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Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform

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IX. Promoting the Rule of Law

To build a China under the rule of law, we must uphold the unity of the rule of law, law-based government and law-based administration, and the integral development of a law-based country, government and society as a whole. We will deepen reform of the judicial system, accelerate the building of a just, efficient and authoritative socialist judicial system to safeguard the people's rights and interests, and ensure that the people are satisfied with the equality and justice in every court verdict.

30. Protecting the authority of the Constitution and laws. The Constitution is the fundamental law guaranteeing the flourishing of the Party and long-term peace and stability of the country, and it has the supreme authority. We will further improve the supervision mechanism and procedure for the implementation of the Constitution and raise to a new level the comprehensive implementation of the Constitution. We will establish and improve the system within which the whole society is loyal to, abides by, upholds and applies the Constitution and laws. We will uphold the principle that everyone is equal before the law, and no organization or individual has the privilege of overstepping the Constitution and laws; all acts in violation of the Constitution and laws must be investigated. We will establish a system of legal counsel universally, improve the review mechanisms concerning normative documents and major decisions, set up a scientific indicator system and assessment standard for legal system building, and improve review mechanisms concerning laws, regulations and normative documents. We will improve the law education mechanism and raise the public's awareness of the rule of law. We will gradually increase the number of major cities which have the right to make regulations.

31. Deepening reform of the administrative law-enforcement system. We will integrate major law-enforcement bodies, relatively centralize the law-enforcement power, press ahead with comprehensive law enforcement, and do our best to resolve problems such as overlapping functions and duplicate law enforcement to establish an authoritative and efficient administrative law-enforcement system with the integration of power and responsibility. We will reduce the hierarchy of administrative law enforcement, and allocate more law-enforcement resources to the primary level in such key areas as foodstuffs and medicines, production safety, environmental protection, labor security, and coastal areas and islands. We will straighten out the urban management law enforcement system, and improve the level of law-enforcement and service quality. We will improve the procedure of administrative law enforcement, specify areas of discretion, strengthen supervision over administrative law enforcement, and comprehensively implement the responsibility system as well as government funding for administrative law enforcement, in order to promote strict, standardized, fair and civilized law enforcement. We will improve the mechanism that dovetails administrative law enforcement and criminal justice.

32. Ensuring the independent exercise of the judicial and procuratorial power in accordance with the law. We will reform the judicial administration system, unify the management of staffs, funds and properties of courts and procuratorates below the provincial level and explore ways to establish a judicial jurisdiction system that is appropriately separated from the administrative divisions to ensure that the state laws are enforced properly and uniformly. We will establish a judicial personnel management system fitting their professional characteristics, improve the system for unified recruitment, orderly exchange and level-by-level promotion of judges, procurators and the police, improve the classified management system of legal personnel, and guarantee the job security of judges, procurators and the police.

33. Improving the mechanism for the use of judicial power. We will optimize the distribution of judicial functions and powers, improve the system of judicial power division, coordination, checks and balances, and strengthen and standardize the legal and social supervision over judicial activities. We will reform the judicial committee system, improve the responsibility system of handling cases by the presiding judge and the collegiate bench, by which the judges hand down verdicts and the collegiate bench is responsible for carrying them out. We will clarify the functions of the courts at all levels, and standardize their supervision through the judicial hierarchy. We will have more open trials, make the procuratorial work more transparent, and record and keep all court files. We will increase the persuasiveness of legal instruments and press ahead with publicizing court ruling documents that have come into effect. We must strictly regulate the procedures of sentence commuting, release on parole and medical parole, thereby enhancing the supervision system. We will extensively implement the people's assessor system and people's supervisor system to expand channels for the people to participate in legal affairs.

34. Improving the judicial system to protect human rights. The state respects and protects human rights. We will further standardize the legal procedures for sealing, sequestering, freezing and confiscating properties involved in a legal case. We will improve the mechanism for preventing and correcting wrong cases and the accountability system, prohibit extorting confession by torture, corporal punishment and maltreatment, and strictly implement rules that illegal evidences are not adopted. We will gradually reduce the number of charges that could lead to the death penalty. We will abolish Laojiao, or re-education through labor, improve laws for the punishment and correction of unlawful and criminal acts, and perfect the community correction system. We will improve the national judicial relief and legal aid system. We will improve the mechanism for protecting lawyers' rights to practice while punishing illegal practice, strengthen professional ethics and give full play to the important role of lawyers in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and legal persons in accordance with the law.