Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law of China

· Document Number：Order No. 60 of the President

· Area of Law： Culture Construction Industry

· Level of Authority： Laws

· Date issued：12-25-2016

· Effective Date：03-01-2017

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

Order of the President
(No. 60)
Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law of China, as adopted at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 25, 2016, is hereby issued and shall come into force on March 1, 2017.
President of the People's Republic of China: Xi Jinping
December 25, 2016
Public Cultural Service Guarantee Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 25, 2016)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Construction and Management of Public Cultural Facilities
Chapter III Supply of Public Cultural Services
Chapter IV Guarantee Measures
Chapter V Legal Liabilities
Chapter VI Supplemental Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purposes of strengthening the development of the public cultural service system, enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the people, passing on the excellent traditional Chinese culture, advocating the socialist core values, boosting cultural confidence, promoting the prosperity and development of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, and improving the civilization and quality of the whole nation.
Article 2 For the purpose of this Law, "public cultural service" means any public cultural facility, cultural product, cultural activity or any other relevant service in which the government takes the lead and social resources participate in, and supplied mainly for the purpose of satisfying the basic cultural demand of citizens.
Article 3 Public cultural services shall adhere to the advancement direction of advanced socialist culture, centering on the people, and to the guidance of the socialist core values; and, according to the policy of "all flowers blooming together and all schools of thoughts contending for attention," support the creation and production of excellent public cultural products, and enrich the content of public cultural services.
Article 4 The people's governments at or above the county level shall include public cultural services in their national economic and social development plans at the corresponding levels, according to the requirement of charity, basicness, equality and convenience orientation, strengthen the construction of public cultural facilities, improve the public cultural service system, and improve the effectiveness of public cultural services.
Article 5 The State Council shall, based on the basic cultural demand of citizens and the level of social and economic development, develop and adjust the state guidance standards for basic public cultural services.
The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in accordance with the state guidance standards for basic public cultural services, based on the local actual demand, fiscal affordability and cultural characteristics, develop and adjust the implementation standards of basic public cultural services within their respective administrative regions.
Article 6 The State Council shall establish a comprehensive coordination mechanism of public cultural services so as to guide, coordinate and promote national public cultural services. The cultural department of the State Council shall assume the specific duties of comprehensive coordination.
The local people's governments at various levels shall strengthen the coverall coordination of public cultural services and promote the realization of joint development and sharing.
Article 7 The cultural department of the State Council and the department of press, publication, radio, film and television shall, according to this Law and the duties as set forth by the State Council, be responsible for national public cultural services; and the other relevant departments of the State Council shall, within the scope of their respective duties, be responsible for other relevant public cultural services.
The departments of culture, press, publication, radio, film and television of the local people's governments at and above the county level shall, based on their respective duties, be responsible for the public cultural services within their respective administrative regions, and other relevant departments of the local people's governments at and above the county level shall be responsible for the relevant public cultural services within the scope of their respective duties.
Article 8 The state shall support public cultural services in the old revolutionary base, ethnic, frontier and poverty-stricken regions, and promote the balanced and coordinated development of public cultural services.
Article 9 The people's governments at all levels shall, based on the characteristics and demand of minors, the elderly, the disabled, migrant people, and other groups, provide corresponding public cultural services.
Article 10 The state shall encourage and support the combination of public cultural services with school education, give full play to the social education function of public cultural services, and improve the thoughts, morals and scientific and cultural quality of juvenile people.
Article 11 The state shall encourage and support the utilization of the role of science and technology in providing public cultural services, promote the use of modern information and dissemination technology, improve the scientific quality of the general public and raise the level of public cultural services.
Article 12 The state shall encourage and support international cooperation and exchange in the field of public cultural services.
Article 13 The state shall encourage and support citizens, legal persons and other organizations in participating in public cultural services.
A citizen, legal person or any other organization that has made outstanding contributions to public cultural services shall be commended and rewarded in accordance with the law.
Chapter II Construction and Management of Public Cultural Facilities
Article 14 For the purpose of this Law, "public cultural facilities" means the buildings, venues and equipment used to provide public cultural services, mainly including libraries, museums, cultural centers (stations), galleries, science and technology museums, memorial halls, stadiums, workers' cultural palace, youth palaces, women and children's activity centers, senior citizens' activity centers, township (sub-district) and village (community) basic-level comprehensive cultural service centers, farmers' (employees') libraries, public newspaper billboards (screens), radio and television broadcast transmission coverage facilities, and public digital cultural service sites, etc.
The local people's government at or above the county level shall publish a catalog of public cultural facilities within their respective administrative regions and other relevant information.
Article 15 The local people's government at or above the county level shall include the construction of the public cultural facilities in their urban and rural planning at corresponding level, and, in accordance with the state guidance standards for basic public cultural services and the provincial-level implementation standards of basic public cultural services, based on the level of social and economic development, population, environmental conditions and cultural characteristics, reasonably determine the type, number, size and distribution of public cultural facilities, and develop public cultural facility networks that feature a combination of venue-based services, mobile services and digital services.
To select a public cultural facility site, public comments shall be solicited, and the site shall conform to the functions and characteristics of the public cultural facility and be helpful to playing its role.
Article 16 The construction land for a public cultural facility shall conform to the overall planning on land utilization and urban and rural planning, and be subject to approval according to statutory procedures.
No entity or individual may appropriate the construction land for a public cultural facility or use it for any other purpose. Where, under any special circumstance, the construction land for a public cultural facility needs to be used for any other purpose, the construction land shall be re-selected. The newly selected construction land of the public cultural facility shall be not smaller than the original one.
In the newly built, rebuilt or expanded residential areas, supporting cultural facilities shall be planned and built up in accordance with the relevant provisions and standards issued by the state.
Article 17 The design and construction of a public cultural facility shall conform to the requirement of pragmatism, safety, science, elegance, environmental protection and economy as well as the standards as laid down by the state, and such facility shall have accessible facilities and equipment.
Article 18 The local people's governments at various levels may adopt diverse methods such as constructing, transforming, expanding, jointly constructing, renting, and making use of existing public facilities, strengthen the construction of township (sub-district) and village (community) basic-level comprehensive cultural service centers, promote the unified management and comprehensive utilization of relevant basic-level public facilities, and ensure their normal operation.
Article 19 No entity or individual shall unlawfully demolish a public cultural facility, change the function or purpose of use of a public cultural facility or obstruct the normal operation thereof, encroach upon or misappropriate a public cultural facility, or use a public cultural facility for business operation activities irrelevant to public cultural services.
If it is indeed necessary to demolish a public cultural facility or to change any of its functions or uses by reason of urban or rural construction, such facility shall be reconstructed or transformed in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, and the principle of demolition after construction, or concurrent construction and demolition shall be adhered to. The facility assignment standards and building area, among others, of a reconstructed or transformed public cultural facility shall not be lowered.
Article 20 A management entity of a public cultural facility shall, according to the standards as set forth by the state, assign and upgrade the necessary service contents and equipment, strengthen regular maintenance and management of the public cultural facility, and ensure the normal use and operation of the public cultural facility.
Article 21 A management entity of a public cultural facility shall establish and improve its management system and service specifications, and develop an asset statistics and report system of public cultural facilities and a report system of the supply of public cultural services.
Article 22 A management entity of a public cultural facility shall establish and improve its safety management system, assess the safety of public cultural facilities and public activities, assign safety protection devices and personnel in accordance with the law, and ensure the safety of public cultural facilities and public activities.
Article 23 The people's governments at all levels shall establish an appraisal and assessment system of the utilization efficiency of public cultural facilities with the involvement of the general public, and the management entity of the public cultural facility shall, based on the assessment results, improve its work and improve service quality.
Article 24 The state shall promote management entities of public cultural facilities, including public libraries, museums and cultural centers in, based on their respective functions and orientations, to establish and improve its corporate governance structure, and absorb representatives of relevant sectors, professionals and the general public to participate in the management.
Article 25 The state shall encourage and support citizens, legal persons and other organizations to construct or donate, or cooperate with government departments in constructing public cultural facilities, and encourage citizens, legal persons and other organizations to participate in the operation and management of public cultural facilities in accordance with the law.
Article 26 The public shall, when using a public cultural facility, abide by the public order and treasure such facility, and shall not damage any equipment or any article of such facility.
Chapter III Supply of Public Cultural Services
Article 27 The people's governments at all levels shall make full use of the public cultural facilities, promote the supply and dissemination of excellent public cultural products, and support the launch of campaigns featuring national reading, law popularization, fitness, science popularization, art popularization, and excellent traditional culture inheritance.
Article 28 The local governments at the level of cities divided into districts and counties shall, in accordance with the state guidance standards for basic public cultural services and the implementation standards of basic public cultural services of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, based on the local actual circumstances, develop and issue catalogs of public cultural services within their respective administrative regions and organize the implementation thereof.
Article 29 A public-welfare cultural entity shall improve service items, enrich service contents, create conditions to provide the general public with free or discount artistic performance, display and exhibition, film projection, radio and television shows, reading services, and art trainings, etc., and provide support and assistance for the public to conduct cultural activities.
The state shall encourage commercial cultural entities to provide public cultural products and activities for free or at discounted rates.
Article 30 A basic-level comprehensive cultural service center shall strengthen resource integration, establish and improve its public cultural service network, give full play to the function of overall services, provide the general public with book and newspaper reading, film and television shows, opera performance, law popularization and education, art popularization, science popularization, radio broadcasting, access to the Internet, cultural and sporting activities of the people, and other public cultural services, and, according to the functions and characteristics thereof, adopt measures suitable to local conditions and provide other public services.
Article 31 A public cultural facility shall, based on its functions and characteristics and according to the relevant provisions issued by the state, be open to the public free of charge or at discounted rates.
Where a public cultural facility charges fees for its services, it shall be open to primary and secondary school students regularly on a monthly basis.
Where a public cultural facility charges fees for its services or for the trainings it provides, it shall make a report to the relevant department of the people's government at or above the county level for approval; and the fees collected shall be used for the maintenance and management of such facility and the development of the undertaking, and shall not be used for any other purposes.
The management entity of a public cultural facility shall publish service items and open time; and make timely publication in the case of temporarily suspending services.
Article 32 The State shall encourage and support the opening of the cultural facilities of the government, schools, enterprises and public institutions to the public.
Article 33 The state shall make overall planning on the development of public digital culture, build an interconnected public digital cultural service network with unified standards, establish a public service information database, and realize joint development and sharing of basic-level network services.
The state shall support the development of digital cultural products, and promote the use of the broadband Internet, mobile Internet, radio and television networks and satellite networks in the supply of public cultural services.
The local people's governments at various levels shall strengthen the digitalization and network development of basic-level public cultural facilities, and improve their capacity in providing digitalized and networked services.
Article 34 The local people's governments at various levels shall use various methods and adopt measures suitable to local conditions to provide mobile cultural services.
Article 35 The state shall increase the supply of public cultural products in rural areas such as books, newspapers and magazines, opera, films, radio and television shows, content of internet information, festival activities, and sporting and fitness activities, and promote the equality of urban and rural public cultural services.
Books, newspapers and magazines, films and other public cultural products tailored to rural areas shall conform to the characteristics and demand of the rural areas, and be more targeted and time sensitive.
Article 36 The local people's governments at various levels shall, based on the local actual circumstances, install necessary facilities in public venues with large people flows, regions with relative concentration of migrant workers, and rural areas with relative concentration of women and children whose husbands or parents work in cities, and, by various means, provide convenient and accessible public cultural services.
Article 37 The state shall encourage citizens to participate in public cultural services and conduct sound and civilized cultural and sports activities for the local residents; and the local people's governments at various levels shall provide necessary guidance, support and assistance.
Neighborhood committees and villagers committees shall, based on the demand of residents, conduct cultural and sports activities for the local residents, and assist the local people's governments in conducting the work relating to public cultural services.
State departments, social organizations, enterprises and public institutions shall, based on their respective characteristics and demand, organize cultural and sports activities for the local residents and enrich the cultural life of employees.
Article 38 The local people's governments at various levels shall enhance public cultural services for students, support schools in conducting cultural and sports activities tailored to students, and promote ethic, intelligent, physical and aesthetic education.
Article 39 The local people's governments at various levels shall support the development of basic-level military culture, enrich military cultural and sports activities, and strengthen integration of military and civil culture.
Article 40 The state shall strengthen the supply of cultural products in ethnic languages, enhance the translation of excellent public cultural products to ethnic languages and the dissemination of such translations in ethnic areas, encourage and support the production of ethnic cultural products, and support the conduct of cultural and sports activities with ethnic characteristics.
Article 41 The State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall develop their respective guiding opinions on and catalogs of government procurement of public cultural services. The relevant departments of the State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the guiding opinions and catalogs and based on the actual circumstances, determine the specific items and content of the procurement and make timely publication.
Article 42 The state shall encourage and support citizens, legal persons and other organizations in participating in public cultural services by establishing entities, funding projects, sponsoring activities, providing facilities, donating products and other means.
Article 43 The state shall encourage citizens, legal persons and other organizations to participate in volunteering cultural services.
A management entity of a public cultural facility shall establish a volunteering cultural service mechanism and organize and conduct volunteering cultural services.
The local people's governments at or above the county level shall provide necessary guidance to and support for volunteering cultural services, and establish a management appraisal, education and training, and incentive and guarantee mechanism.
Article 44 An entity or individual shall not take advantage of a public cultural facility, cultural product, cultural activity or any other relevant service to conduct activities that may endanger national security, is detrimental to social and public interests, or otherwise violate any law or regulation.
Chapter IV Guarantee Measures
Article 45 The State Council and the local people's governments at various levels shall, based on the powers and expenditure responsibilities of public cultural services, include the funds for public cultural services in the budget at the corresponding level, and arrange funds necessary for public cultural services.
Article 46 The State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall increase investment and, through revenue distribution and other methods, prioritize financial assistance to old revolutionary base, ethnic, frontier and poverty-stricken regions in conducting public cultural services.
The state shall encourage and support economically developed regions in providing assistance to old revolutionary base, ethnic, frontier and poverty-stricken regions in public cultural services.
Article 47 A public cultural facility which is open free of charge or at discounted rates shall be subsidized according to the regulations as issued by the state.
Article 48 The state shall encourage private capital to make investment in public cultural services, and expand the source channels of funds for public cultural services.
Article 49 The state shall encourage and support citizens, legal persons and other organizations in providing public cultural services by means of government procurement of services and other measures.
Article 50 Where a citizen, legal person or any other organization donates property used for public cultural services through a public-welfare social organization or a people's government at or above the county level or a department thereof, it shall be entitled to tax incentives.
The state shall encourage the establishment, through donation, of public cultural service funds specially used for public cultural services.
Article 51 The local people's governments at various levels shall, based on the functions, tasks and targeted population of public cultural facilities, reasonably establish public cultural service positions and assign corresponding specialized personnel.
Article 52 The state shall encourage and support specialized cultural personnel, university graduates and volunteers in conducting public cultural service work at the basic level.
Article 53 The state shall encourage and support citizens, legal persons and other organizations in establishing social organizations in the field of public cultural services in accordance with the law, and promoting society-oriented and specialized development of public cultural services.
Article 54 The state shall support the theoretical research of public cultural services, and enhance the education and training of multiple-layer specialized talents.
Article 55 The people's governments at or above the county level shall establish and improve their supervision and statistics report system of public cultural service appropriation, strengthen performance appraisal, and ensure that all appropriations are used for public cultural services. No entity or individual may embezzle or misappropriate the public cultural service appropriations.
An audit department shall, in accordance with law, exercise strict supervision over the public cultural service appropriations through auditing.
Article 56 The people's governments at all levels shall strengthen the supervision and inspection of public cultural service work, establish a soliciting and feedback system of public cultural demand and an appraisal and assessment system of public cultural services with participation by the general public, and set appraisal results as basis for the determination of subsidies or rewards.
Article 57 The people's governments at all levels and relevant departments shall publicly disclose information on public cultural services in a timely manner and voluntarily accept social supervision.
A news media outlet shall vigorously publicize and cover public cultural services and strengthen supervision by public opinion.
Chapter V Legal Liabilities
Article 58 Where a local people's government or a relevant department of a people's government at or above the county level fails to perform its functions to guarantee public cultural services in violation of this Law, its superior department or the supervisory department shall order it to take a corrective action within a time limit; and if the circumstances are serious, disciplinary action shall be taken against the persons directly in charge and other directly liable persons.
Article 59 Where a local people's government or a relevant department of a people's government at or above the county level commits any of the following acts as in violation of this Law, its superior department or the supervisory department shall order it to take corrective actions within a time limit; and if the circumstances are serious, disciplinary action shall be taken against the persons directly in charge and other directly liable persons:
(1) Embezzling or misappropriating public cultural service funds.
(2) Demolishing, embezzling or misappropriating a public cultural facility, or change the function or purpose of use thereof, or obstructing the normal operation thereof.
(3) Failing to reconstruct a public cultural facility pursuant to this Law.
(4) Abusing powers, neglecting duties or practicing favoritism or fraud.
Article 60 Where the construction land of a public cultural facility is appropriated or used for any other purpose as in violation of this Law, the land department and the urban and rural planning department of the local people's government at or above the county level shall, according to their respective duties, order the violator to take corrective actions within a time limit; and if the violator fails to take corrective actions within a time limit, the department which made the decision shall conduct mandatory enforcement in accordance with the law, or apply to the people's court in accordance with the law for mandatory enforcement.
Article 61 Where a management entity of a public cultural facility violates this Law and falls under any of the following circumstances, the competent department thereof shall order it to take corrective actions within a time limit; and if a serious consequence is caused, disciplinary action shall be taken against the persons directly in charge and other directly liable persons:
(1) Failing to open the facility to the public according to relevant provisions.
(2) Failing to publish service items, open time or any other matters.
(3) Failing to establish rules for safety management.
(4) Incurring loss for improper management.
Article 62 Where a management entity of a public cultural facility violates this Law and commits any of the following acts, the competent department thereof or the price department shall order it to take corrective actions within a time limit and confiscate illegal proceeds, if any; and shall impose a fine of not less than two times nor more than five times the illegal proceeds on the entity if the illegal proceeds amount to 5,000 yuan or more or may impose a fine of not more than 10,000 yuan on the entity if there is no illegal proceeds or the illegal proceeds are less than 5,000 yuan; disciplinary actions shall be taken against the directly liable persons in charge or other directly liable persons in accordance with the law:
(1) Carrying out activities not suitable for the function and purpose of use of the public cultural facility.
(2) Collecting charges or collecting charges in disguise for the public cultural facility which ought to be open free of charge.
(3) Misusing collected fees for purposes other than the maintenance, management and undertaking development of the public cultural facility.
Article 63 Anyone that violates this Law and damages the civil rights and interests of any other person shall assume civil liabilities in accordance with the law; anyone that violates public security administration shall be subject to public security administration punishment by the public security department; and if any crime is constituted, the offender shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the law.
Chapter VI Supplemental Provisions
Article 64 A natural person, legal person or any other organization from overseas that provides public cultural services within the territory of China shall comply with the relevant laws and administrative regulations.
Article 65 This Law shall come into force on March 1, 2017.