The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held in Beijing from October 20 to 23, set the blueprint for rule of law in the world's second-largest economy. Chang Jiwen, a professor with the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes the meeting has taken the rule of law to a higher level. Excerpts of his arguments follow: 

The meeting adopted the decision on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing the rule of law, putting "rule of law 2.0" (upgraded version) on track.

First, the plenum set the general target for comprehensively advancing the rule of law and proposed to improve the national governance system.

The target of the CPC's current drive to advance the rule of law is to establish a system serving the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and to build a socialist country under the rule of law.

The term "national governance system" refers to the political system for ruling the country. The proposition of the concept can further promote and strengthen the roles of the general public.  

However, the system is static. It needs an active rule-of-law system to support its operation. The rule-of-law system includes legislative, law enforcement, judicial, law-abiding and legal supervision systems. It is a dynamic system which can get the national governance system to move.

Second, the plenum clarified the basic tasks for promoting the rule of law.

The meeting clarified the major tasks for comprehensively advancing the rule of law: improving a socialist framework of laws with Chinese characteristics in which the Constitution is taken as the core; strengthening the implementation of the Constitution; promoting administration by law to speed up building a law-abiding government; safeguarding judicial justice so as to improve judicial credibility; promoting public awareness of the rule of law to consolidate the foundation of a law-based society; strengthening good practices in legal professions; and sharpening the CPC's leadership in pushing forward the rule of law.

Reform is the key method to promote the harmonious, stable and sustainable development of society. Today, it has entered a critical phase and is facing unprecedented challenges. It is inevitable that some people will be against reform because reform will touch their interests. We should not give up the anti-corruption campaign because of opposition. To reduce risk and promote stability, we must base reform on laws and handle things according to rules. Under such conditions, we must strengthen the promotion of the rule of law, the implementation of the law, and legal supervision to support reform and guarantee social stability.

Third, the plenum pointed out the direction for China's promotion of the rule of law.

The meeting required strengthening and improving the CPC's leadership in the comprehensive advancement of the rule of law. In China's legal framework, there are three sets of ruling systems - the Party's rules and disciplines, state laws and regulations, and social self-management rules. The plenum said the CPC's leadership is the fundamental guarantee for the rule of law. The drive to promote the rule of law needs the CPC's leadership while the CPC's rule depends on the rule of law. The Party should take the lead in all aspects of promoting the rule of law.

In China, the ultimate aim of the rule of law is to make people live in happiness and with dignity. After decades of development, China has become a strong country, the life of its people has seen significant improvement. This indicates that the legal theory and mode developed and led by the CPC are correct and in accordance with China's national conditions.

Fourth, the plenum reformed the legislative drafting model.

The meeting required that to promote the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, we should start with lawmaking, further advance scientific and democratic legislation, improve methods for collecting and deliberating legislative proposals, and widen the channels for the public to participate in legislation. It also required changing the phenomenon of departmental legislation.

Currently, China's laws and regulations cover almost all major fields of the economy and social development. However, most of these laws and regulations bear the marks of departmentalism. Every department has its own basic laws or regulations, which may lead to conflict between different laws and regulations among different departments. Under such conditions, reform is needed to change the current legislative drafting model.

Specific measures to reform the legislative drafting model:

— Law enactment or amendment can be started by the National People's Congress (NPC) according to the results of law enforcement inspections or research, or by the NPC or its Standing Committee at the request of the State Council. Before the State Council decides to make any requests, its ministries or commissions can put forward opinions.

— If the enactment or amendment of a law is started by the NPC or its Standing Committee, the law can be drafted only by relevant NPC special committee(s) or working committee(s) under the NPC Standing Committee. It should not be commissioned to the Legislative Affairs Office (LAO) of the State Council or various ministries or commissions, so as to ensure the fairness and impartiality of the law drafting process.

— After the relevant special committee(s) or working committee(s) have produced a draft, they can solicit feedback from the LAO and various ministries or commissions. However, this feedback can serve only as references for the NPC.

A legislative system going beyond the State Council is conducive to preventing legislative departmentalism, supervision of blind spots and shirking of responsibilities.  

Likewise, if the LAO decides to enact or amend an administrative law or regulation, it should conduct research, carefully listen to opinions from various sectors, draft the articles and solicit public opinion again. Then it should submit the draft to the NPC or its Standing Committee for deliberation. The opinions of various departments can serve as references only and should not dictate lawmaking.

Fifth, the plenum made clear the people's position as masters in the rule of law.

It highlighted the people's position as masters, which means that they should change from passively observing laws to proactively upholding laws. It stressed the cultivation of a rule-of-law culture. The authority of the law originates from people's sincere support and faith. Laws are necessary to guarantee people's rights and interests, and people's support is necessary to maintain the authority of laws.

We must promote a socialist rule-of-law culture so that whole society will actively abide by laws and uphold the rule of law.

By highlighting the people's position as masters and striving to put power into the cage of regulations, the plenum made a breakthrough in the theory of the rule of law.

Sixth, the plenum highlighted the position of the Constitution and stressed public participation in and supervision of law-based administration. 

It pledged that efforts to adhere to the rule of law should give priority to the rule of the Constitution and in turn, adherence to law-based governance should ensure that governance is in line with the Constitution in the first instance. It decided that the law-based decision-making mechanism should be improved, and important administrative decisions should go through such legal procedures as public participation, expert evaluation, risk assessment, legitimacy review and group discussion. A mechanism to examine the legitimacy of major decision-making should be set up for governments, with a lifelong accountability system for major decisions and a system for tracing mistakes to their roots. Through these measures, power can be put into the cage of regulations and the abuse of power can be curbed.

Seventh, the plenum stressed judicial independence and fairness.

It pointed out that the country will adopt rules to ensure the independence of the judges and procurators in exercising their respective powers according to the law, monitor senior Party and government officials' intervention in court cases, publish their bad records and hold them responsible, and protect judicial personnel carrying out their legal duties.

The plenum also decided to optimize the function and power of the judiciary and pilot system reform characterized by the separation of powers in trying cases and enforcing court rulings. It pointed out that the Supreme People's Court should set up circuit courts, explore setting up trans-regional people's courts and procuratorates, and allow procuratorates to file public interest litigations. These measures will give full play to the active role of the rule of law in national governance.  

Eighth, the plenum decided to increase the professionalism of talented people for the rule of law and adopt more measures to guarantee the rule of law.

It decided to set up a more appropriate threshold for entry into legal professions. Legislative staff, judges and procurators should be recruited from qualified lawyers, legal experts and law school graduates.

The meeting also pointed out that Party members and officials should improve their understanding of rule of law theories and ability to handle things according to the law. Effectiveness in promoting the rule of law and the ability to abide by the law and handle things according to the law will serve as indicators to evaluate the performance of leaders at various levels.