The Chinese nation has always had the traditional virtues of helping the needy and being benevolent. Since its implementation in 2016, China's current Charity Law has played an important role in protecting the rights and interests of charitable participants and regulating charitable activities. At the same time, some new situations and new problems have also emerged in the field of charity, which require a better legal escort.
On December 29, the seventh meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress voted to adopt the decision on amending the Charity Law, which will come into force on September 5, 2024. What are the highlights of the newly revised Charity Law?The reporter of "Xinhua Vision" made an inventory.
Aspect 1: Give full play to the role of overall planning and coordination at all levels.
The Charity Law adds a new provision that people at or above the county level shall co-ordinate, coordinate, supervise and guide relevant departments to do a good job in supporting the development and standardized management of charitable undertakings within the scope of their respective duties.
Li Yanjie, an associate researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that some first-class departments have not paid enough attention to charity work and have not done enough to promote the development of philanthropy. The newly revised Charity Law clarifies the responsibilities of the people at or above the county level for the promotion of charity work, and will promote the further development of charity in various localities.
Li Yanjie also said that charity work involves many fields and a wide range, and it needs to be promoted by relevant departments at all levels. The revision of the law is conducive to the cooperation of various departments and the formation of a joint force.
The revision of the Charity Law also requires the relevant departments of the people at or above the county level to strengthen the supervision, management and service of charitable activities.
Tu Yunxin, an assistant researcher at the Human Rights Research Center of Fudan University, believes that this new provision clarifies the position of administrative organs as "supervisors", "managers" and "service providers" in the charity governance system, and further clarifies the tasks that administrative organs should undertake in promoting the development of philanthropy.
Aspect 2: Regulate the cost of fundraising for charitable organizations.
Regulating the cost of fundraising by charitable organizations is a major highlight of the revision of the Charity Law.
Deng Guosheng, director of the Digital Philanthropy Research Center of Tsinghua University's School of Public Policy and Management, said that the fundraising costs referred to in the law are roughly the costs of material procurement, publicity and promotion, and event organization incurred by charitable organizations in the process of carrying out fundraising activities.
Charitable organizations will inevitably incur some expenses in the process of fundraising activities, but the fundraising costs of a small number of charitable organizations are too high, which will lead to the crowding out of funds that are really used for charitable projects, making the use of charitable funds less efficient. Deng Guosheng said that it is necessary to regulate the cost of fundraising in the form of legislation.
Li Yanjie noted that the revision of the law lists management expenses and fundraising costs side by side. "At present, there is confusion among the public about the costs and expenses of charitable organizations in fundraising activities and the daily operating expenses of charitable organizations. ”
The law stipulates that when charitable organizations carry out charitable activities, they shall "follow the most necessary principles such as management fees and fundraising costs, strictly practice economy, reduce unnecessary expenses, and make full and efficient use of charitable assets".
In the form of legislation, it is essential to require charitable organizations to have management fees and fundraising costs in the form of the 'most necessary principle'. Zhang Xiaoqing, deputy secretary-general of the China Charity Federation, believes that this revision will help remind charitable organizations to accurately design projects, standardize fundraising, and use funds prudently, so as to minimize fundraising costs and maximize social benefits.
Aspect 3: Increase the punishment of relevant responsible personnel.
Where charitable organizations have illegal conduct such as privately dividing, misappropriating, withholding, or misappropriating charitable assets, the newly revised Charity Law not only punishes the charitable organization, but also increases the degree of punishment for the relevant responsible persons. The amendment to the Charity Law adds a provision that where the circumstances are serious, the directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel are prohibited from serving as managers of charitable organizations for one to five years.
Tu Yunxin believes that on the basis of "imposing a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan and confiscating illegal gains", the newly revised Charity Law has added professional restrictions and improved the accountability system, which is conducive to the practitioners of charitable organizations to better restrain their own behavior and promote the formation of a self-discipline consensus within the charity industry.
Aspect 4: Establish and improve the regulatory system for online service platforms for personal help.
Chen Bin, deputy secretary-general of the Charity Branch of the China Social Security Association, told reporters that in recent years, the personal help network service platform has developed rapidly, and has performed well in terms of total fundraising, and has played an active role in helping patients with serious illnesses to raise medical expenses, but there are also some chaos in practice.
Tu Yunxin believes that on the personal help network service platform, in the name of charity, in fact, the phenomenon of collecting donations occurs from time to time;If this phenomenon is allowed to continue to develop, it will inevitably greatly drain the sympathy of the general public.
The newly revised Charity Law further establishes and completes a regulatory system for online service platforms for individuals seeking help.
The law stipulates that if an individual has financial difficulties in his or her family due to illness or other reasons, and publishes information seeking help to the public, the person seeking help and the person who publishes the information shall be responsible for the authenticity of the information, and shall not obtain assistance by fraud by fabricating or concealing facts. Platforms engaged in online services for personal requests for assistance shall be designated by the civil affairs department to conduct a review of the veracity of the information on requests for assistance released through them, and promptly and comprehensively disclose the relevant information to the public. Specific management measures are to be separately formulated by the civil affairs departments in conjunction with departments such as for internet information, industry, and information technology.
The revision of the Charity Law will be conducive to protecting the vital interests of genuine help-seekers, and will be conducive to promoting the optimization and adjustment of the internal governance and external governance structure of individual help-seeking online service platforms. Tu Yunxin said.
Aspect 5: Strengthen the responsibilities of charitable organizations with public fundraising credentials in cooperative fundraising.
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of organizations or individuals that do not have public fundraising credentials cooperating with charitable organizations that have public fundraising credentials to carry out public fundraising.
Zhang Xiaoqing believes that this cooperation model has stimulated the vitality of charity and expanded charity participation to a certain extent, but in reality, there are also phenomena such as partners using public fundraising to carry out commercial activities, and the so-called public fundraising is actually fundraising for specific individuals, which affects the credibility of charity to a certain extent.
The amendments to the Charity Law further strengthen the responsibilities of charitable organizations with public fundraising credentials in cooperative fundraising, and clarify the legal consequences of their failure to fulfill their responsibilities.
The newly amended Charity Law stipulates that organizations or individuals that do not have public fundraising credentials may, for charitable purposes, cooperate with charitable organizations with public fundraising credentials, and the charitable organization will carry out public fundraising, and the partners must not carry out public fundraising on their own in any form. Charitable organizations with public fundraising credentials shall conduct an assessment of their partners, sign a written agreement in accordance with law, indicate relevant information on the partners in the fundraising plan, and conduct guidance and oversight of the partners' relevant conduct. Charitable organizations with public fundraising credentials are responsible for managing and accounting for funds and materials raised through cooperation, and including all revenues and expenditures in their accounts.
The newly revised Charity Law further clarifies the main responsibilities of charitable organizations with public fundraising qualifications, and explicitly requires them to strengthen the preliminary review, process supervision, and financial management of partners, which has a positive role in promoting the maintenance of the social credibility of philanthropy. Zhang Xiaoqing said.