In 2016, in order to implement the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, the Opinions of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Comprehensively Advancing the Work of Open Government, and Detailed Rules for the Implementation of Opinions on Comprehensively Advancing the Work of Open Government and Key Points of the Work of Open Government in 2016, issued by the General Office of the State Council, and to further promote the work of open government in China, a project team of the Law Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was entrusted by the Office of Open Government Work under the General Office of State Council to carry out third-party assessment on the open government work of various departments under the State Council and various provincial-level governments in such fields as disclosure of policy information, disclosure of information in key areas, explanation of policies and response to public concerns, disclosure upon application, and construction of safeguarding and supervision mechanisms.

The assessment shows that China has made remarkable progress in the work of open government. For examples, some targets of assessment have carried out active explorations on the transparency of decision-making; the situation of disclosure of information in key areas and information about performance of functions is generally good; significant progresses have been made in the work of explanation of policies and response to public concerns; the channels of disclosure upon application are generally unimpeded; and procedure for reply to requests for disclosure of information have been standardized. Meanwhile, the assessment also reveals some problems: the standard of open government still need to be further elaborated on; more efforts need to be made in the disclosure of policy information; the disclosure of information about the implementation of policy measures, information about major projects and information in key fields are still not satisfactory; and the construction of supervision and safeguarding mechanisms needs to be further strengthened. In light of the above problems, the project team suggests that China adopt more detailed standards on openness, explore a new model of openness that organically integrates disclosure, explanation and response, simultaneously advance the regulation of the operation of power and the openness of government affairs, attach equal importance to openness of government affairs and advocacy of policies, and strengthen the specialization and professionalization of relevant personnel.

The assessment report is published by China Social Sciences Press in May 2017. An electronic version of the report (in Chinese language) can be obtained at the following website: http://www.lawindex.org.cn