AP Report Provides a Perspective on China’s New Policy on Nonprofits Registration

We reported in our previous post that Chinese government would abolish the double-track registration for nonprofits. The report from Associated Press provided some new perspective, which is indeed thought-provoking.

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The key question is where to draw the line among the qualified organizations. While the government acknowledges the important role nonprofits will play in the economy and the society, the new policy only applies to four categories of social organizations, which are trade associations and membership organizations, science and technology organizations, nonprofit and charity organizations and community service organizations.  “But the government’s apparent gesture of inclusion appears unlikely to improve working conditions for organizations involved in areas officials deem sensitive, which can range from AIDS prevention to legal activism. Such groups, many of which are not properly registered, are frequently harassed by tax authorities and the police.” the AP reports speculates.  It continues to say that “Those four categories seem to exclude some of the more sensitive groups, such as those working to expose environmental pollution or expand the rule of law.”   Although it has been clearly stated that the new policy is not applicable to religion and law based organizations and the representative office of overseas NGOs in China, it’s tricky to figure out whether the organizations as mentioned above in the AP report could benefit from the new policy.  We may argue these organizations can fall into the categories of charity organization or community service organizations, but the fine print of all Chinese government policy reads “The government reserves the right of final explanation.”

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The devil is in the details.  As the policy comes into effect in the next few months, we will have a better idea on how ready the government is to embrace nonprofits.

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Please read CHINA SAYS IT WILL GIVE NONPROFITS A GREATER ROLE, by Gillian Wong, March 13, 2013, Associated Press.

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