Draft bill aims to ease restrictions on Chinese charities raising funds
Print Edition
THE draft of a charity law, the first bill to regulate activities in the sector, was submitted to China’s national legislature yesterday.
One of its aims is to seek the help of Good Samaritans in realizing a 2020 poverty alleviation target.
China expects the law to encourage more ordinary citizens, enterprises and social organizations to engage in charity programs, said Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, when outlining the draft law to NPC deputies at their annual session.
China plans to lift all rural residents above the current poverty line by 2020. The number falling below the line — a per capita net income of 2,800 yuan (US$430) a year — stood at around 70 million by the end of 2015.
“Charitable programs are indispensable in the fight against poverty. Formulating a charity law ... helps non-governmental sources work together in taking targeted measures to alleviate and eliminate poverty and makes contributions to achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects,” Li said.
Another significance of the bill is to tackle loopholes and problems in charity activities, which have boomed in the past few years, he said.
The amount of donations to charity programs has increased from 10 billion yuan in 2006 to about 100 billion yuan at present.
Many charity organizations have not installed proper internal management nor operated under established protocols, while the charity sector has yet to develop a self-discipline mechanism, Li said.
The new law is also expected to enhance awareness among Chinese not used to getting involved in charity activities, he said.
Although several laws and regulations regulate charity activities to some degree at present, they are not up-to-date, complete and coordinated and fail to fully cover the sector’s current vigorous development.
Since 2008, about 800 national lawmakers have initiated 27 motions and 29 proposals to the draft. It was first submitted for reading at the bimonthly session of NPC Standing Committee last October and for a second reading two months later.
The bill, consisting of 12 chapters and 112 articles, defines charity activities and charity organizations and stipulates under which criteria charity organizations should be founded and how they should be registered.
It also addresses the internal management of charity organizations, the obligation to disclose information, fundraising, and policies to encourage charity donations, such as tax deductions.
Currently a very small number of charity organizations, such as the Red Cross Society of China, are allowed to raise donations from the general public, while others can only raise funds from a specific group of donors.
The bill eases the restriction and expands the pool by stipulating that legally registered charity groups can apply to the civil affairs department for a public fundraising qualification after two years of operation and may obtain a certificate if it has sound internal governance and follows protocols.
Internet fundraising has been widely used but is vulnerable to fraud and malpractice, Li said. The bill requires charity groups to either post fundraising information on platforms designated by the government or on their own websites.
It also bans charity groups without proper certificates from raising funds from the public. Those who break the rules will have to return donations and could face fines ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 yuan.
The reputation of Chinese charities took a hit in 2011 when a woman claiming to manage an organization under the Red Cross Society of China used social media to flaunt her wealth and extravagant lifestyle.
The public has been calling for more transparency and tighter internal management of charities ever since.
In response, the bill says charities must publish their articles of association and information on their executives and supervisory bodies. They should also give annual reports complete with financial statements, details of projects launched as well as staff pay and benefits.
It also stipulates that charities should minimize operating costs, keeping them below 15 percent of the amount they raise if they are certificated to get donations from the public.
Charities may have their registrations revoked if they engage in or sponsor activities deemed to undermine state security or public interests.
A notable absence from the bill is the regulation of individuals appealing for aid.
In September, a man in east China’s Anhui Province spread a story online claiming his girlfriend had been injured trying to save a girl from dogs and raised about 800,000 yuan. The story turned out to be a lie, and police later detained its author.
“The bill does not forbid citizens from asking for help online nor does it encourage it,” said Kan Ke, former deputy director of the NPC Standing Committee’s Commission of Legislative Affairs.
It will be up to individuals whether to make such appeals or donate to people who make such appeals, said Kan, who was involved in drafting the charity law.
“The legislature would prefer to see people turn to charities to do kind deeds, rather than going directly to a certain beneficiary, for it will be easier to supervise a small number of organizations than watch a huge number of individuals,” he said. “We should let the professionals do the job.”
Addressing a complaint that businesses making large donations don’t get enough tax relief, the bill stipulates that if a donation exceeds the legal limit of deductions from its taxable income in one year, the balance can be deducted from income in the following two years.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
