A pilot program for a new national institutional supervision system has been launched in Beijing, and Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces.

Supervisory committees have been established in the three areas to supervise all public office holders.

Under the current supervision system, there are limits on the targets of supervision and the supervisory organs lack sufficient independence, which obstruct the supervisory organs from fully playing their intended role.

According to experts, the new committees will be independent of the government, the court and the procuratorate.

The staff members of the supervisory committees are called supervisory officers and will be analogous to a judge or procurator. They have been appointed by the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

China already has laws stipulating the responsibilities, obligations, rights, qualifications, criteria for appointment and removal and a reward and punishment system for procurators and judges, and the experts suggest drawing up a law in order to do the same for the new supervisory officers.

The pilot program aims to explore a new institutional supervision mechanism and accumulate experiences for it to be implemented nationwide.