Specifically, where comments are made in a hearing, the decision-maker must respond in the final ruling, or the relevant act may be invalidated as a result. In U.S. administrative law, formal hearings usually feature opposing sides chosen by lot and presided over by an administrative law judge assigned by the administrative agency, and the hearing is a complete clone of a courtroom argument in which both sides not only express their opinions, but also present their own witnesses and documents in support of their views. At the end the administrative judge must make a final decision, as in a court trial, and the decision must respond exhaustively to the arguments of both sides, or the decision may be invalidated on a point of order in a judicial review.
In foreign countries, the legislative process is also often used in the hearing. Hearings in legislation are relatively more casual, with hearing representatives drawn by lot to express their views on a particular bill, which will be an important reference for legislators when they vote. Hearings in the legislative process are not as binding as those in the administrative process because of the legislator's speech and voting immunity; in other words, the legislator can completely ignore the views expressed in the hearing, but in a democracy, where legislators have to look out for votes, hearings reflect the views of their constituents, and few legislators ignore the existence of those views.
In China, in addition to a hearing system in administrative procedures, there is also a hearing system in legislation, and there have been a number of local people's congresses that have conducted hearings when enacting local regulations, as well as the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which has conducted hearings when amending the Individual Income Tax Law. But China's hearing system has significant shortcomings, administrative procedures in the hearing has no binding force, resulting in the hearing in vain; legislative procedures in the hearing due to the lack of transparency, the hearing representative is difficult to adequately and properly express their views, in addition to the lack of democratic mechanisms, but also makes the results of the hearing of the members of the legislature form a de facto constraints.
Because several recent hearings on price adjustments have increased prices after the hearings, many netizens jokingly referred to as "listening to the meeting".