The General Office of the State Council has recently issued the Key Tasks on Transparency of Government Affairs in 2018 (the "Key Tasks").
The Key Tasks outline 16 concrete requirements in four aspects, including "stepping up efforts to better respond to public concerns", "boosting substantial effects of government services", "making more efforts to advance the development of the government work disclosure platform" and "focusing on institutionalizing and standardizing government work disclosure". Further, the Key Tasks expressly state that matters discussed and finalized at plenary sessions and executive meetings of the government, and policies made by the government and departments thereof shall be made public in a timely manner, unless they should be kept confidential according to the law; particular attention shall be paid to putting into practice the government information disclosure system in such areas as the fiscal budget and final accounts, approval and implementation of major construction projects, allocation of public resources, and construction of public utilities. The Key Tasks call for publishing government gazettes in a regulated and orderly manner, promoting the system of having policy documents of the government and departments thereof uniformly published via gazettes of the government at the corresponding level, updating and releasing the regulations for government information disclosure, adjusting and improving relevant supporting measures, and establishing and improving the information disclosure system for enterprises and public institutions in relation to the general public.