As of Aug 20, people in Hainan Province can report breaches of the Law on Administrative Licenses by any administrative organizations, i.e those failing to make decisions on the grant of administrative licenses within legal time limit; or failing to perform supervisory duty according to stipulations. An official with the Legal Office of Hainan provincial government says they have received 50 phone calls and visits since the hotline was put through. About 1/3 of them are related to administrative licenses and law enforcement. The Hainnan provincial government will reportedly verify facts in what was reported one by one. For those proved breaking the Law on Administrative Licenses, investigation and affixing of responsibility on relevant responsible persons will be carried out according to law strictly in line with related stipulations as set in the fault responsibility ascertainment system.

For a period of time, many localities and departments nationwide have adopted measures or worked out supplementary rules and regulations to enforce the ascertainment of faults responsibility system. Institutionalization and legalization of the "fault responsibility ascertainment" system have become a strong "catalyst" for the country to build a "government of limited liability".

The Law on Administrative Licenses is a list of government responsibilities. If an administrative organization and its staff fail to act according to law, they will not only be given administrative penalties, but also be sued or even bear the consequence of losing a lawsuit.

"Ascertainment of faults" among government administrators does not begin from today. Since 2003, Tianjin, Nanjing, Changsha and Xiangtan have successively instituted the "administrative responsibility ascertainment system" on a trial basis. The local government officials involved in exceptionally serious incidents, such as the "Feb. 5" Miyun incident, the Jilin Department Store "Feb. 15" Fire incident, and the Sichuan Tuojiang extraordinarily serious water pollution incident, have all taken the blame to themselves and resigned accordingly. The concept that responsibility for the negative influence or consequence resulting from the intention and negligence on the part of administrative organizations and their working personnel should be investigated and affixed has entered into people's minds.

Building a responsible government is an important content of China's political restructuring, said Prof. Wang Xuehui, vice-president of Institute of Administrative Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law. From not affixing responsibility on leading cadres to affixing responsibility on them, and further to providing guarantee by relying on a legal system and restraining leading cadres' action by relying on law and system demonstrates the Chinese government's determination to exercise administration according to law.

By People's Daily Online