[JURIST] The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] has issued regulations that forbid party and government officials from appointing relatives as subordinates, limits officials to two consecutive five-year terms and requires those who have served for 10 years to transfer to different regions. The three regulations, issued Sunday, apply to officials at the county level and higher, including those on the Central Committee, the National People's Congress and the Supreme People's Court [official websites].

To promote stability, officials must serve their terms unless they retire, are in poor health or are dismissed, demoted or transferred for poor performance. Likewise, officials may refuse transfers only if they are in poor health or nearing retirement. Officials may not hold leading positions in the area where they were born or raised. China's official Xinhua News Agency has more.