Notice on Eliminating the Breeding Grounds for Illegal Social Organizations and Cleansing the Ecological Space for Social Organizations

Promulgation Date: 2021-3-20
Title: Notice on Eliminating the Breeding Grounds for Illegal Social Organizations and Cleansing the Ecological Space for Social Organizations
Document Number:民发〔2021〕25号
Expiration date: 
Promulgating Entities: Ministry of Civil Affairs, CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Central Organization Department, et al.
Source of text: http://www.mca.gov.cn/article/xw/tzgg/202103/20210300032709.shtml

With the continuous deepening of reform and opening, the role of social organizations in our nation's economic and social development has become more and more obvious, and the ecological environment of social organizations has become increasingly clear. However, it must also be noted that at times, illegal social organization activities still occur, and their breeding grounds still exist; motivated by diverse interests, some illegal social organizations continuously change their tactics to confuse the truth with fiction and deceive. In order to protect themselves with a cloak of legality, some illegal social organizations do everything they can to pass themselves off by linking to the name of a legal organization or carry out activities in conjunction with them; After being shutdown offline, some change their names and continue activities online through more convenient methods and in more hidden forms; some party members and cadres have weak political awareness and casually provide illegal social organizations with a "platform" or "mouthpiece", and these all pollute the ecology and environment of social organizations, increasing the difficulty of combatting and rectifying illegal social organizations. Notice of relevant work requirements is hereby given as follows in order to further increase the force of the fight for rectification, to fully eradicate the breeding grounds for illegal social organizations and purify the ecological space for social organizations.

1. Enterprises, public institutions, and social organizations must not be associated with illegal social organizations. Enterprises, public institutions, and social organizations should conscientiously reject illegal social organizations, and must not connect with illegal social organizations to carry out activities or facilitate their activities; they must not participate in establishing illegal social organizations or join them; must not accept illegal organizations as branch or subordinate institutions, must not provide illegal social organizations with the use of accounts or otherwise facilitate them, and must not conduct false publicity for illegal social organizations. The departments for civil affairs are to strictly and heavily punish social organizations that do not comply with the requirements above and publicly announce information on the punishments including the list of operations management units and the persons responsible for the social organization (legal representatives), and enter them into the directory of social organizations with abnormal activities or the list of untrustworthy social organizations with serious violations. Based on leads provided by the departments for civil affairs, the departments such as for market oversight and management are to strictly investigate and address enterprises violating the requirements described above, and announce information on their punishments through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System in accordance with law. For violations of the above requirements by other units, the regulatory department above them is to order corrections and strictly punish the responsible persons in accordance ith law.

2. Party members and cadres must not participate in the activities of illegal social organizations. Party members and cadres (including retired cadres) should participate in all kinds of social organization activities in accordance with laws and regulations, and heighten their awareness of screening and vigilance, and they must not participate in any activities carried out by illegal social organizations and must not give illegal social organizations a 'platform' or 'mouthpiece'. Violations of related provisions and suspected violations of discipline or violations and crimes abusing public office are to be transferred to the discipline supervision organs and the organizations' human resources departments to be strictly punished in accordance with rules, discipline, and law.

3. News media must not publicize and report the activities of illegal social organizations. All television stations, radio stations, newspapers, integrated media centers, magazines, and other news media and their websites and new media, should verify the identity and legality of social organizations based on information from the civil affairs departments before reporting their activities, and must not publicize and report the activities of illegal social organizations, and must not post their advertisements; and book publishing units must not publish publicity pamphlets or books and the like for illegal social organizations. Where the requirements above are violated, the departments for publicity are to order immediate corrections and strictly punish the relevant persons responsible in accordance with laws and regulations.

4. All types of public service facilities and venues must not facilitate illegal social organizations. The operating or management units for trains, high-speed rail, airplanes, ships, buses, and other vehicles, as well as airports, docks, bus and train stations, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, stadiums, and other places, as well as resident (village) committees, residential community management units, and so forth must not issue pamphlets, post promotional posters, or play electronic advertisements for illegal social organizations; conference centers and exhibition centers of all kinds must not provide exhibition space for illegal social organizations; municipal landmarks, office buildings, and other service venues must not provide activity or office space for illegal social organizations. Where the requirements above are violated, the regulatory department above them is to order immediate corrections and strictly punish the related persons responsible. Where the civil affairs departments discover this kind of situation, they are to promptly report it to the regulatory department above.

5. Internet enterprises must not facilitate illegal social organizations online activities. All Internet enterprises should strengthen the management of their platforms, strengthen the verification of users' true identity information and strengthen the verification review and management of information released on the platform, and must not provide services for illegal social organizations' online activities. Where the requirements above are violated, the internet information departments and telecommunications regulatory departments are to order them to seal or stop illegal social organizations' public accounts on all platforms and their websites in accordance with law and their duties, and on the basis of the civil affairs departments' findings and opinions; and where corrections are refused are to give punishments in accordance with law.

6. Financial institutions must not facilitate illegal social organizations' activities. Financial institutions should strengthen the identification of social organization clients, the management of domestic and foreign currency accounts, and the preservation of transaction records. Financial services such as opening bank accounts must not be provided to those entered on the civil affairs departments' list of illegal social organizations. The People's Bank of China, foreign exchange bureaus, and other regulatory departments shall address related violations of financial institutions in accordance with laws and regulations.

7. Further increase the costs of violating the law for illegal social organizations. Relevant departments should explore the establishment and completion of credit restraint mechanisms for the persons responsible for illegal social organizations, promoting the implementation of credit regulation and punishments, and research the drafting of measures for being stricter for the responsible persons of illegal social organizations in areas such as investment and finance, import and export, border entry and exit, bidding and tendering, receipt of awards, production and business permitting, and professional credentialing.

Attention should be paid to guiding the public to raise awareness of prevention. Before the public participates in activities organized by social organizations, they should log on to the “China Social Organization Government Sevices Platform” or the "Dynamic China Social Organization" WeChat public account, to verify the truthfulness of a social organizations' identity and its legality by searching for its name, to prevent being tricked.

Every region and every department should further increase their political stance, strengthen responsibility and willingness to act, strengthen organization leadership, solidifying responsibility at all levels, giving full play the advantages of their respective functions, and quickly employing a series of precise and forceful actions in accordance with this Notice, to both take hold of vertical coordination and also to strengthen joint action across departments, ensuring the implementation of the struggle for rectification, fully performing duties to eliminate the breeding grounds for illegal social organizations, and contributing to the creation of a peaceful environment for the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.