Legislature opens door for advice on draft law on charity
Legislators and officials attend the event with guests of the city's legislature.
Nine professionals from Hong Kong and Macau gave their advice on Monday on the draft law on charity to the city's legislature, the Shanghai People's Congress.
The event was held as an open-door event of the city's legislature to bridge different sections of society with legislators.
The draft law on charity, the first in Shanghai, has stipulations on the participation of charity organizations in public emergencies, fundraising on the Internet and soliciting help from individuals, among others.
A few of the professionals who attended the event have backgrounds in charity activities.
Shum Yam Wa, president and chief executive officer of Heal Force Bio-meditech Holdings Limited, suggested supervision over the financial flows of the charity sector be strengthened.
"In Hong Kong, the law stipulates that charity organizations that raise money through emergency programs should acquire a permit and make it public," he said. "Similar rules could be taken into consideration here."
Tax deduction rules for businesses that are involved in charity actions need to be further specified under new demands from society, Shum said.
"During the floods in Henan Province this year, our company responded to the needs of local hospitals there and provided free replacements of their medical appliances," he said. "Such means of charity could also be incentivized."
Awareness of charity's meaning has yet to be raised among the general public here, which should be promoted in the draft law, Shum said.
Cheung Yikman, vice chairman of the Hong Kong China Educational Fund and executive director of the Hong Kong Financial Services Institute, also stressed the necessity to increase charity-related education among the public, especially schoolchildren.
He also suggested the establishment of a payment system for professionals in the charity sector to encourage people to work in it, a stipulation regarding investment activities of charity organizations and facilitating charitable donations from outside the Chinese mainland.
Ho Cheung Ming, deputy chief executive of Bank of East Asia (China), advised that Shanghai push for a share of lists of registered charitable organizations across the country.
"My company joined the charitable action of making donations to people in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic last year and to people in Henan after the floods hit this year, and we hope we can connect ourselves to charitable organizations out of town more efficiently," he said.
The professionals from Hong Kong and Macau also visited the conference hall of the Standing Committee of Shanghai People's Congress and were given a brief on the work of the legislature by Gao Deyi, chairperson of the overseas Chinese, ethnic and religious affairs committee.
