SHENZHEN: More than 1,000 red-head (official) documents could be abolished, revised or reissued after a thorough review by the local legislative affairs office here.

The move is intended to eliminate invalid red-head documents that would expire after no more than five years from the issue date. The plan is in line with the government's new regulation released on January 1.

A colloquial Chinese term for formal, official documents, red-head documents invariably bear the full name of the government department that issues them. The name is always printed in red on the top of a document's front page.

The Shenzhen municipal office of legislative affairs launched the first review in 2001 targeting the red-head documents issued on December 31, 2000 or before.

After strict examination, the office abolished 574 red-head documents and revised another 703 that continue to exist.

The city's move was part of a nationwide effort to clean up red-head documents. The State Council issued the requirement in a February 25 notification.

It aims to rectify the possible mistakes in existing red-head documents, some of which conflict with Chinese law and regulations, according to a report by the People's Daily yesterday.

The other problem is that some government agents with legislative function use red-head documents to replace legal texts in order to regulate some administrative governance, the report said.

Jiang Ming'an, a professor with Peking University, is one of the activists that kept pushing the central government to keep the red-head documents under control.

Some documents conflict with national law or encourage monopoly or unfair competition, Jiang said. However, citizens are not entitled to sue over these illegal red-head documents.

In Heping County of East China's Fujian Province, a government red-head document was introduced to control the dropout rate by requiring certain government departments, including education, public security, labor and industry and commerce not to issue a marriage certificate, work certificate or driving licence to young people who were unable to show a junior high school diploma.

Although the official document was abolished a month later, it established a good example of how the red-head document system is in chaos, Jiang said.

Source: China Daily