A view of Shanghai photo.
China's Ministry of Civil Affairs released the Model Charter for International Social Organizations (Trial) on Saturday, providing a template for drafting or revising the charters of international social organizations registered in China. This is the country's first normative document for managing international social organizations.
The Model Charter applies to international, non-profit social groups jointly established by domestic and overseas sponsors in China, with the aim of promoting international cooperation, strengthening international exchanges and participating in global affairs.
The document requires that international social organizations, in their operation, must adhere to internationality and not deviate from their role of promoting international cooperation and exchanges in terms of objectives, business scope or membership structure.
For membership, the Model Charter allows organizations to broadly recruit members in the relevant field, while stipulating that qualified foreign members should account for at least one-third of the total membership, and at least one foreign language must be designated as a working language.
