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

 

How are Party organizations that violate Party discipline handled, and what is the impact on their members?

According to the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions," the handling of Party organizations is mainly divided into two situations: For Party organizations that generally violate Party discipline, the higher-level Party organization should order them to make a written self-criticism or give them a public warning; For Party organizations that seriously violate Party discipline and cannot be corrected themselves, the higher-level Party committee, after verification, may reorganize or dissolve them according to the severity of the circumstances.

When a Party organization is reorganized, members of the organization's Organizational Chart, except those who should be given a disciplinary sanction of removal from Party office or above, shall automatically be relieved of their posts.
The specific application should follow the following situations: First, for those found to have serious disciplinary violations and should be given disciplinary sanctions of removal from Party office or above, they shall be given disciplinary sanctions of removal from Party office or above, and no automatic relief of post is needed; Second, for those found to have violated Party discipline and should be given a warning or serious warning, they shall be given a warning or serious warning and be automatically relieved of their posts; Third, for those found to be suspected of violating Party discipline but difficult to clarify in a short period of time, they are first automatically relieved of their posts, and then their suspected disciplinary violations are handled separately; Fourth, for those who are not found to have violated Party discipline after review, they are automatically relieved of their posts.

When implementing this, for members of the leadership organization of a Party organization that have been automatically relieved of their posts, the following should be noted:

First, after being automatically relieved of their posts, all Party positions held in that Party organization and its subordinate Party organizations are automatically revoked. For example, if a municipal Party committee is reorganized, the positions of municipal Party committee standing committee member, director of the municipal Party committee Organization Department, as well as the positions of municipal Party committee standing committee member, member, director of the municipal Party committee Organization Department and representative of the municipal Party congress held by the municipal Party committee standing committee member, director of the municipal Party committee Organization Department are automatically vacated.

Second, after being automatically relieved of their posts, if the positions held outside the Party are closely related to the position of member of the leadership organization of that Party organization, it is usually recommended that the non-Party organization relieve him/her of his/her non-Party position. For example, after the Party group of a municipal finance bureau is reorganized, the position of Party group member and deputy director of the municipal finance bureau is automatically vacated, but the position of deputy director of the municipal finance bureau needs to be separately relieved.

Third, after being automatically relieved of their posts, the local Party committee members who serve as the main officials of the provincial military region (garrison area, guard area), military subdistrict (guard area), and the people's armed forces department of counties, autonomous counties, cities without districts, and districts under the jurisdiction of a city, after the local Party committee is reorganized, their positions as local Party committee standing committee members and members are automatically vacated, but their positions as the main officials of the provincial military region (garrison area, guard area), military subdistrict (guard area), and the people's armed forces department of counties, autonomous counties, cities without districts, and districts under the jurisdiction of a city are not within the scope of automatic relief of posts.

Fourth, after being automatically relieved of their posts, for the members of the leadership organization of the reorganized Party organization who are officials working in another position, all Party positions held in that Party organization and its subordinate Party organizations are automatically revoked, but the positions held in the original unit are not within the scope of automatic relief of posts.

Fifth, automatic relief of posts is a disciplinary measure and should be implemented in accordance with Article 11 of the "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Organizational Handling (Trial Implementation)" on the consequences of relief of posts.
When a Party organization is dissolved, the Party members in the Party organization should be reviewed one by one.

The handling is mainly divided into three situations: First, those who meet the conditions of being a Party member should be re-registered and participate in the Party life of the new organization; Second, those who do not meet the conditions of being a Party member should be educated and given a time limit for correction; those who remain unrepentant after education should be persuaded to withdraw or expelled; Third, those who have violated Party discipline should be investigated and held accountable according to the regulations.

 

In what situations can the penalty be mitigated or reduced?

The "Regulations of the Communist Party of China on Disciplinary Actions" stipulates that if any of the following acts are committed, the penalty may be mitigated or reduced:

(1) Actively confessing one's own problems that should be subject to Party discipline.

"Active confession" means that a Party member suspected of violating discipline confesses their problems to the organization before the organization's talks, inquiries, or preliminary verification, or confesses problems that the organization does not know during the talks, inquiries, preliminary verification, and investigation and review.

(2) During the organization's talks, inquiries, preliminary verification, and investigation and review, they can cooperate with the verification and review work and truthfully explain their violations of discipline and law.

This situation refers to a Party member under review truthfully explaining the facts of their violations of discipline and law that the organization has already grasped during the organization's talks, inquiries, preliminary verification, and investigation and review.

(3) Reporting problems that co-conspirators or other individuals should be subject to Party discipline or legal prosecution, which are verified to be true, or have other meritorious deeds.

"Co-conspirators" refer to people who jointly participated in or implemented violations of discipline, including Party members and Party organizations, as well as non-Party members and non-Party organizations.

"Others" refer to people who did not jointly participate in or implement violations of discipline, including Party members and Party organizations, as well as non-Party members and non-Party organizations.

"Having other meritorious deeds" refers to providing important clues to other cases, preventing others from engaging in illegal and criminal activities, assisting in the apprehension of other suspects in duty-related crimes (including co-conspirators), and recovering losses for the state, etc.

(4) Actively recovering losses, eliminating negative impacts, or effectively preventing harmful consequences from occurring.

"Actively recovering losses" refers to the act of a Party member who has violated discipline actively taking effective measures to recover losses after the violation of discipline has already caused losses.

"Eliminating negative impacts" refers to the act of a Party member who has violated discipline actively taking remedial measures to eliminate the impact after the violation of discipline has already caused negative impacts.

"Effectively preventing harmful consequences from occurring" refers to a Party member who has started to implement a violation of discipline but has not yet caused harmful consequences, actively giving up continuing to implement the violation of discipline, and actively taking measures to prevent the occurrence of harmful consequences.

(5) Actively handing over or repaying illegal gains.

This situation refers to actively handing over illegal gains to the organization. It does not include returning illegal gains to the person who gave the gift, etc.

(6) Other situations that can lead to mitigation or reduction of punishment as stipulated in the Party's regulations.