Introduction: In recent years, electric bicycles have brought convenience to people's travel, but also brought huge challenges to traffic order and safety. How to manage and regulate electric bicycles is a legal issue involving the personal rights and property rights of hundreds of millions of people. Recently, Tsinghua University Law School held the "Symposium on Experience and Challenges in China's Electric Bicycle Governance", recording and sharing the local legislative experience of my country's electric bicycles over the past decade, providing valuable experience for the governance of electric bicycles. Some experts' opinions were given to readers at this excerpt of the voice version.
What problems should be solved in legislative research?
Yu Lingyun (Deputy Dean of the School of Law of Tsinghua University): Electric bicycle legislation faces many problems: First, whether the use and development of electric vehicles are allowed, that is, whether the management of electric vehicles may limit citizens' property rights, and how to explain this issue in theory has caused a lot of academic controversy. The second is how local governance is connected with the "Three Administrative Laws" (Administrative License Law, Administrative Mandatory Law, and Administrative Penalty Law). At present, the "Three Administrative Laws" are being revised by the Legislative Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress. How to respond to the needs of local governance is an important issue. During the process of electric bicycle governance, further discussion is needed whether local legislation can establish new mandates, stipulate new illegal acts, and set up new catalogs (licenses).
Jiang Ming'an ( Professor , School of Law, Peking University): The first path to standardize and manage electric vehicles is to legislate, and regulate through laws, regulations and rules. At present, local legislation can only stipulate local affairs. So, is electric bicycle management a local matter? Why not enact national legislation?
At present, the problems faced by each city are different. Some places have strict restrictions, and some places have relaxed them. For example, Miluo, Hunan, is a county-level city, so there are no restrictions. Local legislation makes sense, but is it possible to carry out unified legislation at the national level, and then local government regulations or local regulations formulate enforcement regulations?
The second path is management and law enforcement. The third path is the formation of the concept of the people. How to make the people accept the relevant regulations on electric vehicles and how to protect citizens' property rights? Electric bicycles can be regulated and managed from three aspects: production, sales and use. In the production process, legislation needs to clarify how big, heavy and fast electric vehicles it needs to be produced; and stipulate what responsibilities the manufacturers that produce electric vehicles exceeding the standard need to bear. During the sales process, a sales list should be formulated, the corresponding electric bicycle model should be identified, and counterfeit and shoddy merchants should be investigated and dealt with. During the use process, rules such as registration, registration, and exercise should be considered. Every link needs to be done well.
Chen Dong (Director of the Laws and Regulations Department of the Traffic Administration of the Ministry of Public Security): According to incomplete statistics, the total number of electric bicycles that meet the national standards and exceed the standards is 270 million. Users are mainly middle- and low-income groups, and there are many problems in accident compensation and use. The research on the electric vehicle legislation project is very realistic and historical. First of all, the definition of electric bicycles. Currently, there are many types of non-motor vehicles, some are ordinary electric bicycles, some are electric scooters, and some are two-wheeled balance bikes. Scooters and balance bikes are not currently considered as means of transportation. Secondly, through discussion and argumentation between different subjects, new national standards have been formed. Again, before the new national standard was formulated, there were disputes over the nature of electric vehicles, especially for electric vehicles produced through the national standard. There were difficulties and management problems. These were all necessary to discuss and improve legislation.
What are the experiences and characteristics of local legislation?
Chen Dong: When my country's current road traffic safety law was issued in 2003, the number of electric vehicles nationwide was relatively small, and related industries had just emerged. There was a lack of expectations for the use of electric vehicles and legislation. The current legislation mainly stipulates principled regulations on electric vehicles - including electric vehicles in non-motor vehicles for management, and authorized localities to make specific details. The legislative framework for electric vehicles only clarifies the national standards for driving speed, vehicle quality, and appearance dimensions - comply with the standards and are managed according to non-motor vehicles, based on the 1999 national standards.
All localities have issued some local regulations in accordance with the authorization of the Road Traffic Safety Law.There are currently two forms: one is integrated into non-motor vehicle management specifications, and there are mainly five provinces and cities that adopt this form. The other is to specifically legislate electric bicycles, with 13 places and 5 provinces and 8 cities. Local electric vehicle legislation is not only due to the legislative authorization of the Road Traffic Safety Law, but also due to the relevant authorization of the new legislation to prefecture-level cities.
At present, the national legislature is amending the Road Traffic Safety Law, and has solicited opinions from various departments and is preparing to solicit opinions from the public in the near future. The overall idea of the current revision is to grant local regulations legislative power. Electric vehicle legislation is comprehensive legislation involving production and sales. The Road Traffic Safety Law cannot regulate the entire chain of electric vehicles, and local legislation is required to regulate the entire link. The legislation of electric vehicles should be comprehensive, comprehensive and complete.
Yu Lingyun: The legislative process of formulating the "Beijing Non-Motor Vehicle Management Regulations" is very targeted. The regulations came into effect on November 1, 2018. During this period after their implementation, everyone has a good impression of legislation and no negative voices. Guangdong and Shenzhen have had local legislation on electric bicycles very early, and the effect is good. The Nanjing "Road Traffic Safety Management Regulations" has been passed and implemented, and relevant legislation in Jiangsu Province is also being formulated. Heilongjiang is undergoing electric bicycle legislation.
Wang Qingxiang (Director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government): Beijing’s local legislation is not the earliest, but based on the legislative experience in other places, there are some highlights. A lot of research was conducted during the legislative process. The main ideas and basic principles of Beijing's legislation are:
First, adhere to the maintenance of the national legal system. my country has a one-dimensional multi-pole legislative system. There are deviations in the understanding of the key issues in the legislation of electric bicycles. There are disputes over whether to strictly regulate them; there are also disputes over whether the product quality law or the road traffic safety law shall apply in the sales link. Beijing's legislation adheres to the Road Traffic Safety Law that determines the management classification of motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles and establishes basic principles; adheres to the product quality law's standards for electric bicycles and electric motorcycles. Before the legislation was issued, industrial and commercial and quality inspection carried out rectification and control of production and sales.
Second, implement full-link management and source governance. Since the government did not manage electric bicycles in a timely manner in the early stages, sales were out of control. How to protect the people's trust interests is a difficult point. The focus is on managing the problem of not implementing the product quality law in production and sales.
Third, actively and steadily advance the principle. Beijing’s legislation to regulate electric vehicles systematically will inevitably affect the interests of the people. Therefore, a three-year transition period has been set up, and the vehicles purchased by the people are not prohibited in one-size-fits-all manner, but guided. We will insist on taking the lead in the management of production and sales links and gradually digest the stock during the three-year transition period. We insist on public opinion propaganda first and form citizens' reasonable expectations for electric vehicles. The six months after the law was issued, it also provides a good foundation for society to accept changes in the legal system.
Fourth, combine loosening and blocking. The problems of urban traffic congestion and environmental pollution in Beijing are relatively serious. We hope to promote the use of non-motor vehicles through standardized regulations, so as to alleviate the above problems and allow the public to establish a safety awareness.
Zou Weiping (Deputy Director of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress): The "Beijing Non-Motor Vehicle Management Regulations" focus on electric bicycles and Internet bicycles. During the system design process of the regulations, all links are standardized. A system design is the sales link. The regulations use the product sales catalog, with the national standard as the only standard, and include products that meet the national standards in the product sales catalog. This catalog is open. Another system design is the registration process. Electric vehicles in Beijing must be registered and obtain driving license and license plate. In order to promote citizens to purchase electric vehicles with standards, vehicles that meet the catalog will be issued with free driving licenses and license plates; while vehicles that do not meet will obtain temporary driving licenses and license plates, and the temporary license plates will have a transition period of 3 years. In addition, issues such as penalties have also been regulated.
At the same time, Beijing has also initiated modifications to the implementation measures. Within the implementation measures, the questions about how to use them are clarified in accordance with the requirements and spirit of the Road Traffic Safety Law, and skateboards, balance bikes, etc. are included in the specifications. In addition, the norms for issues such as helmets, standards and quality are advocated.Include electric tricycles and four-wheelers in motor vehicles for management. The life of the law lies in its implementation, and I hope that later law enforcement supervision will keep up.
Du Ying (Deputy Director of the Legal Affairs Department of the Transportation Bureau of Beijing Public Security Bureau): The problems in law enforcement are solved through legislation, and the problem of division of responsibilities of departments is solved first. Beijing legislation has passed division of responsibilities and clarified the responsibilities of each department; source management is solved through catalogs. The second is to solve the problem of existing vehicles. The third is to improve the safety standards for non-motor vehicle traffic. Fourth, the law enforcement efforts for serious illegal acts of non-motor vehicles have been increased, and on-site compulsory measures have been determined for some serious acts, and high fines have been imposed for serious illegal acts.
What are the current governance results and shortcomings
Feng Xinyi (Deputy Director of the Traffic Administration Bureau of Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, Guangdong Province): As of now, there are 586 electric bicycle restricted roads in Shenzhen, and 90% of the main and secondary roads in the original special zone and the central urban roads outside the original special zone have been restricted. At present, the overall operating model of ban on motorcycles and electricity in Shenzhen is "strengthening traffic restrictions, strengthening crackdowns, and strengthening guidance". It carries out joint rectification from the source to the road surface, implements the inspection and supervision system, and regularly reports work to the main leaders of the city and district every month, promoting the effective development of work.
Since 2012, the registration management of electric bicycles in the people's livelihood industry has been implemented. It is clear that industries engaged in newspaper delivery (including express delivery and takeaway), transportation of gas and barreled drinking water and fresh milk, and involved emergency repair of municipal facilities can apply for filing. Registered vehicles are not subject to restriction management restrictions. In addition, express delivery and takeaway delivery vehicles are managed through the "six unifications" (unified staff clothing styles, unified staff certificate management, unified food delivery vehicle number management, unified wearing of cycling safety helmets, unified platform credit management system, unified personnel purchase and vehicle insurance) and the "six prohibitions" (no use of food delivery vehicles that exceed the standard, no people to carry or illegal soliciting customers, no overloading, no red lights, no motor vehicle lanes, no reverse traffic).
In recent years, Shenzhen has achieved significant results in banning motorcycles and power restrictions. First of all, the number of deaths in traffic accidents has been continuously declining, achieving a continuous decline in traffic accidents and deaths involving "Five Classes of Vehicles" over the past six years, and the number of deaths in traffic accidents in the city has been declining for 14 consecutive years. Secondly, the traffic civilization index has increased significantly.
The "Regulations on Punishment of Road Traffic Safety Illegal Acts in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone" clearly stipulates the illegal acts of electric vehicles, highlighting the "harmonious punishment and chaos". The amendment of the penalties regulations is also included in this year's legislative plan. In addition, Shenzhen is promoting the issuance of the "Several Regulations on the Management of Electric Bicycles in Shenzhen", which is expected to be promulgated in July 2019 and will be officially implemented on the 1st of 2012.
The next work idea is to first fully carry out risk assessment, layered digestion, and smooth transition; second, establish a municipal electric bicycle management office; third, issue transition signs and registration license plates to citizens; fourth, try to meet the management needs of existing electric two-wheeled vehicles; fifth, increase public transportation investment in areas with a total prohibition.
Cai Weiguo (Director of the Legal Affairs Department of the Traffic Management Bureau of Nanjing Public Security Bureau, Jiangsu Province): Jiangsu Province is a major province in the production and use of electric vehicles. There are more than 300 manufacturers in the province, and the annual production of more than 10 million electric bicycles. Currently, the number of electric bicycles in the province (including electric bicycles that do not meet national standards) has reached more than 33 million, of which more than 4 million are in Nanjing. The main problems of electric bicycles are the many vehicles that are not up to standard, many traffic violations, many traffic accidents, many fire accidents, and many theft cases.
There are the following problems in the management of electric bicycles: First, the source supervision is not in place, the supervision of production and circulation links is absent, the problem of vehicle exceeding the standard has not been fundamentally solved, and a large number of electric bicycles exceeding the standard have flowed into the market. Second, drivers have weak traffic awareness and frequent traffic violations. There are problems such as difficulty in execution and management in the actual traffic management process, and the legal guarantees are not sound enough. Third, it is difficult to settle the accident claims, the insurance rate of electric bicycles is low, it is difficult to compensate for damages after an accident, and it is difficult to implement medical expenses. Fourth, special industries have large groups, and electric bicycles engaged in express delivery, takeout and sanitation industries have a large number of electric bicycles, and are used frequently, so effective industry management has not yet been formed.Fifth, the regulations and standards are missing and lagging behind. No regulations or rules for the management of electric bicycles have been formulated and issued, but are only subject to principled provisions in some chapters of local regulations. In addition, there are common lack of connection management of new and old national standard electric bicycles.
The "Nanjing Road Traffic Safety Regulations" have been approved. Next, the "Jiangsu Province Electric Bicycle Management Regulations" and the "Nanjing Non-Motor Vehicle Management Measures" will be formulated to further increase the management of electric bicycles and promote the identification of vehicle attributes and license plates.
Deng Shengbin (Director of the Judicial Bureau of Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province): Quzhou City has mainly done the following work in the management of electric bicycles: First, a directory is set up for management, and it can only be sold in accordance with the directory. Second, legislative creative regulations, such as the speed of undivided hybrid lanes is set at 20km/h. Third, compulsory insurance. Encouragement of compulsory insurance is stipulated in the legislation. During the implementation process, the government guides everyone to participate in insurance through subsidies. Fourth, when it comes to wearing a helmet, it was encouraged at first, but later it was realized that wearing a helmet is very important, so it was changed to the word "should" in the regulations, but no penalty was set. For those who do not wear a helmet, the traffic police can order them to correct and criticize and educate them. Fifth, clarify the functions of the department, and hold coordination meetings many times in the actual law enforcement process to establish a joint law enforcement mechanism for departments. Sixth, a transition period for the law was set up, and a buffer period of half a year before the road law enforcement took effect was set to begin. During this period, the legislation was vigorously promoted and guided. Seventh, linkage and centralized rectification of law enforcement. Eighth, pay attention to big data information management. Due to insufficient police force, in order to ensure adequate control, IoT chips are embedded in the license plate to facilitate monitoring of driving trajectories, discover illegal behaviors, and conduct data analysis on illegal situations.
There are several problems with current management: First, the limitations of legislative authority are relatively large, such as compulsory insurance and compulsory helmets. Second, management forces need to be solved through technology. Third, there is a gap in the management of electric vehicle batteries. Fourth, the penalty for merchants selling electric vehicles that exceed the standard needs to be improved. Fifth, education issues for illegal behaviors should be strengthened. Sixth, the management of takeaway vehicles, the management of electric three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, and the management of foreign vehicles should be further studied and solved.
Liang Yuxin (Chief of the Order Section of the Traffic Police Detachment of Nanning Public Security Bureau of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region): Nanning City issued electric vehicle regulations in 2009 to clarify registration. In 2012, we began to take the lead in licensing cities of Beibu Gulf , forming a complete set of registration and management measures. After registration, we will begin to strictly regulate the road management mechanism. The initial concentrated rectification effect was not very good, and the order and chaos of electric bicycles were very common. In 2014, it was stipulated that traffic safety education should be provided to car owners during registration before subsequent registration can be carried out. The subsequent law enforcement effect was very good, and 95% of the illegal activists expressed support for education. In the year after learning and education, the mortality rate of electric vehicles dropped by 50%.
A lot of work has also been tried in the legislation, such as formulating Nanning Traffic Safety Regulations. Other situations that occur in non-motor vehicles are considered. However, due to the many restrictions on legislation and supervision in autonomous regions, local legislation is relatively strict. Legislation for non-motor vehicles at the autonomous region and other levels has not been included in the agenda.
For the management of electric vehicles, we should gradually move closer to motor vehicles, and at the same time, strengthen administrative legal responsibilities and increase the fine amount. In addition, many specific problems of electric vehicles must be faced seriously and solved, such as the problem of giving way to pedestrians is difficult to implement in electric vehicles; whether it is illegal for passengers to carry umbrellas in non-motor vehicles; how to deal with the problem of using large-capacity batteries without using them privately, etc., and the problem of handling electric vehicles exceeding the standard, if not dealt with in a timely manner, a new type of zombie car problem may be formed.
Therefore, the following suggestions are made: First, the national legislature can conduct more research at the grassroots level, and allow some distinctive places to try first. Second, electric vehicles are used as a separate chapter in the lane traffic law. Third, add administrative compulsory measures to management and consider issues such as scrapping, cancellation, and insurance.
Text sorting: Legal Daily All-Media Reporter Lin Nante
