地方政府规章行政处罚设定权的立法困境及其检视

Legislative Dilemma and Review of the Right to Set Administrative Penalties in Local Government Regulations

地方政府规章设定行政处罚,自《行政处罚法》制定之初就存在较大争议,《立法法》的颁行与全面修正、《行政处罚法》的全面修订均未能结束限权与扩权的争论,反而增加了问题的复杂性。中央与地方之间、地方人大与地方政府之间、地方不同层级政府之间的三重立法权配置不清,导致地方政府规章行政处罚设定权陷入规范适用、价值选择的双重立法困境。《立法法》与《行政处罚法》“二选一”的适用方式并非恰当,常规路径、解释路径和立法路径均无法有效化解立法困境。应当充分考虑框架秩序和治理现代化的双重要求,在改革持续推进的过程中,坚持综合适用说,逐步明确地方政府规章行政处罚设定权的立法空间。

The setting of administrative penalties in local government regulations has been a major controversy since the early days of the Administrative Penalty Law. The promulgation and comprehensive revision of the Legislative Law and the comprehensive revision of the Administrative Penalty Law have failed to end the debate on the limitation and expansion of power, but have instead increased the complexity of the issue. The triple configuration of legislative power between the central and local governments, between local people’s congresses and local governments, and between different levels of local governments is unclear, resulting in the power to set administrative penalties in local government regulations being caught in a legislative dilemma of normative application and a legislative dilemma of value choice. The either/or application of the Legislation Law and the Administrative Penalties Law is inappropriate, and the regular, interpretative and legislative paths are unable to effectively resolve the dual legislative dilemma. In the process of continuous reform, the dual requirements of framework order and governance modernization should be fully considered, and the doctrine on comprehensive application is conducive to gradually clarifying the legislative space for the power to set administrative penalties in local government regulations.