Difficulties and obstacles in handling administrative violations

Handling many cases, many subjects

According to statistics, from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, the total number of administrative violations detected in the province was 16,639 cases, with 17,652 subjects punished.

Nghia Dan District Police made a record of administrative violations against the driver who did not stop to make a medical declaration and intentionally passed the Covid-19 epidemic prevention checkpoint. Photo: CAND

Administrative violations occur in many fields. In particular, in the health sector, they focus on acts of spreading false information about the Covid-19 epidemic situation, not performing tests as required by competent health agencies during the process of monitoring the Covid-19 epidemic; concealing, not declaring or not promptly declaring the current status of oneself or others with Covid-19; violating regulations on medical isolation, forced medical isolation for people with Covid-19; not wearing masks in public places; not implementing decisions to apply measures to limit mass gatherings or temporarily suspend business and service activities in public places to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic...

Authorities draw up a record to handle violations in epidemic prevention in the lake area, Vinh City. Photo: Quang An

Traffic safety focuses on behaviors such as driving a motorbike without a helmet, stopping and parking in violation of regulations, driving without a driver's license, overloading trucks, and dropping materials and scrap that pollute the environment.

The fields of security, order and social evils include acts of repairing or erasing household registration books and identity cards, failing to declare temporary residence or temporary absence, disturbing public order, fighting causing injury, stealing property, illegal use of drugs, illegal storage and use of firecrackers, gambling that has not reached the level of prosecution...

Violators pay fines at the Road and Railway Traffic Police Department (Provincial Police). Photo: Dang Cuong

In general, violations are detected and handled promptly; the order and procedures for handling violations are in accordance with legal regulations, punishing the right people and the right violations, meeting state management requirements.

In 2021, the total number of violations was 16,639 (an increase of 45.5% compared to 2020). Total number of subjects penalized: 17,652 subjects (an increase of 44.9%). Total number of decisions on administrative sanctions: 16,124 (an increase of 38.5%). Number of decisions enforced: 15,711 (an increase of 44.9%). Number of decisions enforced: 22 (68.18%). Total amount of fines collected: 45,871,968,832 VND (an increase of 20,929,259,048 VND compared to 2020). Total number of subjects with records prepared for application of administrative measures: 2,161 (a decrease of 4.86%). Number of subjects subject to administrative measures: 1,841 (a decrease of 2.66%).

Many difficulties and problems

Although positive results have been achieved, the practice of law enforcement on handlingadministrative violationsshows that there are still many difficulties and shortcomings. For example, Article 26 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations stipulates: “Confiscation of exhibits and means of administrative violations is the act of confiscating into the State budget objects, money, goods, and means directly related to administrative violations, applied to serious administrative violations due to intentional faults of individuals and organizations.”. Accordingly, the confiscation of exhibits and means of administrative violations only applies to serious administrative violations due to intentional faults of individuals and organizations. However, in practice in the fields of trade, security, order... there are many cases where individuals and organizations transport goods but do not know what they are transporting, so it is very difficult to prove that the act is due to intentional fault, even though the level of violation is serious.

National Assembly delegates of Nghe An province participate in the discussion of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations. Photo: Thanh Le

In addition, according to Decree 91/2014/ND-CP of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the land sector, there are provisions on measures to remedy the consequences "Forced to return illegal profits obtained from committing administrative violations", the authority to apply this measure belongs to the Chairman of the People's Committee at the district level, the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level does not have the authority to apply this measure. Based on the method of determining the amount of illegal profits prescribed in Article 7 of this Decree, in cases of violations prescribed from Article 9 to Article 14 of this Decree, all cases of violations prescribed from Article 9 to Article 14 of this Decree are required to apply remedial measures "Forced to return illegal profits obtained from committing administrative violations", this pushes the authority up to the district level. On the other hand, determining the value of illegal profits also faces many difficulties while the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment have not yet issued specific guidance on this content.

Point e, Clause 1, Article 82 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations stipulates: “For confiscated exhibits and means of administrative violations that are no longer usable or cannot be auctioned, the agency of the person with authority to issue the confiscation decision must establish a handling council consisting of representatives of relevant State agencies... The method, order and procedures for handling assets shall comply with the provisions of law on management and use of State assets.”. However, Circular No. 173/2013/TT-BTC dated November 20, 2013 of the Ministry of Finance “Guiding the implementation of a number of contents on the management and handling of exhibits and means of administrative violations that are temporarily seized or confiscated under administrative procedures” only regulates the handling of exhibits of administrative violations that are goods and items that are easily damaged, but does not specifically regulate the handling of exhibits of administrative violations for goods and items that are harmful to human health, livestock, crops and the environment, cultural products with toxic content...

Authorities destroy confiscated administrative violation evidence. Photo: D.C.

However, in practice, in the past time, many units in the province have issued documents to consulting organizations to develop plans and solutions to demolish illegal constructions and parts of constructions when investors do not voluntarily comply, but the consulting organizations did not accept, so the units could not enforce the decision to apply remedial measures according to the provisions of law.

Yen Thanh district authorities enforce illegal construction on forestry land. Photo: Van Truong

In addition, there are limitations due to the lack of equipment and funding for professional activities such as appraisal, testing, and analysis, which do not meet the requirements of accuracy and speed, leading to difficulties in appraisal, detection, and timely handling of administrative violations. The implementation of the construction of the National Database on handling administrative violations according to the provisions of Decree No. 20/2016/ND-CP of the Government is still too slow, causing difficulties for units and localities in managing and compiling statistics on handling administrative violations.

Need a synchronous solution

To improve the quality and effectiveness of administrative violation handling, on January 26, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 59 on State management of the enforcement of laws on administrative violations in 2022 signed by the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Le Hong Vinh. In particular, the Provincial People's Committee requested functional branches to assess the current status of enforcement of laws on administrative violations (VPHC) in localities, promptly detect limitations and errors in the process of applying laws on handling VPHC to urge, rectify and overcome.

At the same time, detect shortcomings to propose solutions to improve efficiency. The Provincial People's Committee also assigned functional branches to strengthen propaganda and dissemination of laws on handling administrative violations with diverse content and forms to all civil servants, public employees, workers and people in the area to raise awareness, sense of compliance with the law, prevent and limit administrative violations.

Quynh Luu district authorities drew up a record of administrative violations against the karaoke bar owner who did not comply with epidemic prevention regulations. Photo: Thanh Toan

In addition, organize training courses and in-depth professional development for officials, civil servants, and public employees working in State management of administrative violation handling and competent persons to improve legal knowledge and skills in applying the law to handle administrative violations.

Strengthening inspection, examination and supervision of law enforcement by sector and management field. The Provincial People's Committee also requested functional sectors and localities to pay attention to consolidating and promptly perfecting the organization and staffing, upgrading facilities to ensure the implementation of the task of handling administrative violations and monitoring law enforcement.