Chinese Charity Law

The Chinese Ministry of CivilAffairs is in the process of writing China’s first “Charity Law” and “SocialAid Law.”  According to the China Daily,the ministry submitted its first draft of the charity law to the State Councillast month for review.  Officials expectthat the legislation will be passed by the State Council and the NationalPeople’s Congress, China’s top legislative bodies, within the next one to twoyears.  Chinese authorities have notreleased the drafts for comment at this time, but they intend to do so later toallow for scholarly commentary prior to passing the laws.  The law will cover the rules on charityorganizations, donations, trusts, volunteers’ services and awards.

China’s government is eager to passthe draft into law because “the mechanism, system and idea of China’s charitysector has lagged far behind citizens’ demand” according to Wang Zhenyao,director of the social welfare and charity promotion department under theMinistry of Civil Affairs. 

The China Daily’s reports indicatethat experts and practitioners have a number items that they hope to see in the new legislation.  Among these hopes are a clear definition ofthe nature of charity organizations, standardization of tax policy and internalgovernance requirements for charities, and a provision that allows charities toregister as non-profit organizations. Presently, charities in China must register as for-profit organizations.  The president of China’s largestphilanthropic organization stated that he hopes that charities will be barredfrom affiliation with any particular government department so that they runindependently.

The draft of the “Social Aid Law” hasnoted been reported as submitted to the legislation for review at thistime.  This law is intended to cover theaid system for low-income families, disaster victims, and beggars.

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