As long-time readers of this blog may have noticed, I have a particular interest in how the Supreme People’s Court (SPC)  provides guidance to the lower courts or expressed another way, exercises its firm guiding hand.  In summary, it is dynamic,  depends on the area of law and the then current preferences of the SPC and division (or tribunal) 业务庭)  leadership.

This quick post looks at the way that the SPC’s Administrative Division currently guides the lower courts.  Since the spring of 2024, the SPC’s Administrative Division has implemented the “Seven Ones (“七个一”对下指导机制) Guidance Mechanism for guiding the lower courts.  As officially announced, those are “One Net, One Database, One WeChat Account, One Meeting; One Journal, One Book, and One Lecture Series (一网一库一微一会一刊一书一讲堂):

1. One Net (一网) –the Court Answers Platform (法答网).  Among the Court Answers released to the public include this group on Administrative Litigation Law, with answers to several queries, such as what to do if the defendant agency listed is unclear or incorrect (Judge Geng Baojian (耿宝建), head of the SPC’s Administrative Division responded, highlighting a judge’s possible ex officio obligations);  and what if an employer fails to pay workers’ compensation insurance the month a worker suffers an injury or dies in a work-related accident (another SPC Administrative Division judge responded).
2. One Database ( 一库)–the People’s Court Case Database (人民法院案例库).  A full-text search of the reference cases in the database revealed almost 170 cases that mentioned the “Administrative Penalties Law,” including this case, involving a company that had sold a few bags of unregistered seeds.
3.  One WeChat Account (一微).  That WeChat account is 行政执法与行政审判 Administrative Enforcement and Administrative Trial (Adjudication), the Administrative Division’s official WeChat account.
4.  One Meeting (一会)–法官会议–the professional judges meeting of the Administrative Division.  These meetings may generate meeting minutes.  They are described as “providing important guidance for unifying the standards of adjudication in administrative cases and promoting consistent judgments in similar cases.” This article in the SPC Administrative Division’s WeChat account republished meeting minutes I-VIII from that meeting.  Those meeting minutes were originally published in a journal published by the Administrative Division, described below at #6.
5. One Journal (一刊) is 行政审判通讯 Administrative Adjudication Newsletter, an internal publication.
6.  One book (一书) — 行政执法与行政审判 Administrative Law Enforcement and Administrative Adjudication.  See examples below:
7.  One Lecture Series (一讲堂).  The Administrative Division has a monthly lecture series, with lectures given by persons in practice (senior judges and senior officials) as well senior academics.  The upcoming lecture is by Yan Dongfeng, head of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission Recording and Review Office (全国人大常委会法制工作委员会法规备案审查室主任严冬峰), on “Further Advancing the Filing and Review Process and Strive to Build a Constitutional Supervision System with Chinese Characteristics.”  The lectures are held in hybrid fashion, but the online version is only for the court system.  The Administrative Division’s WeChat account will have a summary of the lecture.

The guidance listed here is specific to the Administrative Division and I surmise there are other forms not listed, such as national conferences. Judicial interpretations and policy documents issued by the SPC itself will, of course, be relevant to judges hearing administrative cases (and are likely to be republished on the WeChat public account and in the book series), but the “Seven Ones” are specific to the Administrative Division.