Working Regulations of Shanghai Municipal Residents Committees

(Adopted at the 37th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on April 20, 2007)

Article 1

With a view to strengthening the construction of residents committees, serving the residents, improving residents self-government capabilities and levels, promoting community harmony, according to the Organization Law of Urban Residents Committees of the Peoples Republic of China and relevant laws and administrative regulations, these Regulations are formulated in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2

These Regulations shall apply to the organization operation, performance of self-government functions, assistance in the relevant work and the guarantee mechanism etc. of the residents committees in the administrative areas of this Municipality.

Article 3

Residents committees are mass organizations of self-government at grassroots for their self-management, self-education, self-service, self supervision, which shall organize residents to assist the governments and their agencies to carry out their work.

Article 4

The Party leadership, governmental guidance, self-government according to law, social participation, serving the residents shall be adhered in the work of the residents committees so as to form a joint force for the administration of the residents areas.

Article 5

The grassroots organizations of the Communist Party of China in the residential areas, shall carry out their work in accordance with the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, exert the core function of leadership, lead and support the residents committees in their exercise of functions and powers; in accordance with the Constitution and laws, support and protect the residents to carry out self-government activities, establish and perfect the governance systems of residential areas.

Article 6

The municipal and district peoples governments shall give guidance in the work of the residents committees, and their functional departments shall give support and assistance to the residents committees in their work.

The sub-district offices and town/township peoples governments shall give specific guidance, support and assistance to the residents committees in their organizational construction, system construction, team building and facility construction.

Article 7

The State organs, social organizations, enterprises and institutions shall support the local residents committees in their work and jointly participate in the construction and governance of residential areas via various forms.

Article 8

The residents committees are encouraged to innovate in the form of services, expand the contents of self-government, and constantly improve residents capabilities and levels of self-government according to the actual conditions of their residential areas and the needs of their residents.

Article 9

The residents committees shall, in accordance with the living conditions of residents, the size of the population, the allocation of public services and other factors, be set up in accordance with the principle of convenience for the residents’ self-government, service and management.

The establishment, revocation and scale adjustment of the residents committees shall be submitted by the sub-district offices or the town/township peoples governments and approved by the district peoples governments.

Article 10

The members of the residents committees include directors, deputy directors, and members, who shall be elected according to law by voting residents in their residential areas.

The members of the residents committees shall observe the Constitution, laws, regulations and the State policies; they shall be fair and honest in performing their official duties, enthusiastically serve the residents, and accept the supervision of the residents.

The residents committees shall set up a number of subcommittees according to the needs in the work of peoples mediation, comprehensive management, public health and family planning, social security, culture and sports, environment and property management, carry out self-government activities according to the law, and assist the governments and their agencies to do their work well.

The residents committees may set up a number of residents groups to carry out residents’ self-government activities in buildings, alleys and other forms of organization.

Article 11

The residents committees shall be responsible for and report their work to the residents meetings.

The residents meetings shall be attended by representatives of all residents over the age of eighteen, or representatives of each household, and may also be attended by two or three representatives elected by each residents group. The residents meetings shall be held at least once a year. Where resident meetings are to be held, the residents shall be notified in advance, and the issues and agenda for the meetings shall be announced.

The residents meetings shall be held and presided over by the residents committees in accordance with the law, and the following matters shall be discussed and decided:

1.formulating the residents self-government regulations and residents convention;

2.considering the annual work plans and reports of the residents committees;

3.appraising the work of the residents committees and their members; and

4.other important matters concerning the interests of all residents.

The residents meetings shall have the right to replace and elect other members of the residents committees in accordance with the law, and cancel or alter inappropriate decisions of the residents committees.

The residents committees and their members and residents shall abide by the resolutions made by the residents meetings.

Article 12

The residents committees, with the aim of serving the residents, undertake the following major tasks:

1. organizing residents to formulate and abide by residents self-government regulations and residents convention, hold residents meetings, implement the decisions of the residents meetings, and carrying out self-management, self-education, self service and self supervision;

2. mediating civil disputes;

3. guiding and supervising the work of the owners committees, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the residents and owners;

4. supporting and guiding the social organizations, enterprises, institutions, volunteers and other social forces in the residential areas to participate in the governance of residential areas, and to carry out community consultations;

5. assisting the governments and their dispatched offices in accordance with the law to do well the work of public service, public administration and public security related to the interests of the residents;

6. organizing the residents to evaluate the work of sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments and the functional departments of the district peoples government and the relevant public service units in the residential areas;

7. reflecting the opinions, requests and suggestions of the residents to the sub-district offices and the town/township peoples governments; and

8.  other tasks prescribed by laws and regulations.

Article 13

The residents committees shall, in the light of the actual circumstances of the residents areas, organize residents to formulate residents’ self-government regulations and residents convention, which shall be implemented after the discussion and adoption by the residents meetings. Residents’ self-government regulations and residents conventions shall be submitted to the sub-district offices or the town/township peoples governments for the record.

The residents’ self-government regulations shall prescribe the basic organizational matters concerning the organizational construction of the residents committees, the system of residents self-government, and the basic norms of conduct, supervision and evaluation. The residents’ conventions shall regulate the specific matters concerning self-management, self-education, self service and self supervision in the residential areas.

The contents of the residents’ self-government regulations and the residents conventions shall not contravene the constitution, the laws, the regulations and the State policies.

The residents committees and their members and residents shall abide by the residents’ self-government regulations and the residents conventions.

Article 14

The residents committees shall publicize the constitution, laws, regulations and the State policies, carry out various forms of activities to promote socialist cultural and ideological progress, promote the education of socialist core values, educate the residents to comply with public order and good customs, the residents’ self-government regulations and residents’ conventions, to fulfill their bounded obligations according to law and promote community harmony.

Article 15

The residents committees shall carry out community service activities for the conveniences and benefits of the people, and promote the work of mutual aid service and voluntary service.

Article 16

The residents committees shall, via hearings, coordination meetings, deliberations and other forms, hear the opinions and suggestions of the residents, organize and guide the residents for their orderly participation of self-government affairs when dealing with the public affairs related to the vital interests of the residents.

The residents committees shall establish and improve the formation mechanism of the self-government issues and projects, and extensively collect self-government issues and projects, which shall fully reflect the opinions and suggestions of the residents or resident groups and mass activity teams.

Article 17

The residents committees shall publish the following items in a timely and authentic manner and accept inquiries and supervision of the residents:

1. matters relating to the discussion and decision of the residents meetings and their implementation;

2. matters relating the hearings, coordination meetings and deliberations;

3. the implementation of the results of community consultations;

4. use of funds for the work of residents committees;

5. management and use of funds and materials such as reliefs and subsidies, etc., which are appropriated by governments and donated by the society; and

6. other matters concerning the interests of all residents and the matters that the residents are generally interested in.

The residents committees shall set up fixed bulletin boards of residential affairs in the convenient places for the residents, and may take such forms of publicizing residential affairs as meetings and community information platforms.

Article 18

Sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments shall establish and improve the evaluation mechanisms of residents committees, improve the weights of residents’ evaluation, focus on the residents’ awareness, participation and satisfaction in the evaluation of the work of residents committees and their members.

The residents committees and their members shall accept the democratic appraisal of their performance by the residents meetings and hear the opinions of the residents, and such appraisals and hearings may not be less than once a year.

Article 19

The peoples mediation committees established according to law by residents’ committees shall, on the basis of laws, regulations, State policies and norms of social morality, resolve in a timely manner the conflicts and disputes relating to the residents, promote harmony and stability of the residential areas on a voluntary and equal basis and by ways of persuasion, guidance and other methods

Article 20

The residents committees shall assist the sub-district offices or town/township peoples governments and housing administrative departments to participate well in the establishment of owners committees and their general election, and guide the owners committees to establish and perfect their routine working systems.

Where the owners committees failed to be elected due to objective reasons, the residents committees shall, under the guidance and supervision of the sub-district offices or town/township peoples governments, organize the owners to discuss and decide the public management affairs. The residents committees may also perform temporarily the relative duties of the owners committees when entrusted by the owners meetings. Housing administrative departments shall strengthen their business guidance and services to the residents committees which perform the duties on behalf of the owners committees.

The residents committees shall strengthen the guidance and supervision of the owners committees and guide them to operate in a self-government manner. As to the property management matters concerning the interests of the majority of residents, the residents committees are entitled to urge the owners committees to hold owners meetings according to law, and solicit widely the owners’ opinions and form resolutions.

The owners committees shall cooperate with the residents committees to perform self-government functions in accordance with the law, support the residents committees to carry out their work, accept their guidance and supervision; the owners’ committees shall inform the relevant residents committees of the decisions made by them.

The eligible members of the residents committees may act as members of the owners committees after going through lawful procedures.

Article 21

The residents committees shall guide and supervise the owners’ committees to urge the property services enterprises to perform their property services contracts; where property services enterprise fail to perform their property services contracts or there exist problems in property management issues, the residents committees may report to the sub-district offices or town/township peoples governments and the housing administration departments. After receiving the reports, the sub-district offices or the town/township peoples governments or the housing administrative departments shall timely investigate and deal with them in accordance with the law.

In the residential areas that have not yet hired property services enterprises and have not established owners committees, the residents committees shall organize residents to do well the property management work in public areas.

The residents committees may, in accordance with the law, mediate property management disputes between owners, owners committees and property service enterprises.

Article 22

The residents committees shall support and guide the social organizations and the mass teams, volunteers of life services, charity, cultural activities, dispute mediation etc. within the residential areas to participate in the residential service and management, mobilize enterprises and institutions in the residential areas to open to the residents their resources, fulfill their social responsibilities, jointly participate in the construction and management of the residential areas.

Article 23

The residents committees may, in the forms of joint meetings of residential areas, organize  resident representatives, owners committees, property services enterprises, community police, volunteers and the enterprises and the representatives of the institutions, social organizations and the mass activity teams within the residential areas to carry out democratic consultation, and according to the needs, invite sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments or related functional departments of district peoples governments for their participation.

For discussing and deciding the matters that require the residents committees to implement, the residents committees shall organize the implementation in a timely manner, and shall publicize the implementation results to the residents within the prescribed time limits and subject to their supervision. As to the consultation matters entrusted by the governments or their relevant departments, the consultation results shall be reported to the governments or their relevant departments in a timely manner; and the relevant departments, without justifiable reasons, shall adopt the consultation results, and give feedback in an appropriate manner.

Article 24

The residents committees shall assist the governments and their related agencies to do a good job in social security, employment, social assistance, preferential treatment, public health, family planning, community education, culture and sports, consumer rights and rights protection of the elderly, the disabled, women and minors and other public services.

Article 25

The residents committees shall assist the governments and their dispatched offices in accordance with the law to do a good job in population management, comprehensive management of the residential quarters, community corrections and other public management work.

The residents committees shall organize their members, residents and volunteers to assist in the comprehensive urban grid management, upon finding in the residential areas the problems of urban management, market supervision, community safety, timely dissuade the wrongdoers, and report to the sub-district or town/township comprehensive urban grid management platforms, support and assist the agencies of urban management law enforcement, market supervision, public security and other law enforcement and management agencies to deal with such problems according to law.

Article 26

The residents committees shall organize the residents to participate in the comprehensive management of social security, carry out mass prevention and treatment, assist the governments and their agencies to do a good job in security publication of fire safety, production safety, food and drug safety, disaster relief and other areas of public security in the residential areas, and shall promptly report the security risks found.

Article 27

The municipal and district peoples governments shall establish the access management mechanisms for the residents committees to assist in the administrative matters, make lists of administrative matters for the assistance of the residents committees according to law; the residents committees are entitled to refuse to handle the administrative matters which are not on the lists. The functional departments of the municipal and district peoples governments shall not transfer the matters within the scope of their duties to the residents committees, or directly assign the tasks to the residents committees.

The administrative departments concerned shall provide the residents committees with the necessary funds, working conditions and information support, and conduct business guidance for the administrative matters that are assisted by the residents committees according to law.

Article 28

The municipal and district peoples governments shall establish access management mechanisms for the residents committees to issue certificates for certain matters, make lists of matters for the residents committees to issue certificates within their scopes, include in the scopes of the listed matters those requiring the residents committee to issue certificates clearly prescribed by laws and regulations and needed by the approved government departments, enterprises and institutions and social organizations.

For the matters within the lists, the residents committees shall issue certificates in accordance with the law; the residents committees shall have the right to refuse to issue certificates for the matters other than those on the lists.

Article 29

The opinions of the residents committees shall be heard for the work assessment of the sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments, and the dispatched offices by the functional departments of the district peoples governments, and their related staff members. The residents committees may organize the residents to conduct appraisals, and the appraisal opinions shall be the important basis for the assessment.

The residents committees may organize the residents to conduct appraisals on the services of the public services units including water supply, electricity, gas, environmental sanitation, landscaping and others, and send the appraisal opinions to the relevant administrative departments as the basis for the management or evaluation of the relevant units.

Article 30

The residents committees shall collect the opinions and suggestions of the residents via various forms, timely coordinate and handle the problems reported by the residents; where the problems defy coordination and handling, they shall be reported to the sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments or the relevant government departments in a timely manner.

Article 31

The members of the residents committees shall conscientiously study the laws, regulations and State policies, study social work knowledge, master the methods of doing mass work, and continuously improve their abilities to serve the residents and handle affairs according to law.

The municipal and district departments of civil affairs, sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments shall, according to the managerial practice of the residential areas, help the residents committees and their members to improve their abilities of organizing and guiding the residents to conduct self-government by strengthening the classified guidance, summing up and promoting experiences, and carrying out professional training.

Article 32

The residents committees shall establish and improve their work systems for the reception, contact and service of the residents, and ensure the operation of their work and facilitate the masses by way of flexible working hours, rotational work cycles during holidays according to the actual needs.

Article 33

The office expenses of the residents’ committees, the community service funds and self-government project funds, and office space and public service facilities of the residential areas, shall be guaranteed by the district or town/township peoples governments in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality.

The municipal finance and civil affairs departments shall, in accordance with the principles of standard management, diligence and thrift, high efficiency and convenience, openness and transparency, develop and improve the regulations for the use and management of the funds for the residents committees, so as to facilitate the residents committees to carry out their work.

Article 34

The eligible members of the residents committees may be appointed as community workers in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Municipality and enjoy the corresponding treatment and guarantee.

The sub-district offices and the town/township peoples governments may arrange for a certain number of community workers to assist the residents committees to carry out their work in accordance with the needs of the service and management of the residential areas.

Article 35

The sub-district offices, town/township peoples governments shall, by way of government purchase of services, encourage and support the introduction of professional social organizations into the residential areas, such organizations may provide professional services of legal aid, culture and sports, social work and others to meet the diverse needs of the residents under the organization and supervision of the residents committees

Article 36

The municipal and district peoples governments shall establish and improve the information platforms of integrated management and service of the residential areas, collect and integrate the basic data of the residential areas, realize the sharing of information resources, and provide support for improving the service and management efficiency of the residential areas.

The residents committees are encouraged to expand their channels and platforms of self-government by the use of information technology.

The public security, housing management, planning and land resources, civil affairs, human resources and social security departments shall provide the basic information of population, housing and other basic information and related information of government services to the residents committees, and support the residents committees to carry out their work.

Article 37

Where the residents committees fail to perform their obligations in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations, they shall be corrected by the residents meetings; if necessary, they shall be ordered to make correction by the sub-district offices or the town/township peoples governments.

Article 38

Where the municipal and district peoples government departments, in violation of these regulations, transfer the matters within the scopes of their responsibility to the residents committees, or directly assign tasks to the residents committees, the peoples governments at the corresponding levels shall have correction made and circulate the criticism; where the circumstances are serious, warnings or demerits shall be given to the persons in charge and directly responsible and other directly responsible persons.

Article 39

These Regulations shall be effective as of July 1, 2017.