慈善法 CHINA'S CHARITY LAW
Final Version of the PRC Charity Law, Effective Sept. 1, 2016
The final version of China's Charity Law was passed by the National People's Congress on March 16, 2016. It took effect on September 1, 2016. A bilingual (English-Chinese) translation of the final law can be found here, on the website of the China Development Brief.
Grassroots NGOs' Feedback on the Draft Law (click here for the PDF, in Chinese Only)
Given the proposed Charity Law's implications for grassroots NGOs and Chinese civil society development more broadly, in January 2016 I launched a series of focus groups with Chinese grassroots NGOs. Beginning in Hong Kong with a group of grassroots NGO leaders visiting the CUHK Centre for Social Innovation Studies, we took the law's second public draft and discussed articles of particular relevance to these groups, soliciting their feedback, concerns, and suggestions for revision. From there, and with the help of key local partners in mainland China, I facilitated similar focus groups in another four cities (Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, and Shanghai). In total, over 50 leaders of grassroots NGOs participated in these discussions. The groups represented a wide spectrum of issue areas and registration statuses.
The result of these discussions is presented (in Chinese only) in this feedback document as a summary of their views. Note that this isn't intended to represent a consensus from all groups, and for various reasons it does not include all of the excellent and thoughtful observations made by all the focus group participants. However, I believe that it reflects the common concerns raised by these grassroots NGOs and hope it will serve to stimulate discussion about the law by relevant authorities. According to Chinese practice, it is expected that implementation guidelines will be drafted after the finalized law is promulgated, and I hope that some of the concerns raised here may help inform the crafting of those more detailed guidelines and other policies associated with the law's implementation.
The result of these discussions is presented (in Chinese only) in this feedback document as a summary of their views. Note that this isn't intended to represent a consensus from all groups, and for various reasons it does not include all of the excellent and thoughtful observations made by all the focus group participants. However, I believe that it reflects the common concerns raised by these grassroots NGOs and hope it will serve to stimulate discussion about the law by relevant authorities. According to Chinese practice, it is expected that implementation guidelines will be drafted after the finalized law is promulgated, and I hope that some of the concerns raised here may help inform the crafting of those more detailed guidelines and other policies associated with the law's implementation.
Background and Text of Law (Drafts 1 and 2)
Since 2005, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and other government agencies have been working to devise a comprehensive law to govern all charitable activities in China. Ten years after these efforts began, in late 2015 the government released the first draft of a comprehensive 'Charity Law' (慈善法) designed to regulate all domestic philanthropic and charitable activities. (See the INGOs page of this site for information about the regulation of foreign NGOs.)
The first draft of the proposed Charity Law was open for public comments for a one-month period, ending on Nov. 30, 2015. The second draft, released in January 2016, is downloadable here (in Chinese). An English translation by the hard-working folks at the China Development Brief is available here.
The first draft of the proposed Charity Law was open for public comments for a one-month period, ending on Nov. 30, 2015. The second draft, released in January 2016, is downloadable here (in Chinese). An English translation by the hard-working folks at the China Development Brief is available here.