Individuals who have been blacklisted under China’s social credit system or expelled from the Communist Party are ineligible to register for next year’s administration of the national civil service examination, the State Bureau of Civil Servants announced Monday.

According to Beijing Youth Daily, some 550 government departments are aiming to recruit over 24,000 civil servants in the next highly competitive exam, which candidates could sign up to take beginning Tuesday. This marks the first time a state-level office has barred blacklisted citizens and expelled party cadres from the exam.

Li Manqing, the director of Huatu Education, a company that offers training courses for the civil service exam, told Beijing Youth Daily that, as representatives of the government, civil servants must be held to a high standard of integrity and “purity.”

National blacklists have been expanded in China since the country introduced an early version of its social credit system in 2014. Citizens who engage in tax fraud, drunk driving, loan defaulting, or violence against medical workers run the risk of being restricted from taking out loans or traveling by plane or high-speed rail. (Image: VCG)