China’s Ministry of Justice says authorities have made significant cuts as part of a year-long campaign targeting local enforcement bodies that have arbitrarily or illegally targeted local businesses, sometimes driven by profit.
Hu Weilie, the vice minister of Justice, said during a May 21 State Council Information Office press conference that the campaign ran from March 2025 to the end of March 2026. He said authorities had abolished more than 7,000 administrative enforcement bodies that did not meet legal conditions, removed more than 300,000 city code enforcement personnel who failed to meet qualification requirements, eliminated more than 400,000 unnecessary enforcement items, and trained more than 1.2 million enforcement personnel.
Abuses by Local Law Enforcement
Hu said the campaign targeted points of conflict between local authorities and businesses: repeated inspections, arbitrary fines or fees used in place of proper regulation, excessive penalties for minor violations, improper cross-regional enforcement actions, and arbitrary seizures that tie up company assets….Â
China Cuts 300,000 Enforcement Officers Amid Complaints of Abuse, Mounting Fiscal Stress
