The Administrative Enforcement Law of the People's Republic of China is a law specifically regulating the implementation of enforcement actions by administrative authorities. The law not only sets clear provisions for how administrative authorities should carry out enforcement actions in accordance with the law, but also emphasizes the various rights enjoyed by citizens in the process of law enforcement, ensuring that administrative power is not abused and that citizens' legitimate rights and interests are effectively protected.

Administrative enforcement actions are mainly divided into two categories.

The first category is "administrative coercive measures", which are mostly applied in emergency situations. For example, to stop illegal activities in time and prevent evidence from being destroyed or transferred, administrative authorities may adopt some temporary control measures, such as sealing up venues, seizing items, and freezing accounts. The characteristic of such measures is their short-term nature. Once the purpose is achieved or the emergency situation is eliminated, they must be lifted immediately and cannot continue for a long time.

The second category is "administrative enforcement", which refers to the situation where citizens, legal persons, or other organizations fail to fulfill the administrative decisions that have taken effect. In this case, the administrative authorities or the people's courts will adopt coercive measures to compel them to fulfill their obligations, such as directly transferring funds from bank accounts, auctioning seized property, and forcibly demolishing illegal buildings. It should be noted that administrative enforcement cannot be initiated at will. It must meet the statutory prerequisites: firstly, it must be based on a legal and effective administrative decision; secondly, the party concerned has failed to fulfill its obligations within the statutory time limit, and the administrative authorities must first issue a reminder to give the party concerned an opportunity to fulfill its obligations voluntarily.

In order to prevent administrative organs from abusing their power in the process of implementing administrative coercion, the Administrative Coercion Law clearly defines the "six prohibited circumstances", which refer to the six types of illegal behaviors strictly prohibited by law:

Firstly, there is no authority to enforce the law, that is, the organs without statutory powers, or the ones entrusted to non-administrative organs to carry out coercive acts;

Secondly, there are procedural omissions, such as failing to go through the necessary approval procedures before implementation, failing to have the enforcement carried out by more than two law enforcement officers, failing to present law enforcement documents, and failing to inform the parties of the relevant reasons and rights, etc.;

Thirdly, there is the over-range seizure and detention, that is, the seized and detained property is unrelated to the illegal acts, or the parties' daily necessities are detained;

Fourth, in non-emergency situations, forced enforcement shall be implemented at night or on statutory holidays;

Fifth, it directly enforces without giving notice, that is, before making the decision on enforcement, it does not give written notice to the parties concerned and does not listen to their statements and defenses;

Sixth, abusing one's power for personal gain, that is, using coercive power to seek improper benefits for units or individuals.

In the face of administrative coercive acts, citizens are entitled to "three rights" according to law to safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests:

Firstly, the right to make statements and the right to defend oneself. When the administrative organ takes compulsory measures, citizens have the right to express their opinions and explain their reasons on the spot. The administrative organ shall record and review them truthfully;

Secondly, the right to apply for administrative reconsideration or initiate administrative litigation. If a citizen believes that an administrative enforcement act is illegal, the citizen may apply for relief within the statutory time limit (the time limit for applying for administrative reconsideration is 60 days, and the time limit for initiating administrative litigation is 6 months);

Thirdly, the right to apply for state compensation. If the citizen suffers personal injury or property loss due to the illegal enforcement of compulsory measures by the administrative organ, the citizen has the right to apply to the state for corresponding compensation according to law.