[Interpretation of the Special Equipment Safety Law] Article 75

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Article 75: Those who, in violation of the provisions of this Law, use design documents for special equipment without prior appraisal for manufacturing purposes shall be ordered to make corrections; the illegally manufactured special equipment shall be confiscated, and a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan shall be imposed. Interpretation of the provision: This article stipulates the legal responsibilities associated with the use of design documents for special equipment in manufacturing without prior approval. The supervision of special equipment design under this law takes mainly two forms: one is the qualification licensing for design agencies, and the other is the evaluation of design documents. Design document evaluation refers to the review of design documents and the necessary design verification activities carried out by inspection agencies approved by the regulatory authorities for special equipment. It mainly aims to determine whether the safety performance of the special equipment manufactured in accordance with the requirements of those design documents meets the standards set out in the safety technical regulations and related norms for such equipment. This process is typically applied to mass-produced products, such as boilers, gas cylinders, and oxygen chambers ； It is also used to design products with complex operating conditions, such as passenger cable cars and large amusement rides. Paragraph 1 of Article 20 of this Law stipulates that the design documents for boilers, gas cylinders, oxygen chambers, passenger cableways, and large-scale amusement facilities must be evaluated by an inspection agency approved by the department responsible for the safety supervision and management of special equipment before they can be used for manufacturing. I. Illegal acts for which legal liability shall be assumed: Violating the provisions of Paragraph 1, Article 20 of this Law, using design documents for boilers, gas cylinders, oxygen chambers, passenger cableways, and large-scale amusement facilities in manufacturing processes without having them evaluated by an inspection agency approved by the department responsible for the supervision and management of safety in special equipment constitutes an illegal act, and the relevant legal liabilities stipulated in this article must be borne. It should be noted that the entities liable for fulfilling the legal responsibilities stipulated in this article are the manufacturers of the aforementioned five types of special equipment, rather than the design units that prepare the design documents. The illegal acts covered by this provision mainly include the following two types: First, manufacturing units of boilers, gas cylinders, oxygen chambers, passenger cableways, and large-scale amusement facilities fail to submit the design documents to an approved inspection agency for evaluation and use them for manufacturing without authorization ； Second, manufacturers of boilers, gas cylinders, oxygen chambers, passenger cable cars, and large-scale amusement facilities submit the design documents to agencies or individuals that have not been approved by the departments responsible for the safety supervision and management of special equipment, and use them for manufacturing without authorization. Committing illegal acts may stem from the intentional actions of the manufacturing unit, such as deliberately failing to have the design documents evaluated or seeking evaluation from unapproved agencies in order to save costs or meet deadlines ； It could also be the fault of the manufacturing unit, such as not being aware of legal regulations or failing to exercise due care when selecting an inspection agency. Whether intentional or negligent, it does not affect the establishment of the illegal act. When determining that an illegal act falling under the provisions of this article exists, the following points also need to be taken into consideration: 1. According to current practices, the evaluation of design documents is a form of supervision that operates alongside the licensing of design agencies; generally, these two approaches are applied to different types of special equipment. For the same type of special equipment, one of these two supervision methods can be chosen for application. For boilers, passenger cableways, and large-scale amusement facilities specified in Paragraph 1 of Article 20 of this Law, only design document evaluation is required; no licensing system is applied to their design agencies. 2. The basis for determining whether a design document has been verified is the verification mark on the design document. In accordance with relevant regulations, the inspection agency responsible for the evaluation of design documents shall affix a special seal for such evaluations on the design documents. 3. The testing laboratory engaged in the verification of design documents must be a testing institution approved by the department responsible for safety supervision and management of such designs. According to the current regulations, it is an inspection agency approved by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The approval mentioned here refers to the authorization to carry out certain testing tasks, granted to a testing institution once it has obtained certain legal qualifications (such as those required for institutional status). 4. Administrative penalties against manufacturing units must be imposed by the department responsible for the safety supervision and management of special equipment, where the illegal manufacturing activities took place. During the lawful conduct of safety inspections and supervision on special equipment, the relevant departments in the location where the equipment is used, installed, or sold shall, if they find that the design documents used in its manufacture have not been evaluated in accordance with legal requirements, refer the matter to the quality supervision department with jurisdiction over manufacturing activities for punishment. II. Forms of liability In accordance with the provisions of this article, those who use design documents for special equipment without prior evaluation for manufacturing purposes shall bear the following legal responsibilities: 1. Order to make corrections. An order to make corrections refers to a decision by an administrative authority, acting within its powers, to require the person who has committed an illegal act to fulfill their legal obligations, cease such illegal acts, eliminate the adverse consequences, or restore things to their original state, in order to prevent or stop illegal acts and negative outcomes that are occurring or may occur. By nature, an order to make corrections is not an administrative penalty but rather an administrative order, which is a means of administrative management. In many cases, ordering corrective action is set as a prerequisite for imposing a penalty; administrative sanctions are only imposed if the required corrections are not made by the prescribed deadline, which reflects the principle of combining punishment with education in administrative law enforcement. However, in accordance with this provision, ordering corrections is not a prerequisite for administrative penalties; rather, it is applied simultaneously with the penalties. It should be noted that since orders to make corrections and administrative penalties are of different natures, when imposing an administrative penalty on the party in violation of the law, a separate document ordering correction should be issued, specifying the deadline for completion of the corrections as well as the requirements for such corrections. 2. Confiscation. In cases where special equipment design documents are used for manufacturing without undergoing appraisal, and if finished or semi-finished products have already been produced, law enforcement authorities should immediately confiscate such illegally manufactured special equipment to prevent them from entering the market and being put into use, thereby protecting the lives and property of the public. Items subject to confiscation include special equipment and its materials, main components, safety accessories, and safety protection devices. 3. Fines. The purpose of fines is to serve as a form of punishment and education for lawbreakers by imposing financial losses on them. The fine prescribed in this article ranges from 50,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, to be determined at the discretion of the law enforcement authorities based on the severity of the violation and the extent of the harm caused.