Rulemaking Process of Policy Statement in America's Administrative Law and Enlightenment
There are a large number of guidance documents in China's administrative practice,which are similar in legal effect and function to policy statements in the US.Policy statements play an important role in the administrative rule system in the United States.In terms of legal effect,they don't have the force or effect of law,but may produce a de facto binding effect.In terms of making procedures,they are exempt from the procedure of notice-and-comment provided in§553 of the APA.In practice,policy statements have undergone a development process from strengthening procedural control,rethinking overdue procedures to focusing on the electronicization and flexibility of rulemaking procedures,which reflects the continuing struggle of the US state to strike a balance between administrative efficiency and democracy.On the basis of the categorization of policy statements,the rulemaking procedures may go through specific steps such as initiation,drafting,review,public comment,publication of final rules,and post-evaluation.Meanwhile,the procedures of policy statements are subject to judicial review by the courts,which may review important procedures such as agencies'decisions to reject public petitions,notice-and-comment,and publication of final rules.Therefore,the legal norms and practical experience of the policy statements can be used for reference to improve China's guidance documents developing.We should concentrate on the standardization and flexibility of the developing process of guidance documents,and play the role of administrative self-restraint through pre-assessment and post-assessment procedures.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
