Legal Research, Motor Vehicle License Plate Quota Auction

Initiated in Shanghai against the backdrop of the reform and opening program starting from the last century, the automobile license plate auction is a local and temporary solution to ease the tension between the growing demand for urban road transportation and the scarce capacity of local road infrastructure. This measure, on one hand, was once seen as an example to follow by some other cities in China, and aroused, in continuation, a great many complaints and criticisms on the other. With the enactment and implementation of such laws and regulations as Road Traffic Safety Act of People's Republic of China and Administrative License Law of People's Republic of China in 2004, China's road traffic management system started growing into a new era, characterized by the movement of the legal framework concerning traffic management to a unified national scheme.Nonetheless, one of the consequences of these laws and regulations is the challenge to Shanghai's auction on automobile license plates. In the ensuing fierce controversy joined by different realms ranging from laws, economy, media to departments of authority senior officials in the Ministry of Commerce assumed a negative attitude toward the plate auction. The focus of controversial remarks is on whether this auction practice in Shanghai is administratively permissible and if local laws are in a position to grant such administrative permission.By investigating its evolution, causes and different degrees of auction practice, this paper is intended to make a systematic review on the almost two-decade long automobile license plate auction in Shanghai. Guided by the principles of administrative laws, this paper, which is divided into three chapters, is centred on examining and analyzing the plate auction in Shanghai to advance some pragmatic advice and suggestions. Chapter one reviews the history of the automobile license plate auction in Shanghai. Chapter two analyzes the legal attribute of the plate auction practice in Shanghai. The last chapter provides a few suggestions on how to improve this auction practice in Shanghai.