The decree endowed the Special Council with the right to apply punishments "by administrative means", i.e., without trial.
The following types of punishment were put at the disposal of the Special Council by this decree: banishment (высылка) (from the place of residence), exile (ссылка) (to remote regions), sentencing to corrective labor camp (исправительно-трудовой лагерь) for up to five years, and deportation (высылка) from the USSR.
In 1937, during the Great Purge, the Special Council was allowed to sentence to imprisonment for up to eight years.
[1] In November 1941, after the beginning of the war against Germany, the Special Council was allowed to sentence to imprisonment for up to 25 years or to death.
After the 1945 end of the war the Special Council lost the right to pass death-sentences; the maximum available punishment was 25 years of imprisonment.