The State Council, China's Cabinet, has ordered affiliated government departments to process policy documents within seven days of their approval by the cabinet, in the first case of China setting deadlines for release of official documents.
Where documents need to be jointly issued by more than one affiliated department or ministry, and one of them requires an amendment, the review, audit and approval process must take no longer than 10 days, the council said in a statement on its website late on Wednesday.
The order, aimed at expediting implementation of major policies, came after a State Council executive meeting last week at which Premier Li Keqiang lambasted officials for time-consuming, redundant procedures in implementing central policies.
Li said policies, carefully thought through by central authorities, were often implemented very slowly because of countersignature procedures.
The statement also vowed to make more policy information open to the public in a timely manner, with less vague jargon.
The new deadlines will test central government officials as they must be met without compromising due diligence and their other work, an official from the general office of the State Council said.
