Beijing officials will be held accountable for erroneous decision making and inept leadership by a new regulation meant to improve the supervision of the Communist Party of China and the government.

Both Party and administrative officials in Beijing will be forced to resign or to submit to punishments if the government offices they oversee fail to perform their duties, according to a temporary regulation released by the General Office of the city's government.

This marks the first time a local government in China has held Party officials accountable for decision making.

Some provincial governments, for their part, have passed similar rules, but those have only applied to administrative officials.

The temporary regulation in Beijing is seen as being needed largely because Party officials in China often have more influence over policy decisions than administrative officials do.

The city's rule stipulates that both Party and administrative officials will be held accountable for making bad decisions, falling down in their duties, failing to properly deal with mass disturbances and making similar types of mistakes.

The stipulation is a sign of progress in the supervision of Party officials. Such a policy has not been included in previous regulations, either those adopted for the entire country or for a specific region, an unnamed official from Beijing Party discipline inspection commission told Beijing Daily.