Provisions on Implementing the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (Chinese and English Text)

The following translation was retrieved from the Inner Mongolia News Web site on February 7, 2011. This Web site lists its source as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Ethnicity and Religion Net, which is sponsored by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Ethnic Affairs Commission. The Chinese text was retrieved from the Central Government of the People's Republic of China Web site on February 7, 2011.

Order No. 435 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the 89th Working Conference of the State Council on May 11, 2005, Provisions of the State Council on the implementation of Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy is hereby promulgated and it will take effective as of May 31, 2005)

Premier: Wen Jiabao

May 19, 2005

Article 1 In accordance with Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, the Provision is formulated in order to speed up the economic and social development of ethnic autonomous areas, strengthen national solidarity and boost the common prosperity of all nationalities.

Article 2 Governments at all levels shall intensify the publicity and education of Law of the People’s Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy and related laws, regulations and policies towards minorities, formulate implementation measure by law to protect the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities and properly dispose issues concerning national unity, uphold and improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy, consolidate and enhance socialist ethnic relations of equality, solidarity and mutual assistance and any act which undermines the unity of the nationalities or instigates division is prohibited.

Article 3 Maintaining the motherland's unification and national solidarity is the responsibility and obligation of each citizen. Governments of ethnic autonomous areas shall guarantee the abidance and implementation of the Constitution and laws in their respective region in great earnest and safeguard the overall interests of the country actively.

Article 4 Governments at all levels shall carry out activities to boost national solidarity and progress of ethnic minorities and award and encourage units and individuals who make outstanding contributions to national solidarity and progress.

Article 5 At the time of formulating middle and long-term planning for economic and social development, governments at higher levels shall listen to opinions of ethnic autonomous areas and departments in charge of ethnic minorities affairs to support ethnic autonomous areas to strengthen infrastructure construction, HR development, enlarge opening up, adjust and optimize economic structure, rationally use natural resources, intensify ecological construction and environmental protection and accelerate such undertakings as economy, education, science and technology, culture, health and sports to realize all-round, coordinated and sustainable development.

Article 6 The state implements Western Development strategy to bolster the development of ethnic autonomous areas. Autonomous counties not included in the scope of Western Development shall be given relating policies support by the government of the province where it is in by referring to related policies of Western Development.

Article 7 The people's governments at higher levels shall give priority to arranging infrastructure projects in ethnic autonomous areas according to the actual situations of the ethnic autonomous areas.

Construction fund of the central finance, other special construction fund and the loan of policy-related banks shall increase the proportion for infrastructure projects in ethnic autonomous areas.

As to infrastructure projects which require ethnic autonomous areas to shoulder supportive fund according to the arrangement of the state, the proportion of supportive fund shall be moderately reduced. The supportive fund can be exempted for key poverty-relief counties and poverty-stricken counties which can't afford the fund in ethnic autonomous areas. While, infrastructure projects which are local affairs shall be financed by local finance in full after the central and provincial governments have confirmed the contribution proportion and infrastructure projects which are central affairs shall be financed by central finance in full.

Article 8 According to the planning for economic and social development and Western Development strategy, the state shall give priority to arrange resource exploitation and deep processing projects in ethnic autonomous areas. Projects which exploit oil and natural gas in ethnic autonomous areas shall play a positive role in boosting local economic development, developing corresponding service industries and creating job opportunities.

When using the mineral resource compensation fee collected, the input to ethnic autonomous areas shall be enlarged and priority shall be given to ethnic autonomous areas which are place of origin.

The state speeds up the establishment of an ecological compensation mechanism. In line with the principle of Ў° paid by the developers, subsidized by beneficiaries and compensated by destroyers, ethnic autonomous areas which have made contributions to ecological environment protection as wild plants and animal protection and natural reserve construction shall be compensated through transfer program and project support from the layers of state, region and industry.

Article 9 The state shall gradually enlarge the financial transfer payment to ethnic autonomous areas through ordinary transfer programs, special financial transfer programs, transfer programs of favorable policies to ethnic minorities and other mode with the difference of public service outlay in consideration. Relating departments of people's governments at higher levels shall appropriately direct to the ethnic autonomous areas when distributing special funds.

Finance of the upper levels shall support local finance of ethnic autonomous areas to ensure the normal running of state organs, payment of those who live on public finance in full amount at due time and normal outlays of compulsory education.

If the revenue of ethnic autonomous areas is squeezed for taxes exemption and reduction policies promulgated by governments at higher levels, governments at higher levels shall take the factor into consideration when devising transfer program.

The state standardizes the financial transfer program below provincial level to ensure favorable policies as transfer program and tax refunding be actually applied to autonomous counties.

Article 10 The state sets up special funds, assisting ethnic autonomous areas to develop economic and social undertakings.

Central finance sets up funds for ethnic minorities development and ethnic minorities affairs. The fund shall be gradually increased accordingly with that of economic development and the central revenue. Local finance shall also sets up funds for ethnic minorities development and ethnic minorities affairs.

Article 11 The state helps ethnic autonomous areas to expand indirect and direct financing channels and intensify financial supports to ethnic autonomous areas.

The state shall guide the credit direction of financial institutions rationally and encourage financial institutions to actively support key constructions and countryside development of ethnical autonomous regions. When distributing the donations and favorable loans from international organizations and foreign governments, governments at higher levels shall direct to ethnic autonomous areas in permitted.

Article 12 The state improves preferential policies in supporting trade of ethnic minorities and the production and development of commodities in great need of by ethnic minorities and traditional handicrafts and gives special treatment to trade of ethnic minorities and the production and development of commodities in great need of by ethnic minorities and traditional handicrafts in taxation, finance and financial policies. Designated production shall be adopted and necessary national reserve system shall be established for commodities in great need of by ethnic minorities.

Article 13 The state encourage ethnic autonomous areas which border on foreign countries to carry out regional economic and technological cooperation and frontier trading with the neighboring countries.

Upon approval of the State Council, frontier trading areas can be set up in ethnic autonomous areas bordering on foreign countries.

The state adopts flexible measures and assigns preferential treatment and convenience to the trading and mutual trade between the frontier area and the counterpart of the neighboring countries.

Article 14 The state includes frontier areas in the planning for economic and social development and assist ethnic autonomous areas to accelerate frontier construction, flourish the frontier and enrich the civilians to boost the coordinated development between frontier area and the hinterland.

The state shall adopt special measures to inhabitants who reside in frontier area having great significant in solidifying national defense and ensuring border security in such aspects as housing, life, culture, education, medical care and health and environmental protection and intensify supports.

Article 15 Governments at higher levels shall include areas inhabited by ethnic minorities in planning for economic and social development, enhance the support and give favorable treatment in communication, energy, ecological environment protection and construction, agricultural infrastructure building, radio, film and television, culture, education, medical care and health and local people's production and life.

Article 16 The state shall enhance poverty-relief and development of ethnic autonomous areas, give priority to infrastructure constructions and farmland capital constructions with water, electricity, highway, TV and radio access, thatching and dilapidated building transforming and relocation for ecological reasons as the keys and mobilize and organize non-governmental forces to participate in poverty-relief and development of ethnic autonomous areas.

Article 17 The state encourages, supports and guides ethnic autonomous areas to develop non-public-owned economies, encourages social capitals to participate in the constructions of infrastructure, public utilities and other fields and the transformation of state-owned or collectively-owned enterprises in ethnic autonomous areas.

Article 18 The state organizes and supports economically-developed areas to forge sister relations with ethnic autonomous areas to help ethnic autonomous areas to accelerate the development of economy, culture, education, science and technology, health and sports undertakings through the transfer of labor-intensive and resource-based industries, technology transfer, exchange and talent cultivation, enlarging capital input and provision of material support; encourages and guides enterprises, higher learning institutions and science study institutes and other segments of society to raise the support of ethnic autonomous areas.

Governments at all levels of ethnic autonomous areas shall guide and organize local people to go out for business or throw in labor force orderly. Relating local government shall guarantee the legitimate interests and rights of people of ethnic minorities who come to do business or serve as labors.

Article 19 The state helps ethnic autonomous areas to achieve the goal of 9-year compulsory education universal in ethnic autonomous areas, eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged people and constantly improve the condition for education and takes efforts to support ethnic autonomous areas to operate some boarding schools. Class of nationalities or middle school of nationalities shall be open in ordinary middle schools of developed areas and the conditions for education, teaching and management level shall reach the standard and level of local schools.

The state adopts measures to support ethnic autonomous areas to develop occupational education and adult education in line with their local conditions and develop ordinary high school education and modern distance education to boost the comprehensive development of countryside fundamental education, adult education and occupational education.

The state encourages and supports non-governmental forces to run schools in ethnic autonomous area in a multiple of forms and actively organizes developed areas to support ethnic autonomous areas to develop education undertaking.

Article 20 Governments at all levels shall include the compulsory education in ethnic autonomous area in the supported scope of public finance. The central finance shall set up special subsidization fund for the education of ethnic minorities and local finance shall also arrange a portion of special subsidization fund for the education of ethnic minorities.

The state actively creates conditions to mainly support the compulsory education in frontier areas, poverty-stricken areas and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities of ethnic autonomous areas and adopt compulsory education free of charge gradually in ethnic autonomous areas.

Article 21 The state helps and supports ethnic autonomous areas to develop higher educations, run colleges of nationalities, preparatory class and class of nationalities in higher learning institutions better. Special policy support shall be given to higher learning institutions in ethnic autonomous areas and colleges of nationalities in faculty building and postgraduate recruitment.

As to higher learning institutions which recruit students of ethnic minorities, the recruitment proportion shall be enlarged year-on-year and special treatment shall be given moderately. When recruiting students of ethnic minorities who apply to enroll in junior college, college and graduate education, the standard and condition can be loosened moderately by lower down the recruitment score or adding some merits according to the actual situations and given treatment can be given to students of ethnic minorities whose population is small.

Article 22 The state protects the freedom of ethnic minorities in using and developing the language and character of their own and supports the regularization, standardization of the language and character of ethnic minorities and information processing; popularizes Putonghua (common speech of the Chinese language ) and the standardized characters that are in common use in the whole country and encourages citizens of all ethnic minorities in ethnic autonomous areas to learn the language and character of each others'.

The state encourages ethnic autonomous areas to gradually adopt "bilingual teaching" with language of ethnic minority and Chinese language, assists the study, development, editing & translation and publishing of teaching materials in language of ethnic minority and Chinese language, supports the establishment and improvement of the editing &translation and censoring institutions of teaching materials of ethnic minorities and helps to cultivation teaches good at both languages of ethnic minorities and Chinese.

Article 23 The state shall assist ethnic autonomous areas to establish and improve science and technology service system and science popularization system. The central finance shall enhance the support to the science and technology undertaking in ethnic autonomous areas, actively support and boost the development of science and technology undertaking in ethnic autonomous areas through such manners as national science and technology program, science fund and special funds.

Article 24 Governments at higher levels shall support the development of culture of ethnic minorities in ethnic autonomous areas, intensify cultural infrastructure construction, give priority to public welfare-related cultural undertaking with ethnic minorities characteristics and styles, strengthen the building of public culture service system in ethnic autonomous areas, cultivate and develop cultural industry of ethnic minorities in the aspects of policies and funds.

The state shall support the development of press and publication undertakings of ethnic minorities and do a better job in the translation, making and projection of radio, TV and film in languages of ethnic minorities and assist the translation and publication of publications in languages of ethnic minorities.

The state shall attach importance to the inheriting and development of excellent traditional culture of ethnic minorities, regularly host sports games of ethnic minorities and joint performance of ethnic minorities to prosper the cultural and artistic creation of ethnic minorities and enrich the cultural life of people of ethnic minorities.

Article 25 Governments at higher levels shall support the protection and salvage of non-material cultural heritages and such material cultural heritages as places of interest and historic sits and cultural relics and assist the collection, tidying up and publication of ancient books of ethnic minorities.

Article 26 Governments at higher levels shall enhance the capital input and technical support to the construction of public health system in ethnic autonomous areas, take effective measures to prevent and control infectious diseases, endemics and verminosis, establish and improve rural health service system, new-type rural cooperative medical system and medical aid system in countryside and lighten the medical expense burden of poor people in ethnic autonomous areas. Governments of all levels shall intensify the input, protection, support of the medical undertaking of ethnic minorities to develop medicine of ethnic minorities and upgrade the health level of the whole nation.

Governments at higher levels shall formulate preferential policies to encourage ethnic autonomous areas to implement family planning and good prenatal and postnatal care to heighten the population quality of all nationalities.

Article 27 In line with relating regulations of the state, governments at higher levels shall assist ethnic autonomous areas to expedite the building of social security system, establish and improve endowment, unemployment, medical, work injury and maternity insurances and the subsistence allowances for the urban poor to form asocial security system in conformity with local economic and social development level.

Article 28 There shall be certain proportion of cadres of ethnic minorities in governments at higher levels and their departments; cadres of ethnic minorities shall be assigned by law to be responsible for ethnic autonomy in the governments of ethnic autonomous areas and their departments. When selecting cadres and biding for leaders' positioning, quota and positions for ethnic minorities shall be pre-saved to directed at cadres of ethnic minorities.

When recruiting and employing state functionaries, ethnic minorities shall be given special treatment and the specifications shall be formulated by the recruitment and employment department in charge.

Article 29 Governments at higher levels shall guide ethnic autonomous areas to formulate talent development planning and adopt various effective measures to actively cultivate talents of all categories and classes of ethnic minorities.

The state shall adopt measures to enforce the training of cadres of ethnic minorities and cadres of ethnic autonomous areas, expand the cadre and talent training scale for ethnic autonomous areas in cadre training institutions and higher learning institutions and establish and improve the cadre exchange system between ethnic autonomous areas, central state organs and economically-developed areas.

The State encourages and supports talents of all categories and classes to develop and pioneer in ethnic autonomous areas and local government shall offer preferential and convenient working and living conditions to them. Dependents and children of cadres of Han nationality or ethnic minorities who go to work in remote, tough and frigid ethnic autonomous areas shall enjoy special treatment in employment and schooling.

Article 30 Department of ethnic affairs in governments at all levels shall supervise the implementation of the Provisions and report the inspection situations to government at the same level annually with opinions and proposals attached.

Article 31 Those which defalcate, embezzle and withhold fund specially for ethnic autonomous areas disregarding the financial and accounting system of the state will be ordered to return the defalcated, embezzled and withheld fund in stipulated period and administrative sanction will be given to the person in charge and other related personnel. Legal responsibilities will be investigated for those which have constituted criminal.

Article 32 If governments of any levels don't perform their functions and responsibilities disregarding the Provisions, administrative organs or supervision organs at higher levels shall order them to rectify.

If workers in administrative organs of all levels commit crimes by abusing their power, malpractice and bending the law, criminal responsibilities will be investigated. Administrative sanction will be assigned for those which can't constitute criminals.

Article 33 Governments at higher levels herein refer to governments at higher levels of the ethnic autonomous areas.

Article 34 Relating department of the State Council and governments of autonomous regions and provinces and municipalities which have autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties under it shall formulate specifications according to the Provision and report the implementation situations to the State Council.

Article 35 The Provisions take effective as of May 31, 2005.