BEIJING -- China's civil servants must take exams and be evaluated on their legal knowledge, according to an official document issued on Thursday.

The national recruitment exam for civil servants will put more weight on the candidates' knowledge of the law while incumbents must take the exams before being promoted, read the document titled Guidelines on Improving the Arrangements for Civil Servants to Study and Use the law.

The document was jointly issued by Organization and Publicity Departments of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and the Ministries of Justice and Human Resources.

Those who seek jobs in law enforcement agencies will take a special examination.

The law will be an important performance criterion and a key step to promotion. Leading officials of Party and government departments will have an annual review of their knowledge.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC leadership has repeatedly instructed senior officials to lead by example in abiding by the law and study the law, but some of them have not paid enough attention to the issue, and a few of them even knowingly broke the law, a Ministry of Justice official told Xinhua.

The guidelines stressed the study of the Constitution, the basic laws of the country, laws closely related to social and economic development and the daily life of the people, laws related to civil servants' official duties, as well as the rules of the Party.