Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Voluntary Service

• Document Number：Announcement No. 11 of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress
• Area of Law： Catering Services Personnel Trade Unions
• Level of Authority： Provincial Local Regulations
• Date issued：04-23-2009
• Status： Effective
• Issuing Authority： Shanghai Municipality

Announcement of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress
(No. 11)
The Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Voluntary Service were adopted at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on April 23, 2009, and are hereby promulgated. They shall be effective as of June 1, 2009.
The Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress
April 23, 2009
Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Voluntary Service
(Adopted at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on April 23, 2009)
Article 1 With a view to initiating a voluntary service spirit featuring devotion, friendliness, mutual aid, and progressiveness, encouraging, promoting and normalizing the conducting of voluntary service activities, safeguarding volunteers' legitimate rights and interests, and boosting the building of a harmonious society, these Regulations are formulated in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.
Article 2 These Regulations apply to the organized voluntary service activities conducted or sponsored within the administrative area of this Municipality.
Article 3 Voluntary service mentioned in these Regulations means the public welfare activities of voluntary provision of service and help for others and the society with intellect, physical strength and skills, which do not aim at making remuneration.
Volunteers mentioned in these Regulations means individual persons engaging in voluntary service activities.
Volunteer organizations mentioned in these Regulations means the public welfare social organizations registered according to law which specially engage in voluntary service activities.
Article 4 Voluntary service activities shall follow the principles of willingness, equality, honesty and lawfulness.
Article 5 This Municipality encourages the providing of voluntary service for the aged, minors, the disabled, the unemployed, and such other social groups in difficulty and in need of help; it initiates the conducting of voluntary service activities in the fields of education, science, culture, public health, physical culture, environmental protection, etc., and in community service, emergency relief, as well as in social public welfare activities.
The whole society shall respect volunteers and the voluntary service provided thereby.
Article 6 State organs, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions and other organizations shall support voluntary service activities.
Schools shall bring the cultivation of voluntary service awareness into the contents of ideological and moral education for adolescents and encourage college and secondary school students to participate in those voluntary service activities suiting their own characteristics.
Radios, televisions, newspapers, websites and such other propagating media shall actively publicize voluntary service activities.
This Municipality sets the week of China Volunteers' Service Day (March 5) of each year to publicize and conduct voluntary service activities in a centralized way, so as to advocate and carry forward the spirit of voluntary service.
Article 7 Shanghai Municipal Volunteer Association (hereinafter referred to as the municipal volunteer association) shall be responsible for guiding and coordinating the voluntary service activities in the whole Municipality, providing service for volunteers and volunteer organizations, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of volunteers and volunteer organizations according to law.
Article 8 The municipal and district/county people's governments shall bring voluntary service into the planning for national economic and social development, and support and promote the development of the voluntary service cause.
The municipal and district/county civil affairs departments and other relevant departments shall do well the work of service and administration relevant to voluntary service activities according to their respective duties and functions.
The town/township people's governments and sub-district offices shall take measures to support and help the conducting of voluntary service activities within their own jurisdictions.
Article 9 Volunteer organizations shall organize the conducting of voluntary service activities according to their own charters.
Government departments, people's organizations, charity and relief organizations, and such other social organizations may, according to the needs of social public welfare activities, emergency relief and holding large-scale culture, physical culture, and science and technology activities, and such other large-scale activities, recruit volunteers and organize the conducting of voluntary service activities, and may also entrust volunteer organizations to organize the conducting of voluntary service activities.
Article 10 When the volunteer organizations, government departments, people's organizations and other organizations that organize the conducting of voluntary service activities (hereinafter referred to as organizers of voluntary service activities) recruit volunteers, they shall respect volunteers' own will, arrange for them to engage in corresponding voluntary service activities according to their time, abilities, and such other conditions, and provide for them necessary information and conditions or guarantees of safety, sanitation, etc.
Organizers of voluntary service activities shall keep volunteers' personal information secret, and shall not, without volunteers' own consent, open such information or provide such information for a third party.
Article 11 Volunteers shall have the capacity of civil act appropriate for the voluntary service activities that they engage in.
Where minors are organized to participate in voluntary service activities, such activities shall suit their physical and mental characteristics and their guardians' consent shall be obtained.
Article 12 Volunteers are entitled to the following rights:
1. choosing to participate in voluntary service activities at their own will and according to their time, abilities and such other conditions;
2. receiving the information and training relevant to the voluntary service activities that they engage in;
3. obtaining the necessary conditions or guarantees relevant to the voluntary service activities that they engage in;
4. giving opinions or suggestions to organizers of voluntary service activities; and
5. other rights as provided by laws, rules and regulations.
Article 13 Volunteers shall fulfill the following obligations:
1. accepting the guidance and arrangement of organizers of voluntary service activities, fulfilling the commitment of voluntary service, and completing corresponding tasks;
2. respecting the will, personality, privacy and such other rights of voluntary service recipients;
3. keeping such secrets protected by law as they learn in voluntary service activities;
4. being prohibited from engaging in acts not in conformity with the aims or purposes of voluntary service activities by taking advantage of their identity as volunteers; and
5. informing organizers of voluntary service activities in case they can't continue to engage in voluntary service activities.
Article 14 Organizers of voluntary service activities may, according to the application of organizations or individual persons that are in need of voluntary service, or according to the actual needs of the society, determine voluntary service activity items.
Article 15 When recruiting volunteers among the public, organizers of voluntary service activities shall publish relevant contents of the voluntary service activity items with information about the risks that may arise in the process of voluntary service.
Article 16 Organizers of voluntary service activities may choose volunteers according to the purposes and requirements of voluntary service activities and the actual circumstances of the individual persons applying for the participation in voluntary service activities.
Article 17 Between organizers of voluntary service activities and volunteers, and between organizers of voluntary service activities and volunteer service recipients, written agreements concerning the service contents, period, requirements and other necessary matters may be signed as required.
Article 18 Organizers of voluntary service shall, according to the needs of the voluntary service activities conducted thereby, give relevant training to volunteers.
Article 19 Organizers of voluntary service shall keep a record of the situation of volunteers' participation in voluntary service activities, and they may, as required by volunteers, issue relevant certification documents on the situation of voluntary activities participated in thereby.
Article 20 Organizers of voluntary service may offer appropriate subsidies for the traffic expenses, meal allowances and such other expenses paid by volunteers in engaging in voluntary service activities.
Article 21 Organizers of voluntary service generally shall avoid arranging for volunteers to engage in the service activities which require the bearing of major managerial responsibility or economic responsibility, or service activities with big risks of personal harm.
In special cases, when organizers of voluntary service arrange for volunteers to engage in service activities which require the bearing of major managerial responsibility or economic responsibility or service activities with big risks of personal harm, written agreements shall be signed as provided in Article 17 of these Regulations.
Article 22 Organizers of voluntary service may, according to their own conditions and the actual needs, handle corresponding personal insurance for volunteers.
When arranging for volunteers to engage in voluntary service activities with security risks, organizers of voluntary service shall handle necessary personal insurance for volunteers.
Article 23 No organization or individual person shall be allowed to engage in profitable activities or other activities in violation of the aims of voluntary service by taking advantage of or in the name of voluntary service.
Article 24 Volunteer organizations may raise funds for the conducting of voluntary service activities by means of accepting donations or financial aids from society or such other means.
Article 25 The people's governments at all levels shall arrange funds according to the actual circumstances, to support volunteers and volunteer organizations in conducting voluntary service activities.
Article 26 The funds for voluntary service activities raised by volunteer organizations shall be used for voluntary service activities, volunteers' personal accident insurance, subsidies for their traffic expenses, meal allowances and such other expenses, and shall not be appropriated for any other use.
The sources and use of the funds for voluntary service activities shall be open to the public and subject to the supervision of relevant government departments, donators, financial aid providers, and volunteers.
Article 27 The municipal volunteer association shall open to the public on a regular basis the development status and the conducting situation of voluntary service activities of the volunteers and volunteer organizations in this Municipality.
Article 28 When recruiting public servants or employees or enrolling students, relevant units shall be encouraged to preferentially recruit, employ or enroll volunteers with good performance in voluntary service if the candidates are under the same conditions.
Volunteers with good performance in voluntary service shall be encouraged and cared about by the localities and units where they are.
Article 29 Such volunteers and organizers of voluntary service activities as have outstanding performance in voluntary service activities shall be honored by relevant competent administrative departments. Where an honor needs to be granted by the Municipal People's Government, the municipal bureau of civil affairs and the municipal volunteer association may put forward a suggestion thereon to the Municipal People's Government.
Article 30 Where activities are, without registration or authorization, conducted in the name of volunteer organizations, the municipal or district/county civil affairs departments shall ban such activities and confiscate the unlawful property relevant thereto.
Where volunteer organizations engage in profitable operation activities, the municipal or district/county civil affairs departments shall give warnings and order corrections, and may stop such activities within a prescribed time limit and order the dismissal and replacement of the persons-in-charge directly responsible; in a serious case, the registration of such volunteer organizations shall be revoked.
If other acts of violating these Regulations are subject to punishment under the provisions of laws, administrative regulations, or this Municipality's local rules, relevant departments shall, according to their respective duties and functions, prosecute the wrongdoer for legal liability according to law.
Article 31 When disputes arise in voluntary service activities among volunteers, organizers of voluntary service activities and voluntary service recipients, they may be settled through voluntary consultation, or be submitted to the municipal volunteer association or the people's mediation organization for mediation, or be settled through the channel of lawsuits, etc.
Article 32 These Regulations shall be effective as of June 1, 2009.