Regulations on the Administrative Affairs of Government Institutions

Order of the State Council No.621

June 28, 2012

The Regulations on the Administrative Affairs of Government Institutions have been adopted at the 208th executive meeting of the State Council on June 13, 2012, which are hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of October 1, 2012.

Premier: Wen Jiabao

Regulations on the Administrative Affairs of Government Institutions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 These Regulations are formulated for the purposes of strengthening the administration of government institutional affairs, regulating the affairs of government institutions, safeguarding the normal operation of government institutions, reducing the operation costs of government institutions and reshaping government institutions into conservation-oriented ones.

Article 2 These Regulations apply to the activities related to the administrative affairs of government institutions of the people's governments at all levels and their departments.

Article 3 People's governments at the county level or above shall advance the uniform administration of affairs of government institutions at the same level, establish and improve the administration systems and standards, and plan the allocation of resources as a whole.
The departments of the people's government shall implement centralized management of the institution affairs of the department and carry out the administration systems and standards for the affairs of government institutions.

Article 4 The competent department of administrative affairs of government institutions under the State Council shall be responsible for formulating the rules and regulations relating to the administration of affairs of government institutions, guide such affairs of the people's government at a lower level as the use of government vehicles, official receptions and conservation of energy and resources of public institutions, and be in charge of the administration of affairs of central government institutions.
The departments of administrative affairs of government institutions under the people's governments at the county level or above shall guide the relevant affairs of government institutions, and be in charge of the administration of affairs of government institutions established by them.

Article 5 People's governments at the county level or above shall strengthen the supervision and check on the affairs of government institutions of the departments established by them and the lower people's governments, and timely correct any activity in violation of the laws or regulations.
The development and reform, finance, audit and supervision departments and the competent department of the administrative affairs of government institutions of the people's governments at the county level or above shall, based on their duties and assignment of responsibilities and pursuant to the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, strengthen the supervision and check on the administration of operation funds, assets and services of government institutions, and shall timely and legally investigate and handle any reporting of violation of the systems and standard practices for administration of affairs of government institutions.

Article 6 The affairs of government institutions shall adhere to the principles of "safeguarding public affairs, being economical and efficient, pragmatic, open and transparent".

Article 7 The people's governments at all levels shall, pursuant to the relevant government information disclosure regulations of the State, establish and improve the disclosure systems for operation funds of government offices, regularly disclose the budget and closing of the official receptions spending, spending on purchase and running of official vehicles and overseas travel spending and other funds for operation of public institutions.

Article 8 The people's governments at all levels shall advance the socialized reform in logistics service, use of official vehicles and official reception services of the government institutions, establish and improve the relevant administration systems.

Chapter II Fund Management

Article 9 The people's governments and their departments at all levels shall strengthen the management on operation funds of government institutions to enhance the efficient use of funds.
For the purposes of these Measures, "Operation Funds of Government Institutions" refer to all types of funds used for purchase of goods and services to secure the operation of government institutions.

Article 10 The competent departments of administrative affairs of government institutions of the people's governments at the county level or above shall formulate the quota in kind and service standards in accordance with the fundamental needs for the operation of government institutions combined with the reality of administration of affairs of government institutions.
The financial departments of people's governments at the county level or above shall organize the formulation of the quota standards for budget of operation fund of the government institution and the relevant expenditure standards in accordance with the quota in kind and service standards and with reference to the market price of the relevant goods and services.

Article 11 The financial departments of people's governments at the county level or above shall adopt the method of fixed number of persons and quantity to prepare the budget of operation fund of the government institution in accordance with the budget expenditure quota standards, in combination with the duties and responsibilities, nature and characteristics of the departments of the people's government and by following the principles of "total quota control and strict control".

Article 12 The people's governments at the county level or above shall include the official receptions spending, spending on purchase and running of official vehicles and overseas travel spending into the budget administration, and strictly control the scale and proportion of the official receptions spending, spending on purchase and running of official vehicles and overseas travel spending in the total budget of operation fund of government institutions.
The departments of the people's government shall formulate plans of official receptions spending, spending on purchase and running of official vehicles and overseas travel spending in accordance with the needs of work and the budget of operation fund of government institutions, and may not appropriate other budget funds for the official receptions spending, spending on purchase and running of official vehicles and overseas travel spending.

Article 13 The competent department of administrative affairs of government institutions of the people's government at the county level or above shall uniformly organize the implementation of such affairs of the government institutions of the people's government as construction and maintenance of office premises, allocation and upgrade of government vehicles and logistic services pursuant to relevant regulations and in combination with the actual situation of the administration of the affairs of government institutions of the people's government.

Article 14 The departments of the people's government shall procure the goods and services as required for operation of government institutions in accordance with the laws, regulations and rules on government procurement; and in case of any tender and bidding, the laws, regulations and rules on tender and bidding shall be complied with.
The departments of the people's government shall procure affordable and applicable goods, and may not procure luxuries or services in excess of the prescribed standards, or purchase or construct luxury office premises.

Article 15 Where the departments of the people's government procure items included in the centralized procurement category required for procurement by government institution in charge of centralized procurement, they may not violate the relevant regulations to procure such items on their own accord or circumvent the government centralized procurement by breaking up the amount or by any other means.
The government institution in charge of centralized procurement shall establish and improve the administration systems, shorten the procurement cycle, enhance procurement efficiency, reduce procurement costs and guarantee procurement quality. The price of goods and services under government centralized procurement shall be lower than the average market price of the same goods and services.

Article 16 The people's governments at the county level or above shall establish a healthy and comprehensive system on the statistics and reporting of expenditure from operation funds of government institutions and performance assessment, and organize and carry out the statistics, analysis and assessment of the operation costs of government institutions.

Chapter III Assets Management

Article 17 The competent department of administrative affairs of government institutions of people's governments at the county level or above shall formulate and organize the implementation of the specific systems for management of assets of the government institutions, and accept the guidance and supervision by financial departments and other departments.

Article 18 The people's governments at the county level or above shall formulate the standards for allocation of assets of government institutions by classification and determine the quantity, price, functions and minimum service life of assets in accordance with the relevant regulations on assets management of government institutions, the social and economic development level, the energy saving and environmental protection requirements and the fundamental needs of operation of government institutions, and in combination with the reality of the administration of affairs of the government institutions. The departments of the people's government shall prepare the assets allocation plan of the department in accordance with the standards for allocation of assets of government institutions.

Article 19 The departments of the people's government shall improve the systems for administration of use of assets of government institutions, establish and improve the accounts, cards and usage log of assets, conduct regular inventory, guarantee the safety and completeness of assets and enhance the use efficiency.
The idle assets of the departments of the people's government shall be adjusted and used by the people's government on an overall basis, or disposed by public auction, in which case the proceeds from disposal shall be paid into the national treasury.

Article 20 The people's governments at the county level or above shall carry out uniform administration over the use of land by the people's government. The urban overall planning and detailed planning shall consider the needs for layout and space arrangement of land use by the government institutions.
The competent department of administrative affairs of government institutions of people's governments at the county level or above shall arrange the land use of government institutions on an overall basis and use the lands intensively and economically.
For the land use needs of government institutions, the competent department of land and resources of the people's governments at the county level or above shall strictly examine such needs and go through the formalities for land use in accordance with relevant laws and regulations on land administration.

Article 21 The people's governments at the county level or above shall establish a healthy and comprehensive system for administration of the office premises of government institutions, and uniformly adjust and allocate the office premises of the government institutions of the people's government and conduct ownership registration; if the required conditions are fulfilled, the office premises of the government institutions of the people's government shall be constructed uniformly.
The construction and maintenance of office premises of the departments of the people's government shall be in strict compliance with the standards for construction and maintenance of office premises of the government institutions and meet such requirements as being simple and pragmatic, energy-saving and environmental friendly, and safe and confidential. The use and maintenance of office premises shall strictly adhere to the standards for property services of office premises of the government institutions.

Article 22 The office premises of the departments of the people's government beyond the approved area and the office premises that become vacant due to new construction and adjustment of office premises or withdrawal of institutions shall be timely withdrawn by the people's government for uniform adjustment and use.
Where the personnel of the people's governments at all levels and at their departments retire or are transferred to other institutions, their office premises shall be timely withdrawn by the original institution for adjustment and use.

Article 23 The departments of the people's government may not lease or lend the office premises, or change the use purpose of the office premises, and without the approval of the people's government, the office premises may not be leased.

Article 24 The competent department of administrative affairs of government institutions under the State Council shall, together with other relevant departments, formulate administrative measures for allocation and use of official vehicles, regularly publish the category of vehicle types selected for government vehicles for government institutions, and be responsible for the administration of government vehicles by the central government institutions. The specific regulations on the administration of allocation and use of government vehicles in respect of enforcement and performance of duties shall be formulated by the financial department of the State Council together with relevant departments.
The competent department of government vehicles of the people's governments at the county level or above shall be responsible for administering the government vehicles of the people's government and guiding the government vehicles of the lower people's governments.

Article 25 The departments of the people's government shall strictly carry out the quota and allocation standards of government vehicles, and establish and improve the systems for administration of the allocation and update of government vehicles, may not allocate government vehicles in excess of quota or standards, may not lease vehicles in excess of standards, may not add high-end equipments or luxury internal decorations to the government vehicles, may not borrow or occupy the vehicles of lower institutions and other institutions, and may not accept the vehicles donated by enterprises, public institutions or individuals.

Article 26 The departments of the people's government shall carry out centralized administration and uniform allocation of the government vehicles, and establish and improve the vehicle use registration and statistics and reporting systems of the government vehicles.
The departments of the people's government shall carry out unit vehicle accounting for the fuel consumption and maintenance fees of government vehicles.

Chapter IV Service Administration

Article 27 The competent department administrative affairs of government institutions of people's governments at the county level or above shall formulate uniform systems for administration of logistics service of government institutions, determine the items and standards of logistics service of government institutions, strengthen the guidance and supervision on the logistics service of departments of the people's government, and reasonably allocate and conserve the logistics service resources.
The departments of the people's government shall establish and improve the systems for administration of logistics service of the department, and may not provide logistics service in excess of the prescribed items and standards.

Article 28 The people's governments at all levels shall administer and regulate the official receptions in accordance with the principles of "simplified etiquette and being pragmatic and economical".
The department of administrative affairs of government institutions under the State Council shall be responsible for formulating the relevant systems for official receptions applicable to government institutions and the standards for official receptions applicable to central government institutions. The local people's governments at the county level or above shall determine the scope and standards for official receptions in combination with local reality. The departments and public affairs reception administrations of the people's governments shall strictly carry out the systems and standards for public affairs entertainment.
The public reception administration of the people's governments at the county level or above shall be responsible for administering the public reception of the people's government and guiding the public reception of the lower people's governments.

Article 29 The people's governments at all levels and their departments shall strengthen conference management, control the number, scale and duration of conference, take full advantage of the internal venues, video phones and network videos of government institutions and other methods, and cut down the expenditure for conferences.

Article 30 The departments of the people's government shall carry out regulations relating to overseas travel, and examine the causes, content, necessity and schedule of the overseas trip for public affairs by personnel of the department, and control the number of groups and persons overseas travel and the time of their overseas stay, and may not arrange any survey or training irrelevant to the business of the department.

Chapter V Legal Liabilities

Article 31 The institutions that violate the provisions hereof and do not timely and legally investigate and report complaints of violation of the systems and standard practices pursuant to the law and regulations shall be ordered to make corrections by the superior institutions; and in serious circumstances, the appointment institutions or supervision institutions shall impose legal punishment to the responsible persons.

Article 32 Institutions that violate the provisions hereof and falls under of the following circumstances shall be ordered to make corrections by the superior institutions and the appointment institutions or supervision institutions shall issue a warning to the responsible persons; and in relatively serious circumstances, such persons shall be punished by recording a demerit or a major demerit; and in serious circumstances, such persons shall be demoted or removed from office:
1. Excess spending the official receptions , excess spending on purchase and maintenance of official vehicles or overseas travel spending beyond the budget or standards, or appropriating other budget funds for official receptions, purchase and running of official vehicles and overseas travel;
2. Procurement of luxuries or services in excess of standards, or construction and purchase of luxury office premises;
3. Changing the purpose of office premises or leasing the office premises without authorization;
4. Allocating government vehicles in excess of quota or standards, or leasing vehicles in excess of standards, or adding high-end equipments or luxury internal decorations to the government vehicles, or borrowing or occupying the vehicles of lower entities or other entities, or accepting the donation of cars from enterprises, public institutions or individuals;
5. Providing logistics service in excess of the prescribed items or standards; or
6. Arranging overseas survey or training that is irrelevant to the business of the departments.

Article 33 Where the personnel of administration of affairs of government institutions abuse their powers, show favoritism or commit irregularities or negligence, or are guilty of corruption and accepting bribes in the administration of affairs of government institutions, they shall be punished in accordance with the law; if it amounts to a crime, they shall be investigated for criminal liabilities legally.

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 34 The administration of affairs of government institutions of other State organs and relevant non-governmental organizations shall be implemented by referring to these Regulations.

Article 35 These Regulations shall come into effect as of October 1, 2012.