Article 39: The Party’s discipline is the code of conduct that all Party organizations at every level and all Party members must observe, and it serves as the guarantee for upholding the Party’s unity and solidarity and for accomplishing the Party’s tasks. Party organizations must strictly enforce and uphold Party discipline, and Communist Party members must consciously submit to the constraints of Party discipline.

　　Article 40: The Party’s discipline primarily includes political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, discipline regarding the relationship with the masses, work discipline, and lifestyle discipline.

　　We must adhere to the principles of punishing past mistakes to prevent future ones and curing illnesses to save people; enforce discipline rigorously and hold violators accountable; address problems early and at their nascent stage to nip them in the bud; and, depending on the nature of the error and the severity of the circumstances, impose criticism and education, order inspections, issue admonishments, or even disciplinary sanctions. We should make full use of the “four forms” of oversight and discipline enforcement, ensuring that “blushing and sweating” become the norm, that Party disciplinary actions and organizational adjustments serve as key tools for governing the Party, and that Party members who commit serious violations of discipline or grave criminal offenses must be expelled from the Party.

　　The Party strictly prohibits the use of methods that violate the Party Constitution and state laws in dealing with Party members, and strictly forbids reprisals, retaliation, and false accusations or malicious framing. Any organization or individual that violates these provisions shall be held accountable under Party discipline and state law.

　　Article 41: There are five types of disciplinary sanctions for Party members: warning, serious warning, removal from internal Party posts, probation within the Party, and expulsion from the Party.

　　The period of probation within the Party shall not exceed two years. During the period of probation, Party members shall have no voting rights, right to elect, or right to be elected. If, after undergoing probation, a Party member has demonstrably corrected his or her errors, his or her Party rights shall be restored; if, however, the member persists in the errors and refuses to correct them, he or she shall be expelled from the Party.

　　Expulsion from the Party is the highest disciplinary sanction within the Party. When Party organizations at all levels decide on or approve the expulsion of a Party member, they shall conduct a comprehensive review of the relevant materials and opinions and adopt an extremely cautious approach.

　　Article 42: Disciplinary sanctions against Party members must be deliberated and decided upon at a branch general meeting and submitted for approval to the primary-level Party committee; if the matters involved are of considerable importance or complexity, or if the sanction involves expulsion from the Party, such cases shall, depending on the specific circumstances, be submitted to the county-level or higher-level Party discipline inspection commission for review and approval. In special circumstances, Party committees and discipline inspection commissions at the county level and above shall have the authority to directly decide on disciplinary sanctions against Party members.

　　Disciplinary actions of a warning or a serious warning against members and alternate members of the Party’s Central Committee shall be deliberated by the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and then submitted to the Party Central Committee for approval. Disciplinary actions of a warning or a serious warning against members and alternate members of Party committees at all local levels shall be approved by the next higher-level commission for discipline inspection and filed with the corresponding Party committee at the same level.

　　The imposition of the disciplinary measures of removal from internal Party posts, probation within the Party, or expulsion from the Party upon members and alternate members of the Central Committee of the Party and of local committees at all levels must be decided by a two-thirds majority of the plenary session of the committee to which they belong. During the interval between plenary sessions, the Politburo of the Central Committee and the standing committees of local committees at all levels may first make a decision on such disciplinary action, which shall then be ratified at the subsequent plenary session of the committee. With regard to the aforementioned disciplinary measures imposed on members and alternate members of local committees at all levels, such decisions must first be reviewed by the standing committee of the higher-level discipline inspection commission and submitted by that level’s discipline inspection commission to the corresponding Party committee for approval.

　　Members and alternate members of the Central Committee who have seriously violated criminal law shall be expelled from the Party by decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee; members and alternate members of local committees at all levels who have seriously violated criminal law shall be expelled from the Party by decision of the Standing Committee of the corresponding-level committee.

　　Article 43: When a Party organization imposes disciplinary sanctions on a Party member, it shall ascertain the facts in a truthful and pragmatic manner. The factual materials on which the disciplinary decision is based, as well as the decision itself, must be presented to the individual concerned, who shall be given the opportunity to explain the situation and to make a defense. If the individual disagrees with the disciplinary decision, he or she may file an appeal, which the relevant Party organization must either handle directly or promptly forward; no withholding is permitted. As for those who persist in erroneous views and unreasonable demands, they shall be subject to criticism and education.

　　Article 44: Party organizations that fail in their duty to uphold Party discipline shall be held accountable.

　　With regard to Party organizations that have seriously violated Party discipline and are unable to correct such violations on their own, the next higher-level Party committee, after thorough investigation and verification, shall, depending on the severity of the circumstances, decide either to reorganize the organization or to dissolve it, and shall submit the decision to the subsequent higher-level Party committee for review and approval before formally announcing and implementing it.