Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Voluntary Service

(November 15, 2019)

Article 1

With a view to advocating a voluntary service spirit featuring devotion, friendliness, mutual aid, and progressiveness, guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of volunteers, voluntary service organizations, and voluntary service recipients, encouraging and standardizing voluntary service, and developing voluntary service so as to foster and practice core socialist values and promote progress in social civilization, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Regulations on Voluntary Service and relevant laws and administrative rules and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2

These Regulations apply to the voluntary service activities and related activities conducted or initiated within the administrative area of this Municipality.

Article 3

Voluntary service mentioned in these Regulations means the public welfare activities that do not aim at making remuneration and provide service and help for other people or society with the volunteers’ intellect, physical strength, skills, etc.

A volunteer mentioned in these Regulations means an individual person engaging in voluntary service activities.

A volunteer service organization mentioned in these Regulations means a legally-established non-profit organization that aims to provide voluntary service.

Article 4

Voluntary service activities shall follow the principle of willingness, equality, honesty and lawfulness.

Article 5

This Municipality encourages voluntary service for such social groups and individuals as the aged, minors, the disabled, the unemployed in difficulty and in need of help; it advocates voluntary service in such fields as education, science, culture, public health, physical culture, and environmental protection, as well as in community service, emergency aid, and public welfare activities.

The whole society shall respect volunteers and their voluntary service.

Article 6

State organs, social groups, enterprises, public institutions and other organizations shall support voluntary service activities.

Schools shall cultivate voluntary service awareness in ideological and moral education for adolescents, and encourage college and secondary school students to participate in voluntary service activities suiting their own characteristics.

Radios, televisions, newspapers, websites and other media shall actively publicize voluntary services activities.

This Municipality makes March 5 China’s Volunteers Service Day, and during the week of each year, it makes special effort to publicize and conduct voluntary service activities and to advocate and carry forward the spirit of voluntary service.

Article 7

The municipal and district people’s governments shall incorporate voluntary service into the planning for national economic and social development, rationally arrange funds necessary for volunteer service, create platforms for voluntary service, and support and promote the development of voluntary service.

The town/township people’s governments and the sub-district offices shall, according to the actual circumstances, support and help voluntary service in terms of funds and places within their respective administrative area.

Article 8

The municipal and district spiritual civilization development commissions shall strengthen unified leadership, establish and perfect a coordinating mechanism led by the general office of the spiritual civilization development commission and participated in by relevant departments and units, so as to make overall planning for the development of voluntary service in their own administrative area, coordinate and guide the relevant departments, units and non-governmental forces to conduct voluntary service, and supervise and check the work, summarize and popularize the work experience, and commend and publicize advanced models.

Article 9

The municipal and district civil affairs departments shall be responsible for the administration of the voluntary service within their respective area, formulate policies and measures to promote the development of voluntary service, build teams of volunteers, register voluntary service organizations, standardize voluntary service activities, and investigate and punish illegal acts.

The government departments of development and reform, finance, human resources and social security, education, science and technology, culture and tourism, health, emergency management, ecological environment, judicial administration, market supervision, etc. shall, according to their respective duties and functions, be responsible for the work related to voluntary service.

Trade unions, communist youth leagues, women’s federations, and other people’s organizations or mass organizations shall do the corresponding work on voluntary service within their respective duties.

Article 10

The municipal voluntary service organization shall support the development of various voluntary service organizations, do a good job in guiding and serving them, strengthen self-discipline of each industry, report the requirements of each industry, promote exchanges between industries, protect the legitimate rights and interests of its member organizations, so as to promote the development of voluntary service.

Article 11

Volunteers may register by themselves, or register through a voluntary service organization.

Article 12

A voluntary service organization shall provide voluntary service according to its articles of association.

When recruiting volunteers, the voluntary service organization shall respect the volunteers’ own will, arrange for them to engage in corresponding voluntary service activities according to their time and abilities, and shall provide them with the relevant information and the conditions and guarantees for their safety, sanitation, etc.

A voluntary service organization shall help volunteers with their registration, truthfully record such basic personal information as their identities, service skills, service time and contact information, etc.; and shall not disclose such information to a third party without the volunteers’ consent.

Article 13

Volunteers shall have the civil-conduct capacity appropriate for their voluntary service activities.

Where minors are organized to participate in voluntary service activities, such activities shall suit their physical and mental characteristics, the organizer shall ensure protective measures for their safety, and obtain their guardians’ consent.

Article 14

Volunteers shall be entitled to the following rights:

1. choosing to participate in voluntary service activities of their own will and according to such conditions as their time and abilities;

2. receiving the information and training relevant to their voluntary service activities;

3. obtaining the necessary conditions or guarantees relevant to their voluntary service activities;

4. giving opinions or suggestions to the voluntary service organization; and

5. other rights as provided for by laws, rules and regulations.

Article 15

Volunteers shall fulfill the following obligations:

1. accepting the voluntary service organization’s guidance and arrangements, fulfilling their commitment of voluntary service, and fulfilling the corresponding tasks;

2. respecting the voluntary service recipients’ will, personality, privacy and other rights;

3. keeping the legally-protected secrets they learn during the voluntary service;

4. not engaging in acts not in conformity with the aims or purposes of the voluntary service by taking advantage of their identity as volunteers; and

5. informing the voluntary service organization promptly in case they cannot continue the voluntary service.

Article 16

A voluntary service organization may determine the voluntary service items according to the application of a unit or individual person that needs voluntary service, or according to the actual needs of society.

Article 17

When recruiting volunteers from among the public, the voluntary service organization shall publish the contents of the voluntary service items along with information about the risks that may arise in the process of the voluntary service.

Article 18

A voluntary service organization may choose volunteers according to the purposes and requirements of the voluntary service and the actual conditions of the individual persons applying to participate in the voluntary service activities.

Article 19

The volunteer, the voluntary service organization, and the volunteer service recipient may, where necessary, sign agreements to clarify each party’s rights and obligations as well as the content, way, time, place, working condition, safety measures, etc. concerning the voluntary service.

When voluntary service organizations or volunteers provide voluntary service to deal with an emergency event, they shall subject themselves to the unified command and coordination of the emergency handling organ appointed by the relevant people’s government.

Article 20

A voluntary service organization shall, according to the needs of the voluntary service, provide relevant training for the volunteers.

Article 21

When a voluntary service organization arranges for volunteers to participate in voluntary service, it shall truthfully record their basic personal information, what they have done during the service, the training they have received, the commendations and awards they have received, the assessment of their performance, etc., and shall, provide the volunteers with truthful documents free of charge to certify their voluntary service.

Article 22

A voluntary service organization may provide appropriate subsidies for the travel expenses, meal allowances and other expenses paid by the volunteers when providing the voluntary service.

Article 23

Generally, a voluntary service organization shall avoid arranging for volunteers to perform service that requires them to assume major administrative or economic responsibilities, or involves big risks of personal injuries.

In special cases where a voluntary service organization arranges for volunteers to perform service that involves major administrative or economic responsibilities, or big risks of personal injuries, a written agreement shall be signed as provided for in Paragraph 1 of Article 19 of these Regulations.

Article 24

A voluntary service organization may, according to its own conditions and the actual needs, buy the corresponding personal insurance for the volunteers.

When arranging for volunteers to provide voluntary service involving safety risks, the voluntary service organization shall buy the necessary personal insurance for the volunteers.

Article 25

No organization or individual person shall use or inappropriately use the name of voluntary service to engage in profitable activities or other activities in violation of the aim of the voluntary service.

Article 26

A volunteer service organization may raise funds to provide voluntary service by such ways as accepting donations or financial aids from society.

Article 27

The funds for voluntary service activities raised by a volunteer service organization shall be used for voluntary service activities, volunteers’ personal accident insurance, subsidies for their travel expenses, meal allowances, etc., and shall not be appropriated for any other use.

The sources and expenses of the funds for the voluntary service shall be open to the public and subject to the supervision of relevant government departments, donators, financial aid providers, and volunteers.

Article 28

This Municipality shall establish and improve a unified platform for voluntary service information, formulate unified standards for information and data connectivity, and integrate voluntary service information and data on the basis of this Municipality’s big data resources platform, in order to realize unified collecting, management and sharing of this Municipality’s voluntary service data.

The information systems of the government departments, voluntary service organizations, and voluntary organizations of various industries shall all be connected to the municipal voluntary service information platform in line with an unified information data standard, which shall, in turn, grant the corresponding administrative power to the relevant departments and organizations so as to achieve data connectivity.

Article 29

This Municipality shall establish and perfect the system of voluntary service statistics and publication, and the municipal civil affairs department shall regularly publish the status quo of the development of the volunteers and voluntary service organizations, the voluntary service activities, etc.

Article 30

When volunteers with a good voluntary service record need voluntary service themselves, they enjoy priority.

When recruiting public servants, employees or students, relevant units are encouraged to preferentially recruit volunteers with a good voluntary service record if their other conditions are equal to other candidates’.

State organs, social groups, enterprises, public institutions, and other organizations and public service agencies are encouraged to provide, in accordance with their own abilities and the actual circumstances, preferential treatment for volunteers with a good voluntary service record.

Article 31

This Municipality shall incorporate voluntary service work into the public activities that promote cultural and ethical progress.

Where volunteers and voluntary service organizations have rendered outstanding performance in voluntary service in this Municipality, the relevant departments shall commend or award them. If it is necessary for the municipal or district people’s government to grant the commendations or awards, the relevant departments may make proposals to the municipal or district people’s government.

Article 32

This Municipality shall establish a mechanism of collecting credit information on voluntary service, and the relevant departments shall include into the municipal public credit information service platform the information on good volunteer service records as well as the volunteers and voluntary service organizations that have been commended or awarded.

Article 33

Where persons or organizations engage in profitable business activities or other activities in violation of these Regulations in the name of voluntary service, the civil affairs department or the market supervision department shall investigate and punish them according to law, and submit the relevant information to the municipal public credit information service platform.

Article 34

When disputes arise in voluntary service activities among volunteers, voluntary service organizations, and voluntary service recipients, the disputes may be settled through consultation among the parties, or be submitted to the industry’s voluntary service organization or the people’s mediation organization for mediation, or be settled through lawsuits.

Article 35

This Municipality encourages and supports state organs, enterprises, public institutions, people’s groups, social organizations, etc. to set up volunteer service teams to provide voluntary service.

When neighborhood committees, villagers’ committees, units that organize public-benefit activities, public service agencies conduct public-benefit activities and need volunteers’ service, they may cooperate with a voluntary service organization so that the latter will recruit volunteers, or they may recruit volunteers by themselves. Where they recruit volunteers by themselves, they shall follow the provisions of these Regulations on how a voluntary service organization shall provide voluntary service.

An organization other than a voluntary service organization may also offer voluntary service within its capability.

An internal voluntary service group approved by a neighborhood committee, a villagers’ committee, or the work unit may also provide voluntary service according to law.

Article 36

These Regulations shall be effective as of June 1, 2009.