Mandatory sanctions imposed by governments should be carried out so as to minimize people's losses, Chinese lawmakers said in Beijing Monday.

Mandatory administrative sanctions are necessary when dealing with citizens who fail to fulfill their legal obligations, but may also infringe upon citizens' rights, said Ying Songnian, a member of the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs of the National People��s Congress (NPC), China's national legislature.

"Mandatory administrative laws should be considered very carefully to ensure that each article relates to the real situation," he said.

On Saturday, NPC began reviewing the country's first mandatory administrative law to curb the growing trend towards government abuse of power and nonfeasance.

According to the draft law, no commodities except for contraband goods shall be confiscated by law enforcement bodies for the purpose of maintaining street order and mandatory sanctions shall not be delivered at night or during holidays unless the persons concerned agree or the situation is urgent.

Administrative bodies will not be allowed to cut off water, electricity or heating to force the persons concerned to fulfill their administrative obligations.

"The lack of a unified law means that some law enforcement bodies may be short of mandatory means to crack down on behaviors that seriously violate the law or may abuse their power to deliver mandatory sanctions," said Xin Chunying, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee

NPC statistics show that mandatory sanction methods are present in 48 national laws and 72 regulations issued by the State Council.

Freezing bank accounts temporarily, for instance, can be conducted by dozens of government organs, including public security, customs, securities and banking supervision bodies.

According to the draft law, mandatory sanctions will only be carried out if provided for by the law, and will only be enforced by the government body authorized by the law

Other principles include the imposition of mandatory sanctions only as a last resort if other options are available, and the encouragement of discussion between parties to resolve disputes, provided the interests of the public and other related parties are not affected.

Source: China Daily