its rights.

Case: A case in which the market supervision bureau of a certain district in Sichuan failed to implement the separation of fines and payments

【Key words】

Market supervision, filing and review, separation of fines and payments

[Basic case facts]

In March 2025, the Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of a district government in a certain city in Sichuan discovered through a review of the filing of major administrative penalty decisions that the district's Market Supervision Bureau, in its administrative penalty decision on a company in January 2025, required the parties to pay fines directly to the account of the bureau, and was suspected of failing to implement the relevant provisions on the separation of fines and payments. The Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of the District Government decided to carry out supervision in accordance with the law.

【Supervision and processing】

The Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of the District Government comprehensively reviewed the administrative penalty case files issued by the District Market Supervision Bureau since 2024 and questioned relevant personnel. It has been verified that from March 2024 to February 2025, in all administrative penalty cases issued by the bureau, the parties were informed to pay the fines to the account of the bureau, and then the bureau transferred the fines to the special financial account. The District Government Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau requires the District Market Supervision Bureau to make rectifications on a regular basis. While making rectifications as required, the District Market Supervision Bureau carried out special warning education and training within the system, used cases to promote reform, drew inferences from one instance, self-examination and self-correction, and strictly implemented the system of separation of fines and payments.

【Typical meaning】

"Separation of fines and payments" is an important system established in the "Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China", which aims to prevent corruption from the source and ensure fair law enforcement. In this case, the District Market Supervision Bureau required the parties to pay the fines into the bureau's account, which not only violated the mandatory provisions of the law, but also easily led to problems such as profit-seeking law enforcement. The Administrative Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau of the District Government has launched supervision procedures in accordance with the law. The supervision is from point to point, and extends from individual cases to all penalty case files of the District Market Supervision Bureau since 2024. It traces the source of the problem, orders it to correct the illegal behavior, and supervises its rectification in place, and effectively transforms the supervision effect into the actual effect of the standardization of administrative law enforcement.