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 is the significance of amending the Charity Law?What are the main elements of the revision?A few days ago, Shi Hong, director of the Social Law Office of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was interviewed by reporters on relevant issues.
Amending the Charity Law is an objective need to better meet the development of China's philanthropy and create a good social atmosphere for charity. Shi Hong said that charity is a national cause, and it must fully stimulate the love of the whole people, mobilize the enthusiasm of the whole society, and make the whole society care, support and participate in charity.
Shi Hong said that the revision of the Charity Law is to inherit and carry forward the spiritual connotation of the excellent traditional charity culture, summarize and absorb the practical experience and lessons of philanthropy with Chinese characteristics, and integrate the existing philanthropic concepts, philanthropic behaviors, philanthropic systems, philanthropic models, and philanthropic concepts with Chinese characteristics. The philanthropic experience has been elevated to the top-level institutional design of national philanthropy, focusing on solving the practical problems of the development of philanthropy in the new era of reform, opening up and socialist modernization, exploring the development path and system design of philanthropy that meet the requirements of China's reality and the times, and promoting the development of socialist philanthropy with Chinese characteristics under the rule of law.
The revision of the Charity Law has made provisions on improving promotion measures and further promoting the development of philanthropy: further strengthening the responsibility of ** and its departments to promote the development of philanthropy;Improve the provisions on preferential policies, and clarify the state's implementation of preferential tax policies for charities;Optimize procedures for designating charitable organizations, lowering the requirements for applying for public fundraising qualifications, and further stimulating the vitality of charitable organizationsEncourage social forces to actively participate in philanthropy;Encourage international exchanges and cooperation in philanthropy.
The standardized operation of charitable organizations and charitable trusts is an inherent requirement for promoting the sustainable development of philanthropy. Shi Hong said that the revision of the Charity Law, from the perspective of actively guiding the healthy development of charitable organizations and charitable trusts, has further improved the relevant provisions on regulating the operation of charitable activities: requiring charitable organizations to report "fundraising costs" and "cooperation with overseas organizations or individuals";Improve systems for cooperative public fundraising, with charitable organizations with public fundraising credentials conducting assessments of their partners, signing written agreements in accordance with law, indicating relevant information on their partners in the fundraising plan, and conducting guidance and oversight of the partners' relevant conduct, and so forth;Clarify the principles for determining the beneficiaries of charitable donations and charitable trusts;Authorize the relevant departments to formulate standards for charitable organizations' fundraising costs, as well as the annual expenditures and management fees of charitable trustsIt is required that fundraising activities or charitable projects be fully and thoroughly disclosed within 3 months of the conclusion of fundraising activities, project implementation, and the use of funds and materials raised.
The revision of the Charity Law also adds a special chapter on emergency charity to systematically regulate charitable activities in emergency response: it is stipulated that when a major emergency occurs and needs to be quickly rescued, the people who perform unified leadership duties or organize the handling of emergencies shall establish a coordination mechanism in accordance with the law, clarify specialized institutions and personnel, and provide demand information;Encourage charitable organizations and charitable industry organizations to establish emergency response mechanisms;Where public fundraising should be carried out in response to major emergencies, the funds and materials raised shall be promptly allocated or used, and the receipt, distribution, and use of the funds and materials raised shall be disclosed;Where it is not possible to complete the filing of fundraising plans before the start of emergency public fundraising activities, it is permitted to complete the filing formalities within 10 days of the start of the fundraising activities;Require grassroots organizations to provide facilitation and assistance for the distribution and delivery of emergency charitable funds and materials.
With the development of network information technology, the phenomenon of personal online help is increasing, and the relevant network service platforms have shown large-scale development, which has played an active role in helping patients with serious illnesses to raise medical expenses, but there are also some chaos.
Shi Hong said that the revision of the Charity Law, taking into account the opinions of all parties, has added relevant content in the supplementary provisions: on the one hand, it stipulates that individuals seeking help from the society due to family economic difficulties caused by illness and other reasons require that the help-seeker and the information publisher shall be responsible for the authenticity of the information, and shall not defraud the rescue by fabricating or concealing facts;On the other hand, it is clearly required that platforms engaged in online services for personal help shall be designated by the civil affairs department to verify the authenticity of the information on help provided through them, and promptly and comprehensively disclose the relevant information to the public.
When talking about what needs to be done to ensure the implementation of the law, Shi Hong said that it is necessary to formulate supporting regulations in a timely manner, and the relevant departments need to revise the relevant laws and regulations according to the revised content to ensure that they are consistent with the provisions of the Charity Law.
Reporter Li Ruichen).
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