China gets tougher with officials' personal information declaration

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BEIJING - China has published stricter regulations on officials' personal information declarations, requiring them to report to the Communist Party of China (CPC) their personal and family assets and investments, marital status and overseas travel, among others.

The rules, jointly issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, are a further attempt to curb corruption.

According to the revised regulation on leading cadres' personal information declarations, officials at deputy county level or above are required to report information, including their marital status, overseas travel, criminal records, wages and other earnings, family properties, stocks, funds, insurance and other investment.

The revised rule has specified verification of such reports, including the methods and the sampling rate for random checks. The rate for random verification has been increased to one in 10.
Punishments have been stipulated for false declarations and deliberate concealment of personal information.

The report of personal information is an important assessment of loyalty to the Party and commitment to the CPC code of conduct. It should be linked to promotion by Party committees and departments, the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC said in a statement.

More than 9,100 officials have been overlooked for promotion after they were found to have concealed personal information, while 124,800 have been punished for making false declarations.

Stipulating the consequences of false declarations and concealment is a clear warning to officials and is crucial for the mechanism, according to the statement.

It called on CPC committees at various levels to implement the rules strictly and treat it as an important political mission of strengthening Party self-governance.

In addition, it also urged leading officials to be loyal and honest, and put themselves under organizational supervision in accordance with the rules.