1. The Constitution is the fundamental law of the country, and all state organs, armed forces, political parties, social organizations and citizens must abide by it, and all other laws, regulations and rules must not contravene it. Its formulation and revision have strict procedures. At present, there are mainly the Constitution of People's Republic of China (PRC) (promulgated by 1982) and four amendments.
Second, the law. It was formulated by the National People's Congress and the NPC Standing Committee. Including the Basic Law enacted by the National People's Congress and the Non-Basic Law enacted by the NPC Standing Committee. Theoretically, the former is more effective than the latter, but it is generally not distinguished in practice. The former includes Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), General Principles of Civil Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), Contract Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), Property Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), Civil Procedure Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and so on. The latter are administrative licensing law, road traffic safety law, consumer rights protection law, lawyer law and so on. According to the legislative law, when the National People's Congress is not in session, the NPC Standing Committee can partially amend or supplement the laws enacted by the National People's Congress without violating the basic principles of the law.
Three. Administrative regulations. Formulated by the State Council. The effect is lower than the law, but higher than the local regulations. For example, the implementation regulations of road traffic safety law, forest fire prevention regulations and so on.
Fourth, local regulations. It shall be formulated by the people's congresses and their standing committees of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities where provincial people's governments are located, cities where special economic zones are located, and large cities approved by the State Council. Among them, the local regulations formulated by the Municipal People's Congress and its Standing Committee must be approved by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress before implementation. Local regulations are implemented within their respective administrative areas, and their effectiveness is lower than that of administrative regulations and higher than that of local governments at the same level or lower levels.
5. Regulations, including departmental regulations and local government regulations. The former is formulated by the State Council's subordinate ministries and other departments, such as the General Rules for Loans of the People's Bank of China and the Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the People's Police of Public Security Organs jointly formulated by the Ministry of Supervision, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Public Security. The latter shall be formulated by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and larger cities and implemented within their respective administrative areas. Compared with the general "red-headed documents", the formulation procedures of rules are more stringent, and must be reviewed and approved by ministerial meetings or committee meetings (departmental rules) and local government executive meetings or plenary meetings (local government rules). Different from the general "red-headed documents", they must be signed by the principal responsible person or the heads of ministries or local governments before they can take effect. The effectiveness of local government regulations is lower than that of local regulations formulated by the people's congresses (and their standing committees) at the same level, and the effectiveness of regulations formulated by local governments in larger cities is lower than that formulated by governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government.
6. People's congresses in ethnic autonomous areas (including autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties, excluding ethnic townships) (note that there is no standing committee here! According to the characteristics of ethnic autonomous areas, autonomous regulations and separate regulations can be formulated to supplement and adapt laws and administrative regulations, but the supplementary and adaptive provisions shall not violate the basic principles of laws and administrative regulations, nor shall they supplement and adapt the special provisions of the law on regional ethnic autonomy and other laws and administrative regulations. Autonomous regulations and separate regulations shall come into force after being approved by the Standing Committee of the people's congress at the next higher level.
Seven, where the special economic zones are located, the provincial and municipal people's congresses and their standing committees may, according to the authorization of the National People's Congress, formulate special economic zone regulations and implement them in the special economic zones, so as to achieve the purpose of "trying first" in the special zones.