What are the signals of the draft amendment to the Charity Law submitted for deliberation?

Beijing, October 10 (Zhongxin Net) -- A few days ago, the draft amendment to the Charity Law was submitted to the sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 22th National People's Congress for deliberation. The draft further improves the public fundraising system, etc., to regulate charitable activities and promote the healthy development of charitable undertakings. A number of experts said that the draft amendment to the Charity Law will provide support for further regulation of charitable organizations and Internet fundraising platforms, leading the development of public welfare undertakings in a more efficient direction.

Infographic: Public participation in Internet charity

It may be more convenient for charitable organizations to be identified

In December 2022, the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the <>th National People's Congress conducted its first review of the draft revision of the Charity Law. According to the opinions of all parties, adjust the method of amending the law, use the amendment method to revise and improve part of the content of the current law, and on the premise of maintaining the overall stability of the basic system of the current law, sum up practical experience, and make necessary amendments to the content that is more mature or has basic consensus.

Deng Guosheng, dean of the 21st Century Development Research Institute of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with Chinanews.com that generally speaking, law revision is a comprehensive revision of the law, while the amendment is only a partial or individual amendment. From this point of view, the former is the idea of major repair, while the latter is the idea of minor repair.

He said that judging from public reports, the draft amendment to the Charity Law submitted for deliberation on October 10 this year mainly has new revisions in regulating the behavior of charitable organizations, improving the public fundraising system, strengthening charity promotion measures, strengthening leadership and supervision and management, and regulating individual behavior for help. Among them, the main highlight is to increase the provisions on charitable trusts enjoying tax incentives in accordance with the law, and clarify that the relevant departments of civil affairs, finance, taxation and other relevant departments of the State Council shall formulate specific measures for tax incentives; Support and encourage the use of new technologies to carry out charitable activities, etc.

Regarding the regulation of the operation of charitable organizations and charitable trusts mentioned in the draft amendment, Deng Guosheng believes that, on the one hand, it is conducive to the social organizations that have already been established and more conveniently recognized as charitable organizations; On the other hand, the requirements for the code of conduct of recognized charitable organizations are higher. For example, the information disclosure requirements of charitable organizations, including cooperation with overseas organizations or individuals, are higher; Higher requirements are imposed on charitable organizations' cooperative fundraising with organizations or individuals that do not have public fundraising credentials.

Deng Guosheng mentioned that public fundraising qualifications are one of the bottlenecks restricting the development of charitable organizations. The amendment to the Charity Law has lowered the number of years required for charitable organizations to qualify for public fundraising, and has made certain progress, making it easier for more charitable organizations to obtain public fundraising qualifications to a certain extent. It can be seen that this amendment, very cautious, did not take a one-step idea, but jogged in small steps.

Strengthen the balance between risk and return of Internet fundraising platforms

Tao Chuanjin, a professor at the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Beijing Normal University, believes that in recent years, the most prominent phenomenon in the development of philanthropy in China has been the rise of Internet fundraising platforms. The rise of Internet fundraising platforms in the field of social welfare has played an important role in the development of public welfare organizations and projects.

In an interview with Chinanews.com, he pointed out that these platforms can not only raise funds, but also provide opportunities for public fundraising. Through the Internet fundraising platform, non-profit organizations can raise funds more conveniently and openly to promote the development of public welfare undertakings. However, Internet fundraising platforms also bring some problems and challenges that need to be properly faced and solved to promote their better development.

The draft amendment to the Charity Law, submitted for review last year, responds to new issues in the development of charity. A new special chapter will be set up to comprehensively regulate and promote charitable activities in major emergencies. Adapt to the development reality of "Internet + charity", and strengthen the supervision of online charity. In view of the rapid growth of online personal help activities and the related problems brought about, add relevant provisions to fill legal gaps.

The draft amendment submitted for deliberation stipulates that the civil affairs department under the State Council designates an Internet public fundraising service platform to provide services for charitable organizations carrying out public fundraising through the Internet, and further regulates individuals' conduct of seeking help, clarifying that where individuals have family economic difficulties due to illness or other reasons, and release information for help to the public, the helper and the information publisher shall be responsible for the authenticity of the information, and the personal help-seeking network service platform shall bear the obligation to check information.

Tao Chuanjin pointed out that Internet fundraising platforms have played an important role in providing funding sources for public welfare, but there are still risks and imperfections. The draft amendment to the Charity Law will standardize the development of Internet fundraising platforms, avoid disorderly development, ensure that Internet public welfare undertakings balance risks and benefits in the process of development, and solve problems and loopholes therein, so as to better serve public welfare undertakings.

Philanthropy is moving towards high-quality development

Deng Guosheng said that at present, China's philanthropy is shifting from the quantitative expansion of the past to high-quality development. However, it also faces many challenges, including the construction of legal and regulatory systems for the development of philanthropy, the healthy development of charitable organizations, the cultivation of charitable culture, and the construction of charitable talents. Based on the current reality of philanthropy, he suggests:

First, a leading group for philanthropy was established at the national level. From the experience at home and abroad, in order to accelerate the development of a certain undertaking, plan or project, it is first necessary to establish a leading group, which will coordinate all relevant ministries and commissions, so as to more effectively coordinate and integrate resources, and jointly promote and play the role of the third allocation.

Second, improve the preferential tax policies for charitable trusts. At present, many preferential tax policies on charitable donations have been introduced in China, which have played a role in encouraging the donations of enterprises and high-income groups. However, the preferential tax policies of charitable trusts in China have not been implemented, so that since the promulgation of the Charity Law, only 700 charitable trusts have been filed in China, and the total scale of assets is only 36.<> billion yuan, far less than expected, and it is necessary to introduce preferential tax policies with strong incentives.

Third, a large number of charitable organizations are cultivated and developed. Charitable organizations are the key to the development of philanthropy, and it is imperative to give priority to solving the registration of charitable organizations. Although the 2016 Opinions of the State Office on Reforming the Management System of Social Organizations and Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of Social Organizations clearly stated that the direct registration of public interest charitable social organizations should be steadily promoted, the delay in promulgating the Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Organizations has made it difficult for charitable organizations to implement direct registration. It is recommended that the "Regulations on the Registration and Management of Social Organizations" be promulgated as soon as possible to solve the dilemma of difficulty in registering charitable organizations.

Finally, colleges and universities are actively encouraged to strengthen philanthropic research and talent training. Not only the School of Public Administration is encouraged to set up public welfare and charity courses, but also the School of Business Administration, the School of Social Work and other related disciplines should set up public welfare and charity courses, cultivate students' modern public welfare concepts, and create a professional talent team for the development of China's philanthropy. (End)