On The Characteristics Of The Charities Act Of England In 2006 And The References To China

Philanthropy is called "the third distribution" of society, which has an important role in modern world. England is one of the most developed countries in philanthropy, and especially its legislative experience of philanthropy is very rich. Making laws of philanthropy can be traced back to four hundred years ago. England is the first country which enacts laws of philanthropy. In 2006, Britain had modified the Charities Act which was issued in 1993. In the new Act, there're many innovations of institutions, which promotes the complete of the system of charity law and the development of philanthropy in England. China owns the tradition of charity in ancient times, however, our country's philanthropy encounters many difficulties in the development process, which hinder the further development of philanthropy. Therefore, we should base on the national conditions and refer the useful experience of England in order to constructing a new road that promoting Chinese philanthropy to develop vigorously. This article starts as the difficulties encountered by The One Foundation, and analyses the characteristics of current Charities Act, for the purpose of providing ideas for rule of law in Chinese philanthropy. This paper will be discussed from three aspects:At fist, this paper analyses the characteristics of the Charities Act in 2006. There are seven characteristics of the current law. A,Expanding of charitable scope. On the basis of original scope, the charitable scope has been expanded into thirteen kinds in the new Act, which add some new contents, such as human rights, environmental protection, health promotion, community development and protection of cultural heritage, and so on. B,Unique system of Charity Committee. The Charity Committee in Britain is one of the government authorities that is responsible for philanthropy, and it is also the partner of charitable organization. C,Moderately easy registration system. The Act explicitly provides for exempt charities. D,Diverse forms of charitable fund system. Corporate organization and incorporated organization are both admitted in Britain. E,Rigorous fund-raising system. Charitable organizations proposing to promote public charitable collection should apply to Charity Commission for public collections certificate and apply to the local authority for a permit, then they have right to raise fund. F,Strict audit and examination system. Charitable organizations should make annual report of accounts. The audit and examination system is hierarchical. G,Charity Tribunal system. The establishment of Charity Tribunal provides specific remedy way for charitable organizations, and balances the relationship between Charity Committee and charitable organizations.Secondly, this paper presented the difficulties accounted in the development of philanthropy in China. The lack of legislative protection of philanthropy is an important cause restricting the further development of philanthropy. At the same time, fragmentation and rigidity of the existing system, strong colors of administration, the limited fund-raising channels and disruption of achieving charitable purposes are the constraints in the process of development of philanthropy.At last, this paper proposes the references to China coming from the experiences of Charities Act of England. In order to promote the development of philanthropy in China and on the basis of national conditions, the author suggests to do work as following:First, we should issue the independent Charities Act as soon as possible. Second, we should build rigorous charitable legal system, by way of building the system of charitable organization, completing the system of encouragement of charitable giving and improve the supervision and management system of philanthropy. Third, we should reduce administrative intervention greatly. Government regulates the charitable organizations through economic and legal means rather than administrative direct intervention now.