Party Discipline Study and Education
Study of the original text of the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Punishment"
(Source: Website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission)

Regulations on the Punishment of Party Members Who Violate Laws and Commit Crimes

The "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Punishment" stipulates that party members who violate laws and commit crimes should be given party disciplinary punishments according to the regulations, organically integrating the application of discipline and law, and matching party discipline, government affairs, etc. punishments.

In disciplinary review, if a party member violates the law and is suspected of criminal activity, appropriate handling should be made based on the severity of the circumstances and different situations.

In any of the following circumstances, expulsion from the Party is mandatory:

(1) Being legally sentenced to the principal punishment (including a suspended sentence) stipulated by criminal law due to intentional crime;

(2) Being solely or additionally deprived of political rights;

(3) Being legally sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of three years or more (not including three years) due to culpable crime.

The "Regulations" particularly emphasize that party members who engage in prostitution or take or inject drugs, etc., which cause the loss of the conditions of being a party member and seriously damage the image of the Party, should be given the punishment of expulsion from the Party. This further clarifies the specific circumstances under which party members who violate the law to the extent that they lose the conditions of being a party member and seriously damage the image of the Party should be expelled from the Party.

For party members suspected of crimes but with minor circumstances, where the People's Procuratorate makes a decision not to prosecute in accordance with the law, or where the People's Court makes a guilty verdict in accordance with the law and exempts them from criminal punishment, the penalties of revocation of party posts, probation within the party, or expulsion from the party should be imposed.

The punishment of party members who violate laws and commit crimes follows the principle of "punishment first, then transfer", that is, when a party organization discovers in disciplinary review that a party member has seriously violated discipline and is suspected of violating laws and committing crimes, it should first make a decision on party discipline punishment, and then, according to the regulations, the supervisory organ gives administrative punishment, or the appointing and removing organ (unit) gives punishment, before transferring the case to the relevant state organs for processing in accordance with the law.

If a party member who violates discipline is given the punishment of expulsion from the party before being transferred to the judicial authorities, and the People's Procuratorate makes a decision not to prosecute according to the law after being transferred to the judicial authorities, or the People's Court makes a decision to exempt the person from criminal punishment according to the law, in this case, if the punished person believes that the punishment decision is inappropriate, they may appeal, and the relevant party organization should handle it in accordance with the regulations and discipline.

How to distinguish between direct responsibility, primary leadership responsibility, and important leadership responsibility?

The "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Punishment" stipulates that those responsible for violations of discipline can be divided into those directly responsible, those primarily responsible for leadership, and those importantly responsible for leadership. The distinctions between these three are as follows:

(1) Directly Responsible Persons

Refers to party members or party and government leading cadres who, within the scope of their responsibilities, fail to perform or improperly perform their duties and play a decisive role in the losses or consequences.

"Within the scope of responsibilities" mainly refers to the specific work responsibilities and obligations that should be undertaken in accordance with their statutory duties or those entrusted by the organization. "Failure to perform responsibilities" generally manifests as a failure to act when action is required, such as refusing to perform responsibilities, delaying the performance of responsibilities, or absconding from duty; "Improper performance of responsibilities" includes exceeding one's authority or violating regulations in handling official business, and also includes the failure to seriously perform one's responsibilities.

(2) Primarily Responsible Leadership Persons

Refers to party and government leading cadres who, within the scope of their responsibilities, fail to perform or improperly perform their duties in the work under their supervision, and bear direct leadership responsibility for the resulting losses or consequences.

"Work under their supervision" mainly refers to the work that has been clearly divided or entrusted by the party organization for them to be responsible for and to manage. Compared with the 2018 "Regulations", this revision deletes the word "directly" from "work directly supervised", adapting to the actual situation of the leadership team's division of labor and solving the problem that some leading cadres in the past raised objections about whether they should bear the primary leadership responsibility because they were not directly in charge and did not meet the conditions for bearing the primary leadership responsibility.

(3) Importantly Responsible Leadership Persons

Refers to party and government leading cadres who, within the scope of their responsibilities, fail to perform or improperly perform their duties in the work under their supervision or in work they participated in deciding on, and bear secondary leadership responsibility for the resulting losses or consequences.

"Work under their supervision" mainly refers to work that, while not clearly assigned to be under their supervision, should be under their responsibility and management according to their statutory responsibilities. "Work they participated in deciding on" mainly refers to work that should be decided on by two or more people, or work decided on by a collective discussion.

For matters directly decided by party and government leading cadres on a specific issue or matter, or for matters handled irregularly (or not handled) by staff members at the behest or instruction of party and government leading cadres, or for matters where the specific implementers have put forward corrective opinions during implementation, but have not been adopted by party and government leading cadres, resulting in economic losses or adverse effects, the party and government leading cadres may be identified as directly responsible.