Which agency has the authority to cancel the decision to sanction administrative violations?
Which agency has the authority to cancel the decision to impose an administrative penalty? The issue of concern of Mr. Tran Huu Hoang (Dong Hieu commune, Nghe An).
Reply: Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 18 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012, amended by Clause 7, Article 1 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2020, it is stipulated as follows:
Responsibilities of heads of agencies and units in handling administrative violations.
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3. Within the scope of their duties and powers, Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels, heads of agencies and units of persons with authority to handle administrative violations are responsible for detecting errors in decisions on handling administrative violations issued by themselves or their subordinates and promptly correcting, amending, supplementing or canceling them, and issuing new decisions according to their authority.
The Government shall specify this clause in detail.
Along with that, according to Clause 1, Article 13 of Decree 118/2021/ND-CP amended by Clause 7, Article 1 of Decree 68/2025/ND-CP, there are regulations on the cancellation and issuance of new decisions in administrative sanctions as follows:
Cancel and issue new decisions on administrative sanctions.
1. The person who issued the decision, himself or at the request of the persons specified in Clause 3, Article 18 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, must issue a decision to cancel the entire content of the decision if one of the following cases occurs:
a) Stipulated in Clause 1, Article 12 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations;
b) Stipulated in Clause 3, Article 62 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations;
c) Issue decisions on administrative sanctions for cases specified in Clause 1, Article 65 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations;
d) Decisions on administrative sanctions are issued without proper authority or to the wrong subject;
d) Violating procedures in handling administrative violations leading to violations of the provisions at Points c, d, e, g and h of this Clause;
e) Determining an incorrect administrative violation or determining an administrative violation in a case where no administrative violation has occurred;
g) Applying incorrect penalties to administrative violations;
h) Forging or falsifying administrative violation records.
2. The cancellation and issuance of new decisions prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article shall only apply to decisions on administrative sanctions prescribed in Part Two of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations.
The cancellation and replacement of measures to prevent and ensure handling of administrative violations shall comply with the provisions of Part Four of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations.
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Therefore, according to regulations, within the scope of their duties and powers, Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees at all levels, heads of agencies and units of persons with authority to handle administrative violations are responsible for detecting errors in decisions on handling administrative violations issued by themselves or their subordinates and promptly correcting, amending, supplementing or canceling, and issuing new decisions according to their authority.
