Disciplinary Action and Oversight of the Administrative State in the “Institutional Cage”: The Revised Supervision Law of the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

On 25 December 2024, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China enacted a revised version of the Supervision Law of the People’s Republic of China of 2018. The amendments take effect on 1 June 2025. The law represents a far-reaching implementation of anti-corruption efforts and makes disciplinary actions available throughout the entire state apparatus. In particular, the amendments expand the catalogue of disciplinary actions that the oversight bodies may impose and grants them greater powers to conduct internal reviews. This article discusses the law in context and provides an overview of its structure and of the key provisions of the current amendments. The Supervision Law as amended consolidates the powerful position of the National Supervision Commission and other oversight bodies. It represents another step towards establishing legal structures for the exercise of political control, disciplinary action against state employees, and public administration on the whole. However, the amendments do not address certain problems of the original legislation, in particular the lack of access to legal counsel. Where the exercise of public authority is channelled through an institution, the current amendments bind it all the more closely to the Chinese Communist Party.