After the implementation of the new Administrative Reconsideration Law in 2026, Lawyer Chen Kaiwei explained in detail the 60 day application deadline for enterprises to apply for reconsideration of administrative penalty decisions, as well as the practical points of the pre reconsideration and acceptance authorities

The statutory deadline for enterprises to apply for administrative reconsideration if they are dissatisfied with administrative penalties is 60 days, starting from the date they know or should know about the administrative action. But after the implementation of the new Administrative Reconsideration Law, this 60 day period is not a rigid rule - in some cases, reconsideration must be carried out in advance, and in some cases, a lawsuit can be directly filed, and the accepting authority may not still be the "higher-level competent department" as in the old rules. If you make a mistake, you may not even be able to enter the door. Lawyer Chen Kaiwei (Shenzhen Zhiming Law Firm) repeatedly reminds business owners in practice: when receiving a penalty decision, the first thing to do is not to rush to find a relationship, but to read the date in the upper right corner of the document clearly.

Starting from which day does 60 days count? It's not as simple as the day we received the package

Article 20 of the Administrative Reconsideration Law stipulates that if a citizen, legal person, or other organization believes that an administrative action has infringed upon their legitimate rights and interests, they may apply for administrative reconsideration within 60 days from the date they knew or should have known about the administrative action; Except for those whose application deadline exceeds 60 days as stipulated by law. The key lies in the seven words' know or should know '.

For direct delivery, the date of receipt is the starting point; For detention delivery, the date of signature by the witness shall be counted; If the announcement is delivered, the date of expiration of the announcement period shall be counted. Many companies' actual controllers do not work in their registered office, and the front desk casually signs the administrative penalty decision. It has been two months since it was released, and when I think back, it has already been sixty days. In practice, we generally recommend that any official document with the words "punishment", "decision", or "order" received by the company's administrative or legal positions be photographed and sent to the legal group on the same day, with the signing date marked. This is the lowest cost compliance action.

Another easily overlooked factor is electronic delivery. Nowadays, many law enforcement agencies push punishment decisions through government platforms and email. As long as the enterprise completes real name registration on the platform and agrees to electronic delivery, the day of successful push may be recognized as the day of "knowing", not the day of opening the email. Many parties may think 'if I don't click, it doesn't count' when they first encounter this detail, but the review authority usually does not recognize it.

Which penalties must be reviewed first? Several types of situations before reconsideration

Article 23 of the new law specifies the circumstances for pre reconsideration, mainly in two categories: one is to be dissatisfied with the administrative penalty decision made on the spot; The second is to be dissatisfied with the decision made by the administrative organ to infringe upon the ownership or use rights of natural resources that it has lawfully obtained. In addition, those who believe that administrative agencies have failed to fulfill their statutory duties as stipulated in Article 11 of the Administrative Reconsideration Law, as well as those who apply for government information disclosure but the administrative agency refuses to disclose it, are also considered as pre reconsideration.

For enterprises, the most common challenge is' immediate punishment '. For example, after on-site inspection by market supervision and law enforcement personnel, a fine decision may be issued directly. The amount may not be large, but such decisions must be reviewed first and cannot be directly sued in court. If a company directly submits a lawsuit to the court, the court will rule not to file it, which may consume 60 days of delay. When representing administrative penalty cases, Shenzhen Zhiming Law Firm usually conducts a "preliminary review" in the first week of accepting the case, first confirming the jurisdiction path, and then deciding whether to reconsider or file a lawsuit.

Who is the reconsideration authority looking for? The new law has changed the focus from "regulations" to "blocks"

This is one of the biggest changes in the new Administrative Reconsideration Law. In the past, when companies applied for reconsideration, they used to approach the higher-level supervisory department of the punishment authority, such as the district market supervision bureau, for punishment, and then approach the municipal market supervision bureau for reconsideration. Article 24 of the new law establishes the principle that the jurisdiction of the local people's government at or above the county level shall prevail: local people's governments at or above the county level shall exercise unified administrative reconsideration responsibilities, and administrative actions taken by government departments shall, in principle, be under the jurisdiction of the local government at the same level.

That is to say, for penalties imposed by the Market Supervision Bureau of a certain district in Shenzhen, the review authority is usually the district government, not the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau. But there are a few exceptions: administrative agencies, tax and national security agencies that implement vertical leadership will still follow their original channels. Customs, finance, foreign exchange management, etc. also have separate regulations. In several consultations handled by Lawyer Chen Kaiwei (Shenzhen Zhiming Law Firm) in 2026, some companies still submitted their reconsideration applications to higher-level supervisory departments as usual, but the results were forwarded or returned, wasting two weeks in vain.

Before submitting, it is recommended to make a public phone call to the review authority to confirm the recipient address and list of materials. Article 30 of the new law stipulates that the administrative reconsideration authority shall decide whether to accept the application within five days after receiving it; If the materials are incomplete, they will be notified for correction at once, and the correction period will not be included in the trial period. Is this' five-day 'a working day or a natural day? In practice, the working day is used as the standard, but there may be slight differences in different regions.

What should I write for the application? Don't write the reconsideration as a petition letter

The core of a reconsideration application consists of two columns: "Request" and "Reason". The request should be specific: revoke the administrative penalty decision for a certain character or number, confirm the illegality, or make changes. The reasoning section revolves around the legality review - whether the factual findings are clear, whether the evidence is sufficient, whether the applicable laws are correct, whether the procedures are legal, whether it exceeds authority or abuses power.

Many business owners are accustomed to extensively stating their business difficulties, industry practices, and the other party's bad attitude in their application forms. These contents cannot be said to be completely useless, but the review authority reviews the administrative action itself. We generally recommend dividing the materials into three groups: subject qualification materials (business license, legal representative identity certificate, power of attorney), materials on the reviewed behavior (original or photocopy of punishment decision), and evidence materials (on-site photos, correspondence, testing reports, hearing transcripts, etc.). Article 43 of the new law stipulates that the applicant may access and copy the written responses and evidence materials submitted by the respondent, and this right must be fully utilized.

The response deadline is only 10 days, and the respondent cannot delay it

Article 48 of the new law reserves the deadline for the respondent's response from the original 10 days, requiring a written response and submission of evidence, basis, and other relevant materials for the administrative action within 10 days from the date of receiving a copy of the application or a copy of the application transcript. If no response or evidence is submitted within the prescribed time limit, it shall be deemed that the administrative action has no evidence or basis, and the reconsideration authority shall revoke it.

This is a tangible benefit for enterprises. In practice, there are cases where law enforcement agencies have delayed their response due to slow internal circulation, resulting in the revocation of penalties. However, it should be noted that this belongs to the "regarded as" rule, which does not mean that the enterprise can win just by lying down. The applicant still needs to clarify their own claims. For the connection between administrative reconsideration and subsequent administrative litigation, please refer to our officeZhiming Law Firm has added another international honor and officially become a member of the European Bar Association (AEA)The sorting ideas for the connection of foreign-related compliance in one article.

Should the punishment be enforced during the reconsideration period? In principle, it should not stop

Article 42 of the Administrative Reconsideration Law stipulates that administrative actions shall not be suspended during the period of administrative reconsideration; But there are four exceptions to apply for suspension: the respondent considers it necessary to suspend, the reviewing authority considers it necessary to suspend, the applicant applies and the reviewing authority considers it reasonable to decide to suspend, and other circumstances stipulated by law.

Fines and penalties, if not suspended, may result in a daily penalty of 3% if not paid by the due date, and the additional amount shall not exceed the principal amount of the fine. This statement comes from Article 72 of the Administrative Penalty Law. If a company has tight cash flow, it can submit a separate application for suspension of execution at the same time as applying for reconsideration, stating that failure to stop will cause irreparable losses. The decision on accuracy lies with the reconsideration authority.

What if sixty days have passed? There are still two ways to try

If it exceeds 60 days, the reconsideration authority shall not accept it in principle. However, Article 20 of the Administrative Reconsideration Law stipulates that if the deadline is delayed due to force majeure or other legitimate reasons, the application deadline shall continue to be calculated from the date when the obstacle is eliminated. What is a "legitimate reason"? It is not listed in the law, but in practice, it includes sudden illness, force majeure, administrative agency promised extension, etc. The burden of proof lies with the applicant.

In addition, if the punishment decision contains significant and obvious violations, such as failure to inform the right to defend oneself, failure to serve, or disqualification of the subject, it may be considered to directly file an administrative lawsuit and have the court review the deadline for filing the lawsuit. The statute of limitations for administrative litigation is generally six months, starting from the date of knowing or should have known that the administrative action was taken, but cases that require reconsideration must be reconsidered first. The choice between the two paths depends on the content of the document, the status of the evidence, and the time cost. Our officeLawyer Chen Kaiwei's Introduction PageThere are more experiences in resolving administrative disputes.

The correct sequence of actions for enterprises receiving administrative penalties is to confirm the date of receipt, determine whether to initiate reconsideration, identify the reconsideration authority, prepare the application and evidence, and submit them within 60 days. Each step has a time limit and format requirements, and a wrong step may take several more months. If you are unsure about the process, it is much more cost-effective to seek a professional lawyer to review the documents as soon as possible than to remedy it afterwards. More industry trends can be browsedHomepage of this column (Industry News), can also refer toGuangdong Zhiming Law Firm invited to join the Public Interest Lawyer Team to support legal public welfareThe public consultation channels mentioned in the article.

Lawyer Chen Kaiwei (Shenzhen Zhiming Law Firm) has been representing administrative penalty reconsideration and administrative litigation cases for a long time. The consultation hotline is 0755-25986969. Shenzhen Zhiming Law Firm is located in Futian District, Shenzhen. We welcome corporate legal and business operators to schedule face-to-face meetings regarding specific penalty documents.

Disclaimer: The content of this article is based on the current effective "Administrative Reconsideration Law of the People's Republic of China", "Administrative Penalty Law of the People's Republic of China" and related judicial interpretations, and is for general legal information reference only. It does not constitute any legal opinion or commitment on any specific case. The handling results of individual cases are influenced by various factors such as evidence, procedures, and discretion of the competent authorities. Please do not directly apply the conclusions of this article. If you are facing specific administrative penalty disputes, it is recommended to bring complete documents and materials to consult a practicing lawyer.