On The Rule Of Law In Industry

In recent years,China has been committed to promoting the integrated development of the rule of law in country,government,and society,which is expected to be approximately in place before 2035.It is not only a major theoretical issue but also an urgent practical issue to judge whether the rule of law in society has been almost achieved.Based on the fact that society is composed of various industries,the establishment of the rule of law in society can be achieved through establishing the rule of law in various industries.Just as the rule of law in society is a situation where the rule of law in social field has been realized,the rule of law in industry can be understood as a governance process in which the rule of law is implemented in various industries gradually.As we know,law is a prerequisite for the rule of law.Accordingly,the rule of law in an industry can be achieved only when corresponding laws are implemented in this industry.Therefore,to study the rule of law in an industry,it is necessary to study all relevant laws in this industry first.Likewise,to study the laws in an industry,an in-depth research of "industry" should be conducted at first.Since the reform and opening up,a large number of laws regulating relevant industries have been enacted in China,a so-called phenomena of "industry into law" has emerged in many industries,which brings about a unique theme of "industry in law".Empirical analysis of the phenomenon of "industry into law" shows that the definition of “industry” has changed from an old economic concept to a new legal one.And the phenomenon of "industry into law" can be observed in about 30% of existing laws,administrative regulations and administrative rules except procedural law.What's more,"industry" is also stipulated in the current Constitution,this declares the constitutional status of "industry" in China.In general,the forms of "industry" explained in various laws include industry planning,industry standards,industry self-discipline,industry integrity,industry monopoly,industry entities,industry associations,industry employees etc.Due to the existence of "industry into law" phenomenon,it can be said that the discipline of industry law does exist,and the rule of law in industry is quite possible.The phenomenon of “industry into law” is a legal response to the changes of all kinds of industries in the social structure.The industry law is the latest manifestation of the development of legal socialization.Through systematically reviewing the historical research results concerning industry law,it can be found that although there are still divergence of academic viewpoints,some theoretical consensus has been reached.It is agreed that the industry law is a system consisting of "hard law" and "soft law." The emerging industry law help to address some problems such as the barriers existed in different disciplines under traditional sectoral system,as well as its instability and limitations.Therefore,industry law should be recognized as a new member not only in China's legal system but also in the system of legal science like sectoral law.Between industry law and sectoral law,two types of relations can be observed,that is,in some cases they are intersected and overlapped,while in other they are included by each other.The logic of proposing the rule of law in industry is mainly based on the broadness and flexibility of the concept of the rule of law.In a sense,the rule of law in industry is a kind of rule of law with a "mixed" character,because it is a combination of the rule of "hard law" and the rule of "soft law",legal supervision and legal autonomy,as well as the horizontal system(the rule of law in various industries)and the vertical system(including industry legislation,industry regulation,industry dispute resolution and industry autonomy).Meanwhile,the rule of law in industry is very complicated.It is is a reflection of the pluralism of legal subjects,the diversity of legal norms,the differences of industry governance,the co-governance of operational mechanisms,and the comprehensiveness of regulation scope.In view of the fact that rights protection,fairness and justice,scientific development and autonomy should be implemented in the process of the rule of law in industry,it can be asserted that the rule of law in industry is not fake but true.Finally,the rule of law in industry is very meaningful.From the prospective of the development of the rule of law,the rule of law in industry is conducive to expanding the theoretical space of the rule of law and making up for the shortcomings of the traditional rule of law.And further more,it also contributes to the improvement of national governance system.From the prospective of industry development,the rule of law in industry not only helps to promote governance in multi-level and multi-disciplinary to advance the develoment of indutry,but also helps to establish standards for industry governance to regulate industry development and provide shelter for emerging industry.The rule of law in an industry can promote the development of this industry while in turn the development of an industry can also help promote the rule of law in this industry.This is actually a virtuous circulation.To achieve the rule of law in industry,four foundations including economic,political,social,and legal foundation are indispensable.The economic foundation refers to the further development of social division of labor.The political foundation is related to the gradual establishment of political systems characterized by separation of government and enterprise,and separation of government and institution.The social foundation involves the emergence of a large number of industrial organizations.The legal foundation means that law system in an industry is gradually improved.Like the rule of law in society,the rule of law in industry also includes three elements such as subject,rule and practice,which are essential to promote the development of the rule of law in industry.In addition,as the main embodiment of "industry" in the law,industry standards,industry associations and industry autonomy constitute the basic elements of the rule of law in industry.Industry standard is a broad concept,it is a kind of "soft law" in a sense,and can further promote the socialization,flexibility and operability of the rule of law in industry.Industry associations are important participants in the rule of law in industry,and they can promote the development of the rule of law in industry by participating in legislation,dispute resolution,regulation and management.Industry autonomy is both rights and power.It first promotes the development of the rule of law in industry through a lot of autonomy norms.However,in the process of operation of the rule of law in industry,only when supervision and autonomy are always in a dynamic balance,can industry autonomy promote the development of the rule of law in industry in a maximum way.In an ideal condition,the rule of law in industry is perfect.But in actual operation,the main components that determine the effectiveness of the rule of law in industry,including industry legislation,industry regulation,industry dispute resolution and industry autonomy,still have some shortcomings.So it is necessary to adopt suitable measures to improve them.In terms of industry legislation,there are still some difficulties to classify the industry accurately,narrow departmentalism can be observed in many relevant government agencies when drafting bills,industry laws are lagging behind actual needs,the legislation on industry associations is incomplete,and cross-industry standardization coordination mechanisms is lacked.To solve all these problems,the first thing is to establish a legislative system as professional working committees instead of government agencies to draft bills.Third parties such as industry associations should be entrusted by legislature to draft bills.Secondly,industry associations should be empowered to formulate industry standards currently undertaken by relevant government agencies.It is also necessary to establish a system that harmonizes the standards of different industries and promotes comprehensive standards to regulate different fields when viable.Thirdly,industry legislation should be revised in a timely manner.With regard to industry regulation,the phenomena of excessive emphasizing approval but neglecting supervision exist in many areas.Regulation system for operational and post-operational oversight is far from perfect.The credit supervision has defects in institution level as well as mechanism level,and comprehensive supervision still needs to be improved.To cope with all these problems,the regulatory concept pursued by all government agencies should be changed from “emphasizing approval but neglecting supervision” to “emphasizing supervision rather than approval”,and operational and post-operational oversight should be strengthened.Secondly,the government should establish an unified national credit information platform to collect corporate,non-enterprise and personal information to let industry associations play a more important role in credit supervision.Thirdly,a comprehensive supervision system should be optimized in terms of four aspects such as supervision subject,supervision mode,supervision means and supervision process.Fourthly,for some emerging industries,government should follow the principle of moderate supervision.Regarding the industry disputes resolution,the credibility of industry mediation system needs to be strengthened,and its recognition and success rate are not high.Relevant legal systems such as industry mediation procedures and industry arbitration are also missing.To deal with these issues,firstly,it is needed to further expand the representativeness of industry associations and enhance the credibility of industry mediation.Secondly,in order to enhance the recognition and success rate of industry mediation,industry associations should be promoted to establish professional mediation organizations,and the qualifications for industry mediators should be improved accordingly.Thirdly,special industry mediation procedures should be established.Fourthly,to improve the industry arbitration system,it may be considered that industry associations set up an industry arbitration committee and revise the Arbitration Law to give industry arbitration a proper legal status it deserves.Fifthly,industry organizations should be encouraged to develop standardized legal dispute resolution texts to minimize the occurrence of industry disputes.As for industry autonomy,there are such deficiencies in the legislation as emphasizing "industry self-discipline" but neglecting "industry autonomy".The autonomy of industry associations is not good enough to eliminate some inherent defects.To solve these problems,the concept of "industry autonomy" should be highlighted and in some legal provisions,"industry self-discipline" should be changed to "industry autonomy".The government should also completely withdraws from the operation of industry associations and no longer interferes with the internal affairs of industry associations.Last but not least,it is necessary to offer industry associations complete autonomy.As long as they do not violate relevant law,all problems arising in the course of industry operation should be solved by industry associations themselves.At the same time,relevant state organizations must still retain administrative supervision and judicial supervision over industry associations.In summary,after the empirical analysis of the phenomena of "industry into law" and the historical analysis of existing research results,especially a comprehensive analysis of the connotation,characteristics,idea and practical significances of the rule of law in industry,and comprehensive analysis of the foundation and basic factors of the rule of law in industry,a kind of theoretical framework was established for the rule of law in industry in this paper.At last,in response to the problems that hinders the development of the rule of law in industry,some corresponding comments and suggestions are proposed.There are many reasons to believe that as an important part of the rule of law in society,the rule of law in industry must have a bright future.It is expected that one day,the rule of law in industry and its theory will respectively become an integral part of the system and the theory of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics.