二、依法行政保障公民合法权益
依法行政,建设法治政府,是人权法治化保障的重要环节。中共十八大以来,中国推进政府职权法定化,严格规范行政执法,强化对行政权力的制约和监督,全面实施《法治政府建设实施纲要(2015-2020年)》,有效维护广大人民群众合法权益。
依法明确行政权力边界。职权法定是依法行政的前提。国家加快推进行政机构、职能、权限、程序、责任法定化,禁止行政机关法外设定权力,把权力关进制度的笼子。深入推进行政审批制度改革,中共十八大以来,国务院部门累计取消行政审批事项618项,彻底清除非行政许可审批,中央指定地方实施行政许可事项目录清单取消269项,国务院行政审批中介服务清单取消320项,国务院部门设置的职业资格许可和认定事项削减比例达70%以上,3次修订政府核准的投资项目目录,中央层面核准的投资项目数量累计减少90%。实施权力清单、责任清单制度,将政府职能、法律依据、职责权限等内容以权力清单的形式向社会公开,截至2016年,全国31个省级政府部门均已公布权力清单。加强规范性文件监督管理,行政机关规范性文件不得设定行政许可、行政处罚、行政强制,各类行政法规、规章和规范性文件都已纳入备案审查范围,实现“有件必备,有备必审,有错必究”。
II. Promoting Law-based Administration to Protect the Citizens' Lawful Rights and Interests
Law-based administration is important in legal protection of human rights. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has made it clear that all government functions and powers must be provided for in the law, strictly regulated the administrative enforcement of law, strengthened checks and scrutiny over government power, and put into effect the "Implementation Outline for Building a Law-based Government (2015-2020)", thereby effectively protecting the people's legitimate rights and interests.
Delimiting administrative power in accordance with the law. That all government functions and powers are provided for in the law is the prerequisite for law-based administration. The state has accelerated the process of defining in law the administrative structure and its functions, powers, procedures and responsibilities, prohibited administrative organs from expanding power beyond the law, and confined the exercise of power in an institutional "cage."
China is also pressing ahead with the reform of administrative approval. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the State Council departments have canceled the requirement for administrative approval on 618 items and put an end to the practice of non-administrative approval, and 269 items designated by the central government for local government approvals and accreditations have been annulled. The State Council has removed 320 intermediary services from administrative approval, and cut off over 70 percent of professional qualification approvals and accreditations set by its departments. The investment catalogue for government approval has been revised three times, by means of which the number of investment items requiring central government approval has fallen by 90 percent.
China has implemented the system of power or responsibility list, through which the public can obtain information about government functions, duties and powers, and their legal basis. By 2016, 31 provincial-level governments had published such lists.
The Chinese government has strengthened the supervision and management of normative documents. Normative documents issued by government organs should not set items for administrative permission, punishment or coercion. All administrative regulations and normative documents must be filed for record and examined, and mistakes, if any, must be investigated.