[editorial] the new charity law is "downward compatible" and regulates personal online help platforms
2024-09-07
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the "charity law of the people's republic of china" was amended on december 29, 2023 and will come into effect on september 5, 2024. september 5 this year happens to be the ninth "charity day" in my country.
as supporting regulations for the new charity law, the ministry of civil affairs announced the revised measures for the recognition of charitable organizations and measures for the administration of public fundraising by charitable organizations on the 5th, which strictly regulate the recognition standards for charitable organizations. on the same day, the ministry of civil affairs, the cyberspace administration of china, the ministry of industry and information technology, the ministry of public security, and the state administration of financial supervision also jointly announced measures for the administration of the personal help-seeking online service platform.
the revised charity law has achieved comprehensive regulation and supervision of fundraising by charitable organizations and personal online requests for help, especially bringing personal online requests for help within the scope of supervision, filling previous legal gaps and achieving "two-legged" development.
it should be noted that the term "charity fundraising" in daily speech is not a legal term. according to the provisions of the charity law, only charitable organizations can carry out activities to raise property based on charitable purposes in accordance with the law and accept corresponding supervision. therefore, charitable organizations occupy a core position in organizing activities and raising charitable donations. they must also keep a tight control on the access of charitable organizations, strictly regulate their fundraising activities, and strengthen the full transparency of the fundraising, savings, interest, operation, maintenance, and use of charitable funds in an all-round and full-process manner to win social credibility.
without publicity, it is hard to talk about credibility; without punishment, it is hard to talk about responsibility. on the one hand, the new "charity law" clearly requires "the civil affairs department of the state council to establish and improve a unified charity information platform and provide charity information release services free of charge", forcing charitable organizations to disclose key information such as fundraising costs; on the other hand, the "charity law" also stipulates penalties for charitable organizations' improper interest transfer behaviors such as designating or covertly designating donors and stakeholders as beneficiaries, as well as serious dereliction of duty such as failure to perform duties, failure to distribute charity materials in a timely manner, or causing major losses to charity property due to poor management, etc., and sets a high-voltage line.
in recent years, the number of online service platforms for individuals seeking help has grown wildly. although they have played a certain role in helping seriously ill patients, they have also caused a lot of chaos: some help-seekers have falsely reported information and relied on "telling stories" to deceive the public's love, and some platforms have turned seeking help into an ugly "business", which has seriously damaged the reputation of public welfare. fundamentally speaking, it is because the "help" behavior on these platforms does not belong to the charitable fundraising stipulated in the traditional "charity law" and has always been in the gray area of the law.
the new charity law is "downward compatible" and includes personal online help-seeking within the scope of regulation, and clarifies that "platforms engaged in personal help-seeking online services must be designated by the ministry of civil affairs of the state council." this is both supervision and service. this time, the ministry of civil affairs, the cyberspace administration of china and other departments jointly announced the "administrative measures for personal help-seeking online service platforms" (hereinafter referred to as the "measures"), which formally stipulates the operating regulations, capital flows and legal responsibilities of personal help-seeking online platforms. the "measures" require that the platform should establish an audit team to verify the authenticity of the help-seeking information; except for situations where the platform charges service fees and the donated funds cannot be returned by the original route, the donated funds collected in the special deposit account can only be transferred to the help-seeker himself or the hospital account provided by him.
charity is a cause that requires conscience, and conscience needs to be defended by law and supervised through openness. charitable organizations should consciously accept stricter supervision, and individuals seeking help online should bid farewell to the gray area, promote mutual trust and mutual assistance through standardized platform operations, and safeguard charity innovation with the rule of law.
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