Administrative Law and Administrative Litigation (行政法与行政诉讼法)
This domain examines how administrative organs exercise public power and how courts review administrative acts. The exam focuses on actionable acts, reconsideration versus litigation pathways, jurisdiction, parties, burden of proof, time limits and state compensation.
Actionable acts and parties
- An administrative act must be made by an administrative organ or authorized organization, in the exercise of administrative authority, and affect rights or obligations. Internal personnel decisions, mediation and purely advisory acts are generally not actionable.
- The defendant is the organ that made the act. If reconsideration maintains the original act, the original organ and the reconsideration organ are co-defendants; if reconsideration changes the act, the reconsideration organ is the defendant.
- Administrative litigation generally does not apply mediation, except administrative compensation and cases involving the exercise of statutory discretion.
Procedure and proof
- The general filing period is 6 months from knowledge of the act. After reconsideration, the plaintiff has 15 days from receipt of the reconsideration decision.
- The defendant bears the burden of proving legality and must provide evidence and normative documents. Evidence collected after litigation begins is generally inadmissible. The plaintiff proves filing conditions and damages in compensation claims.
- Basic-level courts hear most cases; intermediate courts hear suits against State Council departments or county-level and higher governments, and major cases.
Worked example
A company receives a tax authority decision imposing additional tax plus a late fee, and a separate fine. It wants to litigate without paying. Under the Tax Administration Law, disputes over tax payment, late fees and related decisions require payment or security and administrative reconsideration first. The fine is a penalty and may be challenged directly in reconsideration or litigation. The company therefore cannot immediately sue the tax assessment; it must satisfy the reconsideration prerequisite, then sue within 15 days after the reconsideration decision. The fine can proceed independently.
Traps
- Treating all tax disputes as direct litigation, ignoring the payment and reconsideration prerequisite.
- Missing the 15-day post-reconsideration filing window.
- Naming only the original organ after a maintaining reconsideration.
- Assuming the plaintiff must prove the administrative act was unlawful.