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Conditions for tolerance

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-05 07:31

Chongqing's tolerance toward officials' unintentional mistakes in their pursuit of innovations should be based on an open and transparent policy-making mechanism, says an article in Beijing News. An excerpt follows:

The Chongqing committee of the People's Congress passed a new regulation, which took effect as of the first day of this year. It says officials are exempted from responsibility for mistakes if they are made within certain legal procedures.

This move should be warmly welcome given that it would help embolden local officials to take bolder steps in promoting innovations in their administration of market supervision, land transfer and other affairs.

A legal document being put in place to absolve innovators from punishment is undoubtedly a legislative progress. No progress will be made without innovations. The southern booming city of Shenzhen promulgated a similar regulation as early as in 2006.

However, tolerance alone is not enough to promote economic and social progress. A more thorough policy research should be undertaken prior to any major decision-making to prevent or reduce malpractices in the pursuit of innovations.

A democratic, open and transparent decision-making mechanism should be first set up. Any major decision should be open to public discussions and monitoring before their implementation.

(China Daily 01/05/2009 page4)