What are the key provisions added or amended in the Regulations on Disciplinary Actions of the Communist Party of China?

Compared with the 2018 Regulations, 16 new articles have been added and 76 articles have been amended, further tightening the cage of the dense system and providing important guidelines for comprehensively strengthening the party's discipline construction. In view of some of the key provisions added or revised in the "Regulations", the comrades of the Laws and Regulations Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission, who participated in the revision of the "Regulations", made an authoritative interpretation from the background of the revision, understanding and implementation. This column collects relevant interpretations to help you deeply study, understand, and implement the "Regulations".

Party members refuse to testify or intentionally provide false information

[Article]

Article 80: Where Party members who have an obligation to testify in accordance with laws and regulations refuse to testify or intentionally provide false information during the disciplinary review of Party organizations, and the circumstances are more serious, they are to be given warnings or serious warnings;

[Interpretation]

Article 80 of the "Regulations" adds a new punishment provision for Party members who have the obligation to testify in accordance with laws and regulations during the disciplinary review of Party organizations and refuse to testify or intentionally provide false information. Discipline examination is a serious political work and an important measure to safeguard the party's discipline authority. The Regulations of the Communist Party of China on the Inspection of Cases by Discipline Inspection Organs issued in 1994 and its implementation rules clearly stipulate that "all organizations and individuals who know the circumstances of the case have the obligation to provide evidence" and that "if a Party member refuses to testify or deliberately provides false information, and the circumstances are serious, he shall be given Party disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the relevant regulations". Article 18 of the "Supervision Law" and article 42 of the "Government Sanctions Law" both provide that the Supervision Organs have the right to learn about the situation from relevant units and individuals in accordance with law, and to collect and collect evidence, and the relevant units and individuals shall truthfully provide information. In the review of a case, many witnesses are often involved, and although these witnesses are not parties to the case or persons involved in the case, they have the obligation to testify in accordance with laws and regulations because they know the relevant circumstances of the case. Party members who are witnesses shall strengthen their organizational concept and awareness when the organization learns about the situation from them, objectively and truthfully reflect the situation in an attitude of being highly responsible to comrades within the Party, the Party organization, and the Party's cause, seriously and conscientiously perform their obligation to testify, and jointly safeguard the authority and seriousness of the discipline review work.

Falsifying and seeking profit in the awarding of academic titles

[Article]

Article 86: Whoever conceals or distorts the truth, or uses his authority or influence in his position to seek benefits for himself or others in violation of relevant provisions, in the recruitment, evaluation, promotion, evaluation of professional titles, honors and commendations, conferring academic titles, or placing retired servicemen, is to be given a warning or serious warning; where the circumstances are more serious, he is to be removed from internal Party positions or placed on Party probation; and where the circumstances are serious, he is to be expelled from the Party.

Where a position is obtained by deception or by deception to obtain positions, ranks, titles, benefits, qualifications, academic qualifications, degrees, honors, titles, or other benefits, it is to be handled in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

[Interpretation]

The "Regulations" will promote the strategy of serving talents to strengthen the country and promote the implementation of the talent evaluation mechanism as an important focus, and add provisions on the punishment of illegal profit-seeking and fraud in the awarding of academic titles in Article 86. At present, scientific and technological innovation has become the main battlefield of the international strategic game. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, in the final analysis, it depends on high-level innovative talents. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China revised the Party Constitution to include "giving full play to the role of talents as the primary resource" and "gathering talents from all over the world and using them" into the fundamental law of the Party. It is very important to accelerate the establishment of an evaluation system for scientific and technological talents oriented by innovation value, ability and contribution, and actively create an institutional environment of fairness, equality, competition and merit, which is very important for the construction of Chinese-style modernization. At present, there are still some obstacles in the process of building this evaluation system and institutional environment. For example, in the selection of academic titles, there are outstanding problems such as intercession, "circle review", and interest exchange, which urgently need to be effectively rectified. The enhancement of the above-mentioned punishment provisions is conducive to promoting the formation of a fair, just and open selection environment, and providing disciplinary guarantees for promoting the creation of a good atmosphere of recognizing, loving, respecting and using talents.

Against the phenomenon of privileged ideology, privilege

[Article]

Article 94: Party members and cadres must correctly exercise the powers entrusted to them by the people, be honest and honest, oppose the idea of privilege and the phenomenon of privilege, and oppose any abuse of power or pursuit of personal gain.

Where one's authority or influence is used to seek benefits for others, and one's spouse, children, their spouses, or other relatives or other persons with specific relationships accept property from the other party, and the circumstances are more serious, they are to be given a warning or serious warning;

[Interpretation]

The first paragraph of Article 94 of the "Regulations" adds the content of "opposing the idea of privilege and the phenomenon of privilege" before "opposing any abuse of power and seeking personal gain", further enriching and improving the overall requirements for the integrity and self-discipline of Party members and cadres. The amendment to the party constitution adopted at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China added the content of "opposing the idea of privilege and the phenomenon of privilege" to the basic conditions that leading cadres at all levels of the party must have. The party constitution also stipulates that "members of the Communist Party of China will always be ordinary members of the working people." All members of the Communist Party shall not seek any private interests or privileges other than their personal interests and work duties within the limits prescribed by law and policy." The amendment of the first paragraph of Article 94 of the "Regulations" is a concrete implementation of the Party Constitution, and it also has a strong practical purpose. In practice, due to the influence of traditional thinking and bad customs, among some party members and cadres, there is still a lot of market for the privileged ideas of feudal society, such as the right not to use, the expiration of the expiration date, the attainment of the Tao by one person, and the ascension of chickens and dogs to heaven. Some use their powers to do things in violation of regulations, some encroach on public interests under various names, some use the power in their hands as a tool for seeking profits for relatives, friends, and small groups, and some even engage in "nepotism" and "corruption within the government" to erode the party's body and damage the party's image. There are many manifestations of privilege ideology and privilege phenomenon, among which the violation of integrity and discipline is more concentrated. The "Regulations" emphasize "opposing the idea of privilege and the phenomenon of privilege" in the first article of the integrity discipline, play the role of the general manager, and run through the whole article of integrity and discipline, so as to guide the party members and cadres to keep in mind the role of the people's public servants, consciously break the privileged thinking and privileged behavior, and achieve impartial use of power and clean government.

After leaving the post and leaving the post, he worked in violation of regulations and made profits in violation of regulations

[Article]

Article 105:Where, after leaving a post or retiring (leaving) a retirement, relevant provisions are violated by accepting employment from an enterprise or intermediary organization or other unit within the scope of operations under the jurisdiction of the former position, or directly related to the original work business, or engaging in profit-making activities directly related to the business under the jurisdiction of the former position, and the circumstances are relatively minor, a warning or serious warning is to be given; where the circumstances are more serious, a sanction of removal from internal Party positions is to be given; and where the circumstances are serious, a sanction of Party probation is to be given.

Where leading cadres who are Party members violate relevant regulations by serving as independent directors or independent supervisors of listed companies or fund management companies after leaving their posts or retiring (leaving) from their posts, they shall be given warnings or serious warnings if the circumstances are relatively minor; if the circumstances are more serious, they shall be removed from their positions within the Party; and if the circumstances are serious, they shall be placed on Party probation.

Article 106:Where after leaving office or retiring (leaving) from office, the former authority or the influence of one's position is used to seek benefits for one's spouse, children, their spouses, or other relatives or other persons with specified relationships to engage in business activities, and the circumstances are more minor, a warning or serious warning is to be given; where the circumstances are more serious, a sanction of removal from internal Party positions or Party probation is to be given; and where the circumstances are serious, a sanction of expulsion from the Party is given.

Where after leaving office or retiring (leaving) from office, the former authority or the influence of one's position is used to seek benefits for others, and one's spouse, children, their spouses, or other relatives or other persons with specific relationships accept property from the other party, and the circumstances are more serious, they are to be given a warning or serious warning;

[Interpretation]

Our party has always stressed the need to implement strict management of cadres in the entire process of building the contingent of cadres. The revision of the "Regulations" focuses on further strengthening the full-cycle management of Party members and cadres, from the Party members and cadres who leave their posts to engage in illegal employment, and use the influence of their original positions to seek benefits for others in violation of regulations.

The first is to enrich and improve the provisions on the punishment of one's own illegal professional conduct after leaving the post. The revision of the "Regulations" expands the scope of the applicable subjects of illegal employment after leaving the post in this article, from the original "leading cadres of Party members" to all Party members and cadres, reflecting the unity of grasping the "key minority" and managing the vast majority. Correspondingly, the scope of the prohibition on illegal employment after leaving the post has been expanded, and on the basis of "the business under the jurisdiction of the former position", "directly related to the original work business" has been added as the scope of the prohibition, which is coordinated with the "Civil Servants Law" and other relevant provisions to make the legal system more stringent. At the same time, relevant units at or above the provincial level should establish a list of restrictions on professional conduct after resigning from public office in light of actual conditions. In practice, the specific scope of determining "directly related to the original work business" should be grasped in conjunction with the list of restrictions formulated by the relevant units.

The second is to add Article 106, which stipulates the punishment of Party members who seek benefits for others in violation of regulations after leaving their posts. Judging from the situation of discipline enforcement and supervision in recent years, some party members and cadres are not willing to be lonely after retirement, and are keen to stand up for others, and they continue to engage in "corruption" and seek profits on a large scale after retirement. This article is divided into two paragraphs to make targeted provisions, of which, the first paragraph provides for the punishment of "using the former authority or influence of the position after resignation or retirement (retirement) to seek benefits for the spouse, children and their spouses and other relatives and other specific related persons to engage in business activities", and the second paragraph provides for the punishment of "using the original authority or influence of the position to seek benefits for others after resignation or retirement (retirement), and the spouse, children and their spouses and other relatives and other persons with specific relationships accept property from the other party". Paragraph 2 of Article 94 and Article 104 of the Regulations correspond to similar acts of Party members and cadres while in office. The purpose of adding the above provisions is to emphasize that Party members and cadres must not abuse their power or seek personal gain while in office, and that these requirements should be consistent after retirement, and that the standard of integrity should not be lowered because of retirement.

Refusal to correct relatives doing business and running enterprises in violation of regulations

[Article]

Article 107: Where the spouses, children, and spouses of leading Party cadres engage in business activities that might affect the fair performance of their official duties in the area or scope of operations under the jurisdiction of the leading Party cadres, or have other conduct that violates the provisions on the prohibition of doing business or running enterprises, the leading Party cadres shall make corrections in accordance with the provisions;

[Interpretation]

Article 107 of the "Regulations" newly stipulates that if the spouses, children, and spouses of party-member leading cadres "have other acts in violation of the regulations on the prohibition of doing business and running enterprises," the leading cadres shall correct them in accordance with the regulations; if they refuse to do so, the leading cadres themselves shall resign from their current posts or have their posts adjusted by the organization; and if they do not resign from their current posts or do not obey the organization's readjustment of their posts, the leading cadres shall be dismissed from their posts within the party. In real life, the unclean behavior of party-member leading cadres can be roughly divided into two categories: First, they actually use their powers and thus seek personal gains, and must be severely punished; second, although they do not actually use their powers to seek personal interests, there are conflicts of interest, which is a real risk, and must also be regulated. This section of the Regulations is made from the perspective of preventing conflicts of interest.

The "Regulations on Violating the Prohibition of Doing Business and Running Enterprises" stipulated in the "Regulations" are mainly connected to the "Regulations on the Management of Spouses, Children and Their Spouses of Leading Cadres Doing Business and Running Enterprises" issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee in 2022. At the same time, the spouses, children, and their spouses of leading cadres at different levels and categories are prohibited from doing business or running enterprises. Leading Party cadres should follow the relevant regulations of the Party Central Committee and their own units and localities to strengthen education and restraint on their relatives and take the lead in administering their families honestly.

Source: China Journal of Discipline Inspection and Supervision Beijing Group Gong Official Account

Editor: Wang Xi

Review of this article: Zhang Zhongtao