On February 18, 2004, the CPC Central Committee promulgated the Regulations on Internal Supervision (Trial Implementation) and the Regulations on Disciplinary Penalties.

The Regulations on Internal Supervision are basic rules regulating inner-Party supervision. They were formulated when the socialist market economic system had initially taken shape in China and the economy-based and science-spearheaded competition of national strength became increasingly intensified worldwide. Against this backdrop, the status of and the external climate facing the CPC, as well as its historical missions and internal workings, have changed profoundly.

The regulations consist of five chapters. The first chapter provides its objectives and the guiding principles, subjects and major contents of internal supervision. The second chapter stipulates the responsibilities and functions of Party committees and their members, Party discipline inspection committees and their members, average Party members and Party congresses in internal supervision. The third chapter provides 10 systems for internal supervision. The fourth chapter cites guarantee measures for implementation of these regulations. The fifth chapter prescribes organs authorized to interpret these regulations and the regulations' effective date.

Following the principle of advancing inner-Party democracy and safeguarding the Party's unity, the regulations focus on maintaining the Party's vitality and creativity through promoting inner-Party democracy and on guaranteeing the unblocked implementation of the central leadership's decisions and instructions and raising Party organizations' combat effectiveness through defending the Party's unity and the central leadership's authority.