Oversight Law of the People's Republic of China

Oversight Law of the People's Republic of China

Order of the President

(No. 3)

The Oversight Law of the People's Republic of China, as adopted at the 1st Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on March 20, 2018, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on the date of issuance.

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
March 20, 2018

Oversight Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 1st Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on March 20, 2018)

Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Oversight Authorities and Their Functions
Chapter III Scope of Oversight and Jurisdiction
Chapter IV Power of Oversight
Chapter V Oversight Procedures
Chapter VI International Cooperation against Corruption
Chapter VII Supervision of Oversight Authorities and Oversight Personnel
Chapter VIII Legal Liability
Chapter IX Supplemental Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is developed in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of furthering the reform of the national oversight system, strengthening the supervision of all public officials exercising public power, realizing the full coverage of national oversight, conducting the anti-corruption work in an in-depth manner, and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.

Article 2 The leadership of the Communist Party of China over the national oversight work shall be adhered to, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era shall be taken as the guide, and a centralized, unified, authoritative and efficient national oversight system with Chinese characteristics shall be established.

Article 3 Oversight commissions at all levels are the specialized organs responsible for exercising state oversight functions. They shall, in accordance with this Law, conduct oversight of public officials exercising public power (hereinafter referred to as “public officials”), investigate duty-related violations and crimes, build integrity and carry out the anti-corruption work, and maintain the dignity of the Constitution and the law.

Article 4 Oversight commissions shall independently exercise the power of oversight in accordance with the law, free from interference by any administrative organ, public organization or individual.
Oversight authorities shall, in handling duty-related violations or crimes, cooperate with judicial organs, procuratorial organs, and law enforcement organs, with mutual checks.
Where the oversight authority requires assistance in its work, the relevant organs and entities shall provide assistance in accordance with the law according to the requirements of the oversight authority.

Article 5 The oversight work of the state shall strictly comply with the Constitution and laws, take facts as the basis and laws as the criterion, equally apply laws to all parties, and guarantee the parties' lawful rights and interests. Equal consideration shall be given to power and responsibility, and strict supervision shall be conducted, and punishment shall be integrated with education and leniency shall be combined with severity.

Article 6 In the oversight work of the state, equal attention to temporary and permanent solutions and comprehensive treatment shall be adhered to, supervision and accountability shall be reinforced and corruption shall be severely punished. Reform shall be deepened, the rule of law shall be improved, and power shall be effectively restricted and overseen. Education in the rule of law and ethics shall be strengthened, the excellent Chinese traditional culture shall be carried forward, and effective mechanisms shall be constructed so as to ensure that officials do not dare, are not able, and have no desire to be corrupt.

Chapter II Oversight Authorities and Their Functions

Article 7 The National Oversight Commission of the People's Republic of China is the highest oversight authority.
Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties, cities, and municipal districts shall set up oversight commissions.

Article 8 The National Oversight Commission is created by the National People's Congress, and is responsible for the oversight work nationwide.
The National Oversight Commission is composed of one chairman, several vice-chairmen, and several members. The chairman is elected by the National People's Congress and vice-chairmen and members are appointed or removed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as proposed by the chairman of the National Oversight Commission.
The term of office of the chairman of the National Oversight Commission is the same as the term of the National People's Congress. The chairman of the National Oversight Commission shall serve not more than two consecutive terms.
The National Oversight Commission is responsible to the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, and accepts their supervision.

Article 9 Oversight commissions at various local levels are created by the people's congresses at the corresponding level, and are responsible for the oversight work within their respective administrative regions.
Oversight commissions at various local levels are composed of one chairman, several vice-chairmen, and several members. The chairman is elected by the people's congress at the corresponding level and vice-chairmen and members are appointed or removed by the standing committee of the people's congress at the corresponding level as proposed by the chairman of the oversight commission.
The term of office of the chairmen of oversight commissions at various local levels is the same as the term of the people's congresses at the corresponding level.
Oversight commissions at various local levels are responsible to the people's congresses at the corresponding level and their standing committees and to oversight commissions at the immediately higher level, and accept their supervision.

Article 10 The National Oversight Commission directs the work of oversight commissions at various local levels, and oversight commissions at higher levels direct the work of oversight commissions at lower levels.

Article 11 An oversight commission shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and relevant laws, perform the duties of supervision, investigation and disposition:
(1) It shall provide integrity education to public officials, and conduct supervision and inspection of public officials' performance of functions in accordance with the law, impartial exercise of power, clean administration, and moral integrity.
(2) It shall conduct investigations of duty-related violations and crimes such as suspected corruption, bribery, abuse of power, neglect of duty, power rent-seeking, tunneling, practice of favoritism and falsification, as well as the waste of state assets.
(3) It shall, in accordance with the law, make decisions on government sanctions against public officials who violate any law, hold liable the leaders who fail to perform their functions in an effective manner or neglect their duties and responsibilities, transfer investigation results on suspected duty-related crimes to people's procuratorates for examination and initiating a public prosecution in accordance with the law, and offer oversight suggestions to the entities where subjects of oversight work.

Article 12 Oversight commissions at various levels may dispatch oversight bodies and oversight commissioners to organs of the Communist Party of China, state organs, organizations and entities managing public affairs as authorized by laws and regulations or upon entrustment at the corresponding level, and administrative regions and state-owned enterprises, among others, under their jurisdictions.
Oversight bodies and oversight commissioners shall be responsible to the oversight commissions dispatching them.

Article 13 Dispatched oversight bodies and oversight commissioners shall, upon authorization, legally oversee public officials according to their administration authority, offer oversight suggestions, and investigate and punish public officials in accordance with the law.

Article 14 The state shall implement a system of oversight officials, and in accordance with the law, determine the rules for the hierarchical setup, appointment and removal, assessment and promotion of oversight officials.

Chapter III Scope of Oversight and Jurisdiction

Article 15 Oversight authorities shall conduct oversight of the following public officials and relevant personnel:
(1) Civil servants of organs of the Communist Party of China, organs of people's congresses and their standing committees, people's governments, oversight commissions, people's courts, people's procuratorates, organs of CPPCC commissions at all levels, organs of democratic parties and associations of industry and commerce, and personnel managed, mutatis mutandis, by the Civil Servant Law of the People's Republic of China.
(2) Personnel engaged in public affairs at organizations managing public affairs upon authorization by laws or regulations or lawful entrustment by state organs.
(3) Managers of state-owned enterprises.
(4) Personnel engaged in management in public entities in education, scientific research, culture, health care, and sports, among others.
(5) Personnel engaged in management at basic-level self-governing mass organizations.
(6) Others personnel who perform public duties in accordance with the law.

Article 16 Oversight authorities at all levels shall, according to the administration authority, exercise jurisdiction over oversight matters involving the persons stipulated in Article 15 of this Law within their respective jurisdictions.
The oversight authority at a higher level may handle oversight matters under the jurisdiction of the oversight authority at the level immediately below, and when necessary, may also handle the oversight matters within the jurisdictions of the oversight authorities at all levels under its jurisdiction.
Where oversight authorities have a dispute over the jurisdiction over an oversight matter, the dispute shall be determined by their common oversight authority at the higher level.

Article 17 The oversight authority at a higher level may designate a oversight authority at a lower level to exercise jurisdiction over oversight matters under its jurisdiction, or may designate another oversight authority to exercise jurisdiction over oversight matters under the jurisdiction of a oversight authority at a lower level.
Where the oversight authority is of the opinion that the oversight matters under its jurisdiction are major or complicated and need to be subject to the jurisdiction of the oversight authority at a higher level, it may request the transfer to the oversight authority at a higher level for jurisdiction.

Chapter IV Power of Oversight

Article 18 Oversight authorities excising their supervision and investigation functions and powers have the right to inquire of relevant entities and individuals and collect and acquire evidence from them in accordance with the law. Relevant entities and individuals shall faithfully provide the information and evidence.
Oversight authorities and their functionaries shall keep confidential any state secret, trade secret or personal privacy to which they have access in the course of supervision and investigation.
No entity or individual shall forge, conceal or destroy evidence.

Article 19 For a subject of oversight who is suspected of any duty-related violation, the oversight authority may, according to the administration authority, directly or authorize the relevant organ or person to hold a talk with or require the object to explain the relevant situation.

Article 20 During the course of investigation, the oversight authority may require the person under investigation who is suspected of any duty-related violation to give statements on the suspected violation, and when necessary, shall issue a written notice to the person under investigation.
For the person under investigation who is suspected of corruption, bribery, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or any other duty-related crime, the oversight authority may conduct an interrogation and require him or her to truthfully confess to the alleged crime.

Article 21 During the course of investigation, the oversight authority may question witnesses and other persons.

Article 22 Where the person under investigation is suspected of corruption, bribery, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or any other serious duty-related violation or duty-related crime, and the oversight authority has obtained some facts and evidence on the violation or crime, but needs to conduct further investigation of important issues, after examination and approval by the oversight authority in accordance with the law, the person may be detained at a specific place under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The circumstances of the case in which the person is involved are major or complicated.
(2) The person may escape or commit suicide.
(3) The person may make a false confession in collusion or forge, conceal or destroy evidence.
(4) The person may commit any other conduct that obstructs investigation.
The oversight authority may, in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph, detain any person who is suspected of giving bribes or committing any joint duty-related crime.
The setup, management and supervision of detention places shall be governed by the relevant provisions of the state.

Article 23 When investigating suspected corruption, bribery, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or any other serious duty-related violation or duty-related crime, the oversight authority may, as required for work, make inquiries about and freeze the property such as savings, remittances, bonds, stocks and fund shares of the entity or individual involved in the case in accordance with relevant provisions. Relevant entity and individual shall provide cooperation.
Where the frozen property is found to be irrelevant to the case, the freezing shall be removed within three days after the facts are ascertained and the property shall be returned.

Article 24 The over......