An Empirical Analysis And Enhancement Path Of The Corporate And Individual Liability For Administrative Violations

In recent years,advances in business system reforms have substantially reduced market access barriers,fostering market dynamism.However,the rapid proliferation of market entities has concomitantly led to diminished compliance levels,resulting in a marked escalation of corporate administrative violations.To bolster the deterrence,suppression,and preclusion of such violations,legislation has progressively adopted a system of concurrent administrative penalties for corporations and their members,termed "Corporate and Individual Liability." This legislative response to societal development has exhibited an increasing trend over the past decade in administrative penalty legislation,with administrative bodies instituting corporate and individual liability penalties across domains such as ecological environment,food and drug safety,occupational safety,and public health.Empirical analyses conducted on over 4,200 administrative penalty items from city and county-level administrative penalty lists in Shandong Province,alongside 109 court judgments concerning work safety-related corporate and individual liability cases,unveil numerous challenges associated with the system’s practical implementation in China.Such issues encompass substantial discrepancies in the application of corporate and individual liability across diverse administrative sectors,incongruous criteria for ascertaining corporate members,and inadequate deterrence in specific administrative penalties.Consequently,the Corporate and Individual Liability system struggles to fully exploit its preventive function in law enforcement and judicial practice,occasionally resulting in cases with patently improper penalties.Nonetheless,given the accelerated growth in corporate administrative violations,the yet unrealized enhancement of law enforcement efficiency through automated administration in practice,and the insufficient deterrent impact of single penalty systems,employing corporate and individual liability as a means to augment the deterrent effect of administrative penalties and foster corporate compliance construction represents an efficacious solution for the current stage.This study,grounded in empirical analysis and cognizant of balancing legislative costs and benefits,advocates the exploration of pathways to refine corporate and individual liability while adhering to the principle of its selective application.In cases where corporations are implicated in domains linked to public health,safety,and significant public interests,or exhibit repeated or intentional violations with severe ramifications,corporate and individual liability should be applied as a punitive and deterrent measure.Simultaneously,efforts must be made to clarify the identity and fault prerequisites of corporate members,establish a penalty system aimed at curbing corporate administrative violations,and reduce dependence on monetary fines.The exploration of obligatory compliance system establishment as a critical approach for addressing corporate administrative violations,the scientific determination of fine amounts for corporate members,the enhancement of application rules for employment restrictions,and the assurance of deterrent and preventive effects of administrative penalties on corporate violations in practice merit consideration.