· Document Number：No. 21 [2018] of the State Council

· Area of Law： Government Affairs

· Level of Authority： Regulatory Documents of the State Council

· Date issued：06-25-2018

· Effective Date：06-25-2018

· Issuing Authority： State Council

· Status： Effective

Notice of the State Council on Issuing the Working Rules of the State Council
(No. 21 [2018] of the State Council)
The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; all ministries and commissions of the State Council; and all institutions directly under the State Council:
The Working Rules of the State Council as revised is hereby issued to you with immediate effect.
State Council
June 25, 2018
Working Rules of the State Council
Chapter I General Provisions
1. The new Central People's Government which was formed at the First Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress developed these Rules under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Organic Law of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
2. The guiding ideology for the work of the State Council is, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as the core, to hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, follow the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and the important thoughts of "Three Represents," Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era, conscientiously implement the party's basic theories, basic policies, and basic strategies, adhere to and strengthen overall party leadership, strictly abide by the Constitution and the law, fully and correctly perform government functions, and build a government of the rule of law, innovation, integrity, and an service-oriented approach.
3. The State Council shall follow the work principles: exercise of state power for the people, law-based government administration, seeking truth from facts, democracy and openness, and pragmatism and integrity.
Chapter II Duties of Members
4. The members of the State Council shall firmly develop the consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment, adamantly defend the authority and the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as the core, set examples in abiding by the Constitution and the law, conscientiously perform duties, be for the people and of pragmatism, strictly observe discipline, and be of diligence and integrity.
5. The State Council shall adopt the premier responsibility system. The premier shall have leadership over the work of the State Council. The vice premiers and state councilors shall assist the premier in his or her work.
6. The premier shall convene and preside over the plenary sessions of the State Council and the executive meetings of the State Council. The important matters in the work of the State Council shall be deliberated over and decided at a plenary session of the State Council or an executive meeting of the State Council.
7. The vice premiers and state councilors shall be responsible for handling their respective work; upon authorization of the premier, they may be responsible for the work in other aspects or special tasks, and may carry out activities of foreign affairs on behalf of the State Council.
8. Under the leadership of the premier, the secretary-general shall be responsible for handling the routine work of the State Council.
9. During the period of the premier's visit abroad, the vice premier who is responsible for the executive work shall perform the duties on behalf of the premier upon entrustment of the premier.
10. All ministries, all commissions, the People's Bank of China, and the National Audit Office shall adopt the minister, director, governor or auditor-general responsibility system and shall be under the leadership of their respective minister, director, governor or auditor-general.
All ministries and commissions, the People's Bank of China, and the National Audit Office shall, in accordance with laws, administrative regulations, and decisions and orders of the State Council, formulate rules and regulations and issue orders within their respective functions.
All the instrumentalities of the State Council shall attend to their respective duties, assume their respective responsibilities, take into account the big picture, coordinate and cooperate with each other, effectively maintain solidarity, unity, and unimpeded government orders, and firmly carry out the work arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.
Chapter III Comprehensively and Accurately Exercising Government Functions
11. The State Council shall profoundly implement the new development concept, focus on promoting quality development, establish a modern economic system, strengthen and improve the functions of economic regulation, market regulation, social management, public services, and ecological and environmental protection, deepen the reform of simplification of administrative procedures, devolution of powers, combination of devolution and regulation, and optimization of services, comprehensively improve government efficiency, create a good development environment, provide basic public services, and maintain social equity and justice.
12. The State Council shall improve the macro-regulation system, strengthen research and judgment on economic development trends, determine regulatory objectives and policy orientation in a scientific manner, strengthen the direction of expectation, effectively implement range-based, purpose-specific, well-timed, and precision regulation, mainly employ economic and legal means with necessary administrative means to guide and regulate economic operations, and promote the sustained and sound development of the national economy.
13. The State Council shall strictly conduct market regulation, advance fair market access, strengthen the building of the credit system, tighten interim and ex-post regulation, better the comprehensive law enforcement system, regulate market law enforcement, regulate administrative discretion, defend the unity and openness of and the equity, honesty, and orderly competition at the national market, promote entrepreneurship and innovation among all the people, and trigger market dynamism and public creativity.
14. The State Council shall strengthen the building of social administration systems and capacity, improve the public security system, public security prevention and control system, emergency management system, and community governance system, develop a social governance pattern of joint building, joint governance, and sharing, maintain social equity, justice, harmony, and stability, and defend national security.
15. The State Council shall pay more attention to public services, improve public policies, refine the basic public service system led by the government, participated in by society, covering all the people, of inclusiveness and sharing, integrating rural and urban areas, and of sustainability, enhance the capabilities of basic public services, and accelerate the advancement of equalization of basic public services.
16. The State Council shall tighten ecological and environmental protection, implement the most rigorous ecological and environmental protection system, establish an environmental remediation system led by the government, with enterprises as major players, and jointly participated in by social organizations and the public, advance green development, and build a beautiful China.
17. The State Council shall continue to deepen the reform of simplification of administrative procedures, devolution of powers, combination of devolution and regulation, and optimization of services, advance "Internet plus government services" in depth, improve business process, innovate service modes, raise administrative efficiency, optimize the business environment, and provide facilitation for enterprises and the public.
Chapter IV Adhering to Law-Based Government Administration
18. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall take the lead in defending the authority of the Constitution and the law, build a rule-of-law government with scientific functions and statutory power and duties, exercising strict and determinate law enforcement, of openness and impartiality, integrity and efficiency, and compliance and honesty, and exercise powers, fulfill duties, and assume responsibilities as legally required.
19. The State Council shall, as needed by economic and social development, promptly put forward bills to the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, develop, amend or repeal administrative regulations, formulate administrative measures, and issue decisions and orders.
A bill of a law or administrative regulations submitted to the State Council for deliberation shall be examined by, or drafted under the organization of the Ministry of Justice, and the interpretation of administrative regulations shall be undertaken by the Ministry of Justice.
20. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall adhere to scientific, democratic, and law-based legislation, and continue to improve quality of government legislation. When drafting a bill of a law and formulating administrative regulations and departmental rules, the State Council and all instrumentalities shall adhere to an factualness-oriented approach, promptly and accurately reflect the requirements of economic and social development, fully reflect the people's wishes, and establish systems capable of effectively addressing problems, complete but not tedious, concise and easily applicable.
The State Council and all instrumentalities shall improve the working mechanism for government legislation, expand public involvement, and request public comments on each bill of administrative regulations or departmental rules, unless the law requires confidentiality. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall strengthen coordination of legislation; for major legislative matters on which instrumentalities differ severely, third-party evaluation shall be made to fully hear the opinions of all parties; and for problems on which no agreement is reached upon coordination, the Ministry of Justice shall enumerate grounds of all parties, offer a tentative opinion, and promptly report to the State Council for a decision.
The follow-up evaluation shall be conducted after the implementation of administrative regulations or departmental rules so as to make timely improvements in respect of any discovered problems.
21. The regulations and other regulatory documents formulated by all instrumentalities of the State Council shall comply with the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations and the relevant decisions and orders of the State Council, and statutory powers and procedures shall be strictly observed.
For any matter that involves the functions of two or more instrumentalities, opinions of the relevant instrumentalities shall be fully solicited. The State Council shall formulate an administrative regulation, and issue a decision or order, or the relevant instrumentalities shall jointly formulate a regulation or any other regulatory document. For a matter relating to public interests, or receiving much public attention, a request shall be first filed to the State Council for instructions; and important rules and regulatory documents jointly formulated by instrumentalities shall be issued with the approval of the State Council.
Legality examination shall be strict, and a regulatory document may not establish administrative licensing, administrative punishment, administrative compulsion, or any other matter, or derogate from the lawful interests of citizens, legal persons, or other organizations, or aggravate the obligations of the same.
Departmental rules shall be filed with the State Council in a timely manner, and the Ministry of Justice shall issue a catalog regularly. For departmental rules or a regulatory document in violation of the Constitution, any law, administrative regulations, or any decision, order, or provisions of the State Council, or with any improper provisions, the formulating instrumentality shall be ordered to take corrective action, or the State Council shall make amendment or revocation.
22. All the instrumentalities of the State Council shall exercise law enforcement in a strict, well-regulated, impartial, and peaceful manner, improve rules, standardize procedures, implement responsibilities, strengthen supervision, ensure that the law must be observed, the law must be strictly enforced, and a violator of the law must be held liable, and defend public interests, interests of the people, and social order.
Chapter V Scientific and Democratic Decision-Making
23. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall improve the rules for administrative decision-making procedure, take public participation, expert justification, risk evaluation, legality examination, and decision-making upon collective discussion as statutory procedures for major decisions, and heighten the transparency of and public participation in the making of public policies.
24. National economic and social development plans, national budgets, major plans, major policies and measures for macro-regulation and opening up, important national and social management affairs, bills of laws, and administrative regulations, among others, shall be discussed and decided at the plenary sessions or executive meetings of the State Council.
25. A major matter which each instrumentality of the State Council submitted to the State Council for deliberation and decision must be investigated and researched in depth and subject to legality, necessity, rationality, feasibility, and controllability evaluation and justification; if relevant instrumentalities are involved, consultation shall be sufficient; if local governments are involved, comments shall be requested beforehand; and if major public interests and the interests of the people are involved, or it is easy to result in a social stability problem, the evaluation of social stability risks shall be conducted, and the opinions of all communities shall be heard in various forms including hearings.
In the course of execution of a major decision, the instrumentalities of the State Council shall follow up the implementation, understand the opinions and proposals of the interested parties and the public, comprehensively evaluate decision execution effects, and promptly make adjustment and improvement.
26. Before making a major decision, the State Council shall, as needed, by various means, directly hear the opinions and proposals of democratic parties, social groups, experts, scholars, the public, and other communities.
27. The leadership of the State Council shall ensure implementation personally, actively propose for policies and measures, resolve conflicts and problems, strengthen the advancement of work, and ensure the efficient communication of government orders.
All the instrumentalities of the State Council must resolutely implement the decisions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and the person in charge of an instrumentality shall be the primary person responsible. Tasks and measures shall be detailed, responsibility shall be enforced on a level-by-level basis, policy support shall be strengthened, the coordination of efforts shall be heightened, and the implementation shall be followed and reported promptly. For work participated in by more than one instrumentality, the lead instrumentality shall play a leading role, and the collaborating instrumentality(ies) shall actively cooperate, so as to join work forces.
The General Office of the State Council shall strengthen the supervision of various regions and various instrumentalities, adhere to a combination of comprehensive supervision and earmarked supervision, refine time-limit reporting, audit and review, supervised corrective action, notice of situation, and third-party evaluation, and other systems, and promote the implementation of the major decisions and arrangements of the State Council and the spirit of the instructions and brief of the leadership of the State Council.
Chapter VI Promoting Open Government
28. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall take openness and transparency as basic rules for government work, adhere to disclosure as routine and non-disclosure as exception, and comprehensively advance the disclosure of decision-making, execution, management, service, and results.
29. The matters deliberated over and decided at the plenary sessions and executive meetings of the State Council as well as the policies formulated by the State Council and all instrumentalities shall be promptly issued except for those necessary to be kept confidential.
30. Each matter which involves public interests or the interests of the people, or needs to be widely known, which the public is concerned with, or which is required to be disclosed under the law or the provisions issued by the State Council, shall be disclosed to the public by government websites, government gazettes, press conferences, newspapers and periodicals, radio, television, networks, new media, and other means in a legal, timely, complete, accurate and specific manner.
31. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall strengthen policy interpretation, accurately convey the intent of policies, attach importance to market and social response, respond to public concerns in a timely manner, resolve doubts, and stabilize expectations.
Chapter VII Improving the Supervisory System
32. The State Council shall willingly accept the supervision of, diligently submit work reports to, and answer the inquiries posed by National People's Congress and the Standing Committee thereof as well as place the administrative regulations on file. It shall voluntarily accept the democratic supervision of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference so as to hear its opinions and suggestions.
All the instrumentalities of the State Council shall lawfully and conscientiously process the recommendations of the deputies to the National People's Congress and the motions of the members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in accordance with the law, strengthen communication with deputies and members, specify strict responsibilities, complete the processing within a specified time limit, and voluntarily disclose the processing results.
33. The public officers of the State Council and all instrumentalities shall voluntarily accept the supervision of the state supervisory authority in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws. All the instrumentalities of the State Council shall, under relevant laws, accept the supervision of people's courts, effectively appear as respondent in court for administrative litigation, respect and voluntarily satisfy the effective judgments and rulings entered by people's courts, and voluntarily accept the supervision of audit and other authorities. The problems found in the supervision shall be seriously rectified and reported to the State Council.
34. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall strictly implement the Administrative Reconsideration Law, strengthen guidance and supervision of administrative reconsideration, correct illegal or improper administrative acts, and legally and promptly settle administrative disputes.
35. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall accept the supervision of the public and the press, earnestly investigate and establish the relevant circumstances, and promptly and legally conduct and improve the work. For a major issue, the resolution results shall be disclosed to the public.
36. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall attach importance to the work on public complaints, further improve the public complaint system, and keep unimpeded and regulate the channels for the public to express their appeals, for coordination of interests, and for protection of interests; and the leadership of the State Council and the person in charge of each instrumentality shall read and comment on important letters from the public and supervise the resolution of major public complaints.
37. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall rigorously implement the work responsibility system, strictly conduct performance management and administrative accountability, strengthen the assessment and evaluation of the implementation of major decisions and arrangements, performance of departmental duties, advancement of priority work, self-building, and other aspects, establish and improve a lifelong accountability system for major decisions and an responsibility retracing mechanism, improve the incentives, restraints, error tolerance, and error correction mechanisms, strictly enforce accountability, and improve the credibility and execution capability of the government.
Chapter VIII System of Meetings
38. The State Council shall adopt the system of plenary sessions of the State Council and executive meetings of the same.
39. The plenary session of the State Council shall be composed of the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers of all ministries, directors of all commissions, the governor of the People's Bank of China, the auditor-general and the secretary-general and convened and presided over by the premier. The main tasks of the plenary session of the State Council are to:
(1) discuss and decide the major matters in the work of the State Council; and
(2) arrange the major work of the State Council.
The State Council may, as needed, arrange for the persons in charge of the relevant instrumentalities or entities to attend the plenary sessions of the State Council.
40. The executive meeting of the State Council shall be composed of the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, and the secretary general and convened and presided over by the premier. The main tasks of the executive meeting of the State Council are to:
(1) discuss and decide the major matters in the work of the State Council;
(2) discuss bills of laws and deliberating over bills of administrative regulations; and
(3) give a briefing on and discuss other important matters.
The executive meeting of the State Council shall generally convene once a week. The persons in charge of relevant instrumentalities or entities may be arranged for as needed to attend the meeting.
41. The subjects to be submitted to the plenary session of the State Council or the executive meeting of the same for discussion shall be proposed upon coordination or review by the leaders, charged with separate duties, of the State Council and consolidated and reported to the premier for determination by the General Office of the State Council; documents for the session or meeting shall be issued with the approval of the premier. The General Office of the State Council shall be responsible for the organization of the plenary session of the State Council and the executive meeting of the same, and the subject and documents shall be sent to the attendees before the meeting or the session.
The documents for the plenary session of the State Council or for the executive meeting of the same shall be drafted by the subject reporting instrumentality taking the lead and in conjunction with the relevant instrumentalities. Said documents shall comprehensively and accurately reflect the subjects and the opinions of all communities, focus on resolving practical problems, and highlight pertinence, guidance, advance insight, and practicability. Where a law, regulations, or a regulatory document is involved, said documents shall be complete but not tedious, be of rigorous logic, and contain determinate and specific clauses and accurate and concise terms. The General Office of the State Council shall strengthen review and check.
42. The leadership of the State Council and the primary persons in charge of the relevant instrumentalities shall effectively make work arrangements in advance and ensure their attendance to the plenary meeting of the State Council or the executive meeting of the same on time. Except for special reasons, no leave shall be requested in principle. If a leader of the State Council is unable to attend, a leave request shall be filed with the premier; and any other attendee shall request leave to the premier though the General Office of the State Council.
43. The minutes of the plenary session of the State Council or the executive meeting of the same shall be drafted by the General Office of the State Council and filed with the premier for signature and issuance.
A document which the plenary session of the State Council or the executive meeting of the same deliberates, adopts, or decides to issue shall, in principle, be issued within seven working days after the end of the meeting or the session.
44. The working meetings convened by the State Council and all instrumentalities shall be reduced in number, controlled in terms of size and time, and strictly approved. To convene a national meeting in the name of an instrumentality, the organizing instrumentality shall obtain the consent of the leader charged with separate responsibilities of the State Council before formally reporting to the State Council for instructions.
A national meeting that shall be convened by each instrumentality shall be convened not in the name of the State Council or the General Office of the State Council, and the persons in charge of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall not be invited to attend. Generally, the leadership of the State Council shall not attend a work meeting of an instrumentality. A national meeting shall convene in the form of video conference as much as possible. For various meetings, sufficient preparations shall be made, meeting disciplines shall be strict, efficiency and quality shall be improved, and the focus shall be on resolving problems.
Chapter IX Approval of Official Documents
45. All regions and all instrumentalities shall submit official documents to the State Council under the Regulation on Party and Government Agencies Processing Official Documents and in strict accordance with submission rules and procedures. A submission shall be necessary and with the aim of producing actual effect; without approval, submission by skipping the direct superior shall not be made, and a submission to more than one superior shall not be made; and in terms of requests for instructions, a submission shall contain only one request, and a report shall not contain requests for instructions. Except for the matters as authorized by the leaders of the State Council for handling or the top secrets that must be submitted directly to the leaders of the State Council, no official document may be submitted directly to any of the leaders of the State Council in general.
If a document whose submission to the relevant central meeting for deliberation is proposed, or whose submission is made for joint issuance by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, mainly involves government duties, and the lead drafting instrumentality is that of the State Council, the document shall, according the relevant provisions issued by the CPC Central Committee, be submitted to the State Council by procedures to follow relevant deliberation or approval procedures.
46. If an official document for instructions submitted by an instrumentality to the State Council involves the powers of another instrumentality, the another instrumentality shall be voluntarily and sufficiently consulted with, and the person in charge of the instrumentality and the person in charge of the another instrumentality shall countersign the document or jointly submit it to the State Council for approval. If the instrumentalities differ, the person in charge of the instrumentality shall voluntarily consult; and if the difference subsists upon consultation, the instrumentality shall enumerate the grounds of the instrumentalities, put forward a resolution proposal countersigned by the person in charge of the another instrumentality, and file it with the State Council for a decision.
When an instrumentality requests comments from another or countersigns a document with another, a reply shall be made generally within seven working days unless otherwise required by the instrumentality; and if a reply cannot be made within the period for special circumstances, the another instrumentality shall voluntarily communicate with the instrumentality and agree on a time limit and mode of reply, and a failure to reply within the period shall be deemed as consent.
47. For the official documents submitted by various regions and instrumentalities to the State Council for approval, the General Office of the State Council shall earnestly fulfill the duty of review and check and put forward determinate processing opinions. For matters which instrumentalities differ on, the leaders charged with separate responsibilities of the State Council shall voluntarily strengthen coordination and procure an agreement, or put forward tentative proposals. The deputy secretary-generals of the State Council shall assist the leaders charged with separate responsibilities of the State Council in effectively conducting coordination.
Official documents and processing opinions shall be submitted for approval by the General Office of the State Council in accordance with the division of labor among the leadership of the State Council and, as needed, transferred by a leader of the State Council to another of the State Council for approval, and major matters shall be submitted to the premier for approval.
48. The administrative regulations formulated by, orders issued by, and bills submitted to the National People's Congress or to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress by the State Council shall be signed by the premier.
An official document in the name of the State Council shall be reviewed by the leader charged with separate responsibilities of the State Council before being signed by the premier for issuance.
An official document in the name of the General Office of the State Council shall be signed by the secretary-general of the State Council for issuance; and if necessary, submitted to the leader charged with separate responsibilities of the State Council, or the premier, for signature and issuance.
49. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall simplify documents and briefings. The coordination of submission of documents shall be strengthened, and the number, level, size of documents submitted shall be strictly controlled. If matter is within the remit of an instrumentality, and the instrumentality shall issue a document, either alone or with another, it shall not do so in the name of the State Council or the General Office of the State Council. If a law or administrative regulations has made determinate provisions, or a document in force has made arrangements, which remain applicable, no document shall be prepared and issued. In principle, a division of labor shall be issued together with the document and cease being issued separately. In principle, each instrumentality shall submit only one type of briefings to the State Council. A document or briefing without substantial content, or which may or may not be issued shall not be issued.
Chapter X Working Disciplines
50. The members of the State Council shall firmly implement the guidelines and policies of the Party and the state and the work arrangements of the State Council, strictly abide by disciplines, rigorously follow the request for instructions and report system, execute each order, and observe each prohibition.
51. The members of the State Council shall adamantly implement the decisions of the State Council, put forward dissenting opinions internally if any, and, until a re-made decision, abstain from any speech or act contrary to the decisions of the State Council.
52. If a leader of the State Council is to deliver a speech or publish an article on behalf of the State Council, or in his/her own name, he/she must report to the State Council for approval by procedures in advance; and if one of the rest members of the State Council is to deliver a speech or publish an article on behalf of the State Council, or in his/her own name and involving a major issue or matter not researched or decided by the State Council, he/she must report to the State Council for approval by procedures in advance.
53. The members of the State Council shall strictly comply with the leave request and reporting for duty rules. Where a vice premier, state councilor, or secretary general is to leave Beijing for a visit, business tour, or relaxation, he/she shall report to the premier beforehand, and the General Office of the State Council shall inform other leaders of the State Council.
Where the person in charge of an instrumentality of the State Council is to leave Beijing, he/she shall report to the General Office of the State Council beforehand, and the General Office of the State Council shall report to the premier and the leader charged with separate responsibilities of the State Council.
54. Where an instrumentality of the State Council is to release information relating to an important government work arrangement or a significant issue related to economic and social development, such information shall be subject to strict approval, and a major situation shall be promptly reported to the State Council.
55. The members of the State Council shall strictly abide by the confidentiality disciplines and disciplines on foreign affairs, stringently abstain from divulging any state secret, work-related secret, or trade secret known to them on account of duty performance, and firmly defend the security, honor, and interests of the country.
Chapter XI Integrity and Working Style Building
56. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall conscientiously implement the requirements for full and strict governance over the party, strictly implement the spirit of the Eight-Point Regulation of the CPC Central Committee and the detailed rules for the implementation thereof, rigorously carry out all the provisions on the integrity of public officers, and earnestly strengthen the building of integrity and work styles.
57. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall strictly exercise government administration. As for the matters that fall within their scope of functions, they shall actively handle them according to the prescribed procedures and time limits, and for those that do not conform to the relevant provisions, they shall stick to the principles and may not handle any of them. Where any of the functionaries has caused any adverse effect or loss due to his or her red tape or negligence such as buck passing or prevarication, he or she shall be investigated for liabilities. Where any of the functionaries conducts any rule-breaking or discipline-violating or illicit act such as going beyond his or her authority to handle any matter or taking advantage of his or her position to seek private benefits, he or she shall be severely punished.
58. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall strictly implement financial and economic disciplines, work hard, stick to diligence and frugality, resolutely prohibit extravagance and waste, strictly comply with provisions on housing, office premises, and vehicle allocation, strictly control such general expenditures as travel expenses and meeting budgets, effectively reduce administrative costs, and build resource-conserving organs.
The State Council and all instrumentalities shall strictly control the times and scale of groups traveling abroad for official businesses. The State Council and all instrumentalities shall reform and standardize disbursements for official receptions, may not give gifts and banquets by using public funds, and may not accept gifts and banquets from local entities. Such activities as international conferences, forums, celebrations and feasts shall be strictly controlled and regulated. The funds for various conference activities shall be all incorporated into the budget control.
59. The members of the State Council shall be clean. They shall strictly implement the officials' major event reporting rules. None of them may take the advantage of his or her power to seek improper interests for himself or herself or for specific interested parties. They may not intervene in market economic activities. They shall strengthen education and restraint on their kin and staff members and may not allow seeking of privileges.
60. The members of the State Council shall strengthen responsibilities and acting, diligently make things happen, work hard, avoid simple implementation of meetings by meetings or of documents by documents, and refrain from formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism, and extravagance.
61. The members of the State Council shall give a lead in study, and the State Council and all instrumentalities shall build up themselves into study-oriented entities.
62. The leadership of the State Council shall, in proximity to the primary level, conduct investigation and research, guide work, and study and resolve problems. They shall improve their investigation and research, pay attention to the actual effect, reduce accompanying personnel, and simplify reception.
63. A leader of the State Council shall not send a congratulatory letter or congratulatory telegram, or offer an inscription, calligraphic scripts, or preface to the meetings, among others, of instrumentalities or local governments, and a congratulatory letter, congratulatory telegram, or inscription as needed specially shall not be published. The meeting attendance, inspection and survey, and other new stories and diplomatic event schedule of the leadership of the State Council shall be governed by the relevant provisions.
64. The special institutions, institutions and public institutions directly under the State Council as well as the offices of the State Council shall be governed by these Rules.