The Transformation Of Government Functions Under The Perspective Of The Administrative Licensing Law

It is believed that the functions of the government in the field of economy lie in five aspects, namely, providing the systematic foundation for the market-oriented economy, allocating resources, adapting the economy, stabilizing the macro-economy and redistributing revenues. While according to The Enforcement Outline of Advancing the Rule of Law (hereinafter referred to as The outline), the functions of the government should be the following: adapting economy, supervening the market, managing the society, serving the public. The above-mentioned two points of view are both trying to seek the direction of shifting the functions of the government on the basis of reality, and cores of those two ideas are both that the relationship among the government, the market and the society should be reasonably done with. They both have managed to define the functions of the current government of China. The administrative permission, as an important function of the government, plays an active role in keeping danger under control, allocating resources and producing the public faith in the government. Nowadays China is going through the transition from the plan-oriented economy to the market-oriented economy. As a result of the scarcity of resources and experience and the demand of the reality, the administrative permission has become an essential way in managing the society and adapting the economy. Therefore, the administrative permission system is extremely important in the legal system of China. So we can say the government of China is facing a key subject, which is, how we can enhance its positive outcome and curb its negative effects in the establishment of the market-oriented economy.Afterwards, the article goes briefly over the administrative permission system of our country. Before the promulgation of The Administrative Permission Law, our administrative permission can be divided into two stages at the point of opening to the outside world and reforming, the first stage is the administrative permission system in the mechanism of the plan-oriented economy, the second one is the administrativepermission system in the course of transition from the plan-oriented economy to the market-oriented economy. In the former stage, there were few administrative permissions and they were not regular enough. In the latter stage, the administrative permissions were excessive and not up to the spirit of the rule of law, and brought about too many cases of corruption, thus became the worst obstacle to the improvement of the government' s functions. The supra-structure is decided by the economic function, while the former must also adapt itself to the demanding of the latter. The traditional functions of the government had hindered the development of the market-oriented economy, so it ought to be reformed and bettered. The administrative permission, as one of the functions of the government, embodies several maladies in the traditional functions of the government. As a consequence, we have no alternative but to reform the traditional administrative permission system. In addition, China' s entry into WTO has strongly challenged the administrative power which directly influences the citizens' right. Taking all these factors into consideration, the government is to improve the administrative permission system and the functions of the government.The Administrative Permission Law, passed at the Fourth Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People' s Congress, not only has consolidated the achievement as to the reform in the administrative permission system since 1999, but also shown that the administrative permission system of our country has been placed in the process of legalization. This law will surely advance the regularity, unification and rationalization of the administrative permission system of our country. Moreover, a series of rules, principles and systems the law sets up will undoubtedly help the governments at all levels and the public servants renew their managing concepts and in turn realize the shift of the government' s functions. The best light of this law is that it introduces the trust protection principle, which will benefit the construction of honest-trust government. This law indicates some basic principles of the modern administrative law, although these principles seem different from those stipulated by the outline, all of them share the same spirits.Article 3 of The Outline shows the goal of our government' s administration of law, which is to improve thoroughly the administration of law, and basically realize the goal of establishing the rule of law, in about ten years of hard working. The Outline, in general, introduces the notions, the principles, the goals and the specific requirements. The Administrative Permission Law shows these contents in detail. What' s more important, this law will definitely get rid of many problems in our current administrative permission system and the government' s functions, and consequently quicken the process of the establishment of the rule of law and realize the key shift of the government' s functions. Maybe different people have different understandings of the administration of law, but it has been appeared in many countries' laws. The rule of law is the most advanced pattern of rule, it requires that both the society and the government should be based and ruled by law. The rule of law places great emphasis on the people' s sovereignty and remains against dictation. The rule of law indicates the regularity and stabilization of law and it seeks the harmonious development of the entire society. The government subject to the rule of law should be a limited, transparent, honest and efficient government with a sense of serving its people heart and soul. Just by making clear these points, The Administrative Permission Law shows its great importance to establishing the government subject to the rule of law.The Administrative Permission Law has a good many legal notions and perfect legislative skills, which will greatly influence the shift of the government' s functions. But as a saying goes, it is easier said than done. This law has adjusted and will further adjust the relationship between the power and the right, its enforcement will encounter many obstacles, the toughest one of which is that there are many people in the government who has gained much and are reluctant to lose power in their hands. At the same time, the smooth enforcement of this law depends, to a great extent, on the government to set up some relevant systems behind this law. Over the past long period of time, there have appeared many severe problems in the area of theadministrative permission. For instance, some non-legally-designated organs and social organizations misuse the executive power, and there are some contradictions or intersection between different administrative organs, and so on. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to reshape the functions of the government only with the help of this single law in such a society with a long history of feudalism. Therefore, the enforcement of this law is also a process of reform and creation. With a view to enforcing this law smoothly, for one thing, we should bring force some other systems to go with this law, for another, we ought to reform the current administrative mechanism. In conclusion, the enforcement of this law can help shift the functions of the government. And vice versa, renewing our notions and shifting the functions can guarantees the smooth enforcement of this law, that' s to say, they should interact positively and successfully.