The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have issued the "Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism to Reduce the Burden of Grassroots Organizations"
Beijing, August 6 (Xinhua) -- The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have issued the "Several Provisions on Rectifying Formalism to Reduce the Burden of Grassroots Organizations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Several Provisions"), and issued a notice requiring all regions and departments to conscientiously comply with and implement them.
The notice points out that formalism and bureaucracy are stubborn and chronic diseases that must be resolutely rectified with great efforts. Grassroots is the "last mile" in implementing the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, and cannot be bound by formalism and bureaucracy. The formulation of the "Several Regulations", the deep implementation of the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the improvement of the long-term mechanism for reducing the burden on the grassroots are of great significance for continuously deepening, expanding, and rectifying formalism to reduce the burden on the grassroots.
The notice requires that all regions and departments strictly implement the "Several Provisions", coordinate efforts to reduce the burden and empower grassroots, effectively free grassroots from formalism and bureaucratic constraints, guide party members and cadres to actively take on responsibilities, and have more energy to implement them. At the central level, the mechanism for rectifying formalism and reducing burdens at the grassroots level should be regularly supervised and inspected. Departments of central and state organs, provincial party committees, and governments should be pragmatic when arranging and deploying work. Party committees (party groups) should fulfill their main responsibilities, and disciplinary inspection and supervision organs at all levels should strengthen supervision and implementation to ensure the implementation of the "Several Provisions".
The full text of the "Several Regulations" is as follows.
Regulations on Rectifying Formalism to Reduce Burden at Grassroots Level
Approved by the Political Bureau Meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on July 30, 2024
Released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on August 6, 2024
In order to deepen the expansion and rectification of formalism to reduce the burden on the grassroots, improve the long-term mechanism for reducing the burden on the grassroots, guide party members and cadres to establish and practice a correct view of political achievements, actively take on responsibilities, and have more energy to implement, the following regulations are formulated.
1、 Effectively streamline documents
1. Strictly control the number of documents. Local and departmental documents shall strictly implement planning management, total quantity control, and document approval system, and strictly control temporary, supporting, and division of labor documents. The actual number of publications per year generally only decreases and does not increase. If it exceeds the previous year, a written explanation should be provided to the higher-level party committee office. The deliberation and coordination agencies, departments, and units shall not issue directive official documents to lower level party committees and governments or make directive requirements in official documents. Strengthen daily dynamic monitoring to prevent the management of the number of publications from being avoided through methods such as turning a "red head" into a "white head", formally changing notes, and combining multiple documents.
2. Improve file quality. Adhere to the "short, practical, and new" writing style. In addition to deploying comprehensive work, local and departmental documents generally do not exceed 5000 words, and documents deploying special work or specific tasks generally do not exceed 4000 words. The document should be straightforward and go straight to the point, focusing on proposing policy measures for implementation. Generally, it is not necessary to elaborate on the background of the situation, important significance, main principles, etc. If it is necessary to elaborate, it should be concise and to the point; The strengthening of leadership, implementation of responsibilities, and organizational support should be refined. The supporting documents should directly propose specific implementation measures and should not simply copy the higher-level documents.
3. Strengthen evaluation and review. Local and departmental document issuance should undergo consistency evaluation with reducing the burden on grassroots, strengthen policy and legal compliance review, and generally do not require submission of implementation status or formulation of supporting documents; Except for specialized documents, the documents generally do not put forward specific requirements for institutional staffing, cadre allocation, salary and welfare benefits, creating demonstrations, meeting standards, "one vote veto", and signing responsibility agreements.
2、 Strictly streamline meetings
4. Strictly control the number of meetings. Convene meetings and strictly implement plan management. Statutory and institutional meetings shall be conducted in accordance with relevant regulations. The comprehensive work conference in this field of the system should not exceed once a year in principle. Business work conferences held by departments at all levels can be merged and streamlined. Daily meetings held at all levels should be streamlined, pragmatic, and frequency controlled. Matters that can be merged for research and deliberation should be merged. Do not deliberately hold meetings to convey the spirit of superiors overnight. Without the approval of the main responsible comrades of the same level party committee, meetings directly to the grassroots level (including television, telephone, and online video conferences) shall not be held at will. For meetings that have already been directly to the grassroots level, they will no longer be held layer by layer. Reduce the frequency and quantity of on-site observation meetings, promotion meetings, etc. The work items that have already been issued should no longer be specifically discussed and deployed in meetings. The party committees and governments at the city and county levels have increased their overall planning efforts for the annual comprehensive meetings, preventing gatherings at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, and significantly reducing the number of meetings attended by the main leaders of the township (street) party and government, village (community) party organization secretaries, and village (neighborhood) committee directors.
5. Control the scale and specifications. Strictly control the scope and level of attendees, only arrange units closely related to the conference theme to participate, and do not engage in hierarchical accompanying meetings. Reasonably determining the meeting specifications, the meeting convened and deployed by the responsible comrade in charge generally does not require the participation of the main responsible comrades at lower levels. Meetings held in the name of departments shall not require the participation of lower level party committees and government officials without the approval of the same level party committee. It is not simply a matter of setting corresponding level requirements for attendees based on their leadership level. Meetings that can be attended by the responsible comrade in charge do not require the participation of the main responsible comrade, and meetings that can be attended by department responsible comrades do not require the participation of party committee and government responsible comrades. Central departmental work conferences generally do not arrange for units at or below the county level to attend, and provincial-level departmental work conferences generally do not arrange for units at or below the county level to attend.
6. Improve quality and efficiency. Strictly implement the requirements of holding short meetings and giving short speeches. Local party and government officials who attend meetings at the same time generally do not give speeches at the same time. The speeches or main reports of the meetings should not exceed one hour. If there are speaking arrangements, the speaking time should be controlled, and general work reports or statements should not be made. Meetings scheduled for group discussions should generally not exceed one and a half days in duration, while other meetings are generally scheduled for less than half a day. Meetings that can be held in the form of television, telephone, or online video may not be held in a centralized manner.
3、 Overall planning, standardization, supervision, inspection, and assessment
7. Strict planning and record management. The comprehensive inspection and assessment items involving local party committees and governments that are planned to be carried out by various departments of the central and state organs shall be implemented according to the annual plan. In principle, each department shall not exceed one item. Similar items shall be merged, and those involving multiple departments shall be jointly carried out. Intensify the overall supervision, inspection, and assessment of internal departments and industry systems, and shall not be carried out without reporting. Any unplanned activities that are necessary should be reported on a case by case basis. It is not allowed to package and report plans, execute and split them, conduct inspections and assessments under the guise of research, and the research results shall not be used as the basis for assessment and accountability. Do not set inspection and assessment items in departmental documents, leadership speeches, etc. The supervision, inspection, and assessment items carried out by central and state organs generally do not require local level support. At the beginning and middle of each year, strengthen the overall planning and optimization of the inspection and assessment items to be carried out on site, and stagger the time and location. Except for emergency safety production and natural disaster prevention and control, each province shall receive no more than the prescribed number of on-site inspections and assessments by central and national government departments on average every month throughout the year. The number of on-site inspections and assessments by higher-level authorities at the city, county, and township levels shall be determined by the provincial party committee based on reference. Provinces, cities, and counties should strengthen the planning and filing management of supervision, inspection, and assessment items at their respective levels.
8. Improvement methods and approaches. Superior departments shall conduct inspections, assessments, and research at the local level, and shall not easily request to meet with the main responsible comrades or frequently request grassroots to fill out forms and submit materials. It is not allowed to use obtaining instructions from leaders and publishing articles, information, experience and practices in publications and media as inspection and assessment content. Do not use the criteria of meeting, posting documents, taking photos, and making study notes as a basis for evaluating the quality of work, and do not arrange inspections, checks, and assessments as soon as work is deployed. In principle, no mobilization or feedback meetings shall be held for inspection and assessment. Feedback on the inspection and assessment results should be provided in an appropriate manner, leaving sufficient time for rectification. Implement the "three distinctions" and coordinate the work of accountability, fault tolerance, and error correction. Accountability should not be used as a substitute for rectification. Officials should not be held accountable until the prescribed procedures and facts have been clarified, in order to prevent the generalization and simplification of accountability. Reduce the assessment indicators, compress the amount of text provided in the materials, highlight the key points of the assessment, do not add layers of emphasis, and do not set assessment content as a "ride". It is not allowed to arbitrarily set up "one vote veto" and sign responsibility agreements, and it is not allowed to indirectly set assessment items through signing commitment letters, third-party evaluations, satisfaction assessments, and listing supervision. Do not frequently report rankings on a monthly or quarterly basis. It is not allowed to conduct assessments in a disguised form by reporting rankings. Assessment should be simplified and not adopt a "thousand point system".
9. Strictly control the total amount of supervision, inspection, and assessment at the grassroots level. The party committees and governments at the provincial, municipal, and county levels should reasonably coordinate the supervision and inspection items at the grassroots level, and shall not repeatedly arrange supervision and inspection items to the same place, nor shall they carry out supervision and inspection of the same place at all levels on the same item, in order to prevent duplication and concentration. All assessment items for units at or below the county level shall be carried out together, and the assessment of counties, townships, and villages shall be organized and implemented by the city, county, and township respectively. Other units shall not be assessed separately.
4、 Standardize the secondment of cadres
10. Do not borrow cadres from units at or below the county level. Superior authorities and units shall not, in principle, borrow cadres from county-level or lower level units. It is not allowed to indirectly borrow cadres under the guise of working as a special team, learning from others, exchanging and exercising.
11. Strictly control the borrowing of cadres from municipal and above units. Superior authorities and units borrowing cadres from municipal and above units should focus on urgent work needs and strictly control the number. If it is necessary to borrow, it shall be approved by the Party group (Party committee) of the unit and reported to the same level Party committee organization department for filing. The secondment period generally does not exceed 6 months. If there are special circumstances that require an extension, the extension period should generally not exceed 6 months, and the consent of the sending unit and the individual should be obtained in advance.
5、 Standardize the management of government mobile Internet applications
12. Clean up and integrate grassroots oriented government applications. In principle, the central and state organs and departments can run at most one grass-roots government mobile Internet application (hereinafter referred to as the government application), and the function of filling in forms, reporting data and submitting materials generally does not extend downward to the county level; The existing multiple government applications at the grassroots level should be gradually cleared, reduced, and integrated. Clean up and integrate government applications targeting units below the county level in various regions. It is not allowed to arbitrarily request data materials from the grassroots. If it is necessary for the grassroots to fill out forms, submit data, and submit materials, in principle, data sharing should be promoted through the provincial platform. Data materials that can be automatically generated or shared through the system should no longer be required to be submitted by the grassroots, and similar materials should be submitted at most once. Paper materials should not be required to be submitted repeatedly, and departments should not require separate submission. The function of filling out forms, submitting data, and submitting materials in city and county level government applications should gradually be integrated and unified with the corresponding functions of provincial platforms.
13. Strict construction management. Strictly review the approval of government application projects and include them in unified technical supervision. Without the approval of the information technology project approval department, no new construction is allowed. If the industry system already has a unified government application, relevant permissions should be opened to the local authorities, and the interconnection between the vertical management system and local platforms should be promoted, so that the local authorities will not repeat the construction. Except for special scenarios such as security and emergency situations, other types of government applications are not allowed to set mandatory functions such as check-in, point ranking, and online time statistics.
14. Prevent functional alienation. It is not allowed to forcibly promote the download and use of government applications, assess and report user installation and usage rates, or require regular login. It is not allowed to transform government applications into the main carrier for daily work assessment and online supervision and inspection. It is not allowed to use likes, online votes, reposts, learning time, etc. as evaluation criteria. It is not necessary to force subordinate and grassroots units to upload work photos, videos, and trajectories through government applications.
6、 Standardize and clarify grassroots rights and responsibilities
15. Establish and improve a list of responsibilities. Provincial party committees and governments guide local areas to establish and improve a list of responsibilities for townships (streets) based on actual conditions, carry out cleaning and standardization, strengthen dynamic management of the list, and promote consistency in responsibilities and abilities. The village (community) committee shall fulfill its duties in accordance with the law and shall not take the village (community) as the responsible party for administrative law enforcement, urban management, investment promotion and other affairs. Strengthen the overall coordination and standardization of the "certain chief system" and grid personnel, and do not arbitrarily add new items.
16. Improve the access system for items outside the list. Without the unified deployment of the provincial party committee and government, it is not allowed to delegate responsibilities that are not included in the list to townships (streets) without authorization or delegation, and it is not allowed to transfer work tasks and responsibilities to townships (streets), villages (communities) by implementing local management, signing responsibility agreements, decomposing and issuing indicators, conducting assessment and acceptance, and putting systems on the wall. Clean up and standardize the delegated matters, retain the urgent and effectively undertaken matters for grassroots governance, and synchronously delegate relevant resources; Promptly adjust and collect matters with strong professional and technical expertise that cannot be undertaken after evaluation. Village (community) public services that are suitable for providing through market-oriented means can be purchased in accordance with the law.
17. Standardize work mechanisms, listing and certification matters. Simplify and integrate various village (community) work mechanisms established by party and government organs and mass organizations. Without the approval of provincial party committees and governments, it is not allowed to require village level organizations to establish various leadership groups, committees, workstations, associations and other working institutions, and to list and equip them with strength. Provincial party committees and governments shall uniformly stipulate the number, names, and styles of village (community) listings, which shall not be increased except for statutory listings. Party and government organs, as well as mass organizations, shall not require villages (communities) to provide certification items lacking legal basis. In principle, certification items required by financial institutions, social organizations, etc. for villages (communities) shall be cancelled.
18. Determine the responsibilities of grassroots petition work in accordance with laws and regulations. We should not simply evaluate grassroots petition work based on the number of petitions, and should not rank, report, assess, or hold accountable petition matters that have been reviewed and those that have been legally terminated. This will allow grassroots efforts to focus more on promoting conflict resolution and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the masses.
7、 Standardize the creation of demonstration and compliance activities
19. Simplify the number of types. Significantly reduce various creation demonstration and compliance activities, and no new creation demonstration and compliance activities, as well as "city", "hometown", "base" and other awarding and naming activities, shall be added without approval. City and county-level party and government organs, mass organizations, and townships (streets) do not carry out demonstration activities for creation. Do not create ranking results.
20. Emphasize the creation of demonstration effectiveness. The creation of demonstration activities shall not deviate from the local resource endowment conditions and industrial development reality, and shall not engage in "sports style", "show style", or "gust of wind" activities. It shall not require atmosphere creation and shall not affect the normal production and life of the masses. Units participating in the creation of demonstration activities should adhere to frugality, eliminate waste, and not borrow money for creation. No fees shall be charged for creating demonstration activities, and no fees shall be collected in disguised form through cooperation, sponsorship, or other means.
21. Do not engage in standard setting activities at the grassroots level. Party and government organs at all levels, as well as mass organizations, state-owned enterprises and institutions, social organizations, etc., are not allowed to carry out standardized activities targeting townships (streets), villages (communities), and schools. Clean up existing compliance activities and cancel those that have already been carried out upon expiration.
Each region and department should strictly implement these regulations, establish a special work mechanism to rectify formalism and reduce the burden at the grassroots level, and the Party committee (Party group) should effectively fulfill its main responsibilities. The Party committee (Party group) secretary should take the lead in implementing and ensuring timely rectification of outstanding problems in their respective regions and departments. Central and state organs and departments should take the lead in implementing it. The implementation of these regulations is an important part of inspections, news and public opinion supervision. Hold accountable those who violate these regulations and publicly report typical issues.
This regulation shall be interpreted by the General Office of the Central Committee and shall come into effect from the date of its promulgation. Any regulations previously issued that are inconsistent with this regulation shall be implemented in accordance with this regulation.
Information source: Xinhua News Agency
