BEIJING - Fifty-one out of 59 government administrations under the State Council and 70 percent of 43 selected city governments failed to pass an administrative transparency evaluation, according to a blue book report released on Thursday.

The blue book, an annual report on China's rule of law that was released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said administrative transparency has become the government's "shortcoming" and needs "improvement".

The report reviewed the implementation of the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, a guideline issued by the State Council in 2007. To do so, it looked at information provided on the official websites of the administrations and city governments it was evaluating.