Management Measures for the Evaluation and Recognition Activities of Social Organizations

Management Measures for the Evaluation and Recognition Activities of Social Organizations

National Evaluation Group Document No.2022 No. 3

Article 1 In order to standardize the evaluation and recognition activities of social organizations, strengthen the management of these activities, and based on the "Regulations on National Meritorious Honor Recognition" and the "Management Measures for Evaluation and Recognition Activities", these measures are formulated.

Article 2 These measures apply to evaluation and recognition activities organized by social groups, foundations, and private non-enterprise units (social service agencies) that are legally registered with social organization registration management authorities.

Article 3 The following activities conducted by social organizations are not applicable to these measures:

(1) Annual assessments, performance evaluations, target assessments, and responsibility assessments;

(2) Activities related to business nature such as exhibitions, talent evaluations, skill assessments, level evaluations, credit evaluations, technical achievement assessments, academic evaluations, paper compilations, certification and accreditation, quality grading, and other qualification assessments, level assessments, technical evaluations, as well as recognitions based on national standards, industry standards, and group standards;

(3) Publication of statistical data and information in industries and fields;

(4) Sports competitions, skill competitions, and other contests;

(5) Evaluations and recognitions targeting the internal institutions and personnel of the organization.

Social organizations conducting the first to third activities mentioned above must not conduct evaluations and recognitions in disguised forms such as granting titles, awarding medals, or publishing rankings; for the fourth activity, no other awards under any other name may be granted outside the competition or contest.

Article 4 Social organizations conducting evaluation and recognition activities must comply with laws and regulations and national policies, promote the core socialist values, adhere to the principles of non-profit, openness, fairness, and justice, strictly follow the prescribed authority, conditions, and procedures, and primarily use spiritual incentives with material rewards as a supplement, reflecting advancement, representativeness, and timeliness.

The evaluation and recognition activities of social organizations adhere to the principles of strict approval, total control, reasonable setting, and focus on effectiveness, implementing directory management.

Article 5 The evaluation and recognition work of social organizations is subject to a dual-level approval system at the central and provincial (autonomous region, municipality) levels. Approval authority must not be delegated or disguised as delegated.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council are responsible for approving national social organizations' evaluation and recognition projects, while the National Evaluation and Recognition Work Coordination Group is responsible for specific work; provincial (autonomous region, municipality) party committees and governments are responsible for approving local social organizations' evaluation and recognition projects, and the provincial (autonomous region, municipality) evaluation and recognition work coordination agencies are responsible for specific work.
Provincial (autonomous region, municipality) evaluation and recognition work coordination agencies should promptly report the establishment, adjustment, or changes of local social organizations' evaluation and recognition projects to the National Evaluation and Recognition Work Coordination Group for record.

Article 6 Social organizations applying to establish, organize, and conduct evaluation and recognition projects must simultaneously meet the following conditions:

(1) Comply with laws and regulations, operate in a standardized manner, have a sound organizational structure, and complete internal systems;

(2) The last two annual inspections must be qualified (except for social organizations implementing the annual work report system), and the evaluation results of social organizations must be 4A or above within the validity period;

(3) Implement the "Accounting System for Non-Profit Organizations", conduct independent accounting, and have the necessary funds to carry out evaluation and recognition activities;

(4) No administrative penalties in the last three years;

(5) Not listed in the abnormal activity directory of social organizations or the serious illegal and untrustworthy list in the last three years;

(6) No penalties prohibiting the conduct of evaluation and recognition activities or cancellation of qualification for evaluation and recognition in the last five years.

Article 7 The establishment, adjustment, or change of evaluation and recognition projects by social organizations must meet the following requirements:

(1) The project has a positive role and significant importance in promoting socialist economic, political, cultural, social, ecological civilization construction, and party building;

(2) The project name corresponds with the evaluation content, and the evaluation scope is consistent with the purposes, business scope, and activity regions specified in the social organization's charter;

(3) The project awards, scale, and cycle are scientifically reasonable, with permanent projects generally conducted once every five years, and sub-projects are not set in principle;

(4) The project evaluation conditions are strict, procedures are standardized, and methods are scientific, reflecting openness, fairness, and justice;

(5) The funding sources for the project comply with national regulations.

Article 8 When social organizations apply to establish evaluation and recognition projects, the application content should include: project name, sponsoring unit, reasons and basis, activity cycle, evaluation scope, total number of participants, evaluation quotas, award settings, evaluation conditions, evaluation procedures, reward methods, funding sources, and forms of recognition, etc. At the same time, attach the sponsoring unit's organizational charter and the relevant materials specified in Article 6 of these measures.

Article 9 National social organizations that implement a dual management system (hereinafter referred to as dual management) for applying to establish, adjust, or change evaluation and recognition projects must follow internal work procedures as stipulated in their charters, and after obtaining the consent of the business management unit, submit applications to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council through the business management unit.

National social organizations that are directly registered and have decoupled must follow internal work procedures as stipulated in their charters when applying to establish, adjust, or change evaluation and recognition projects, and after obtaining the consent of the industry management department, submit the application to the National Evaluation and Recognition Work Coordination Group, which will study and propose review opinions for approval by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

Article 10 National social organizations must submit applications for the establishment, adjustment, or change of evaluation and recognition projects by the end of March each year.

The National Evaluation and Recognition Work Coordination Group and the evaluation and recognition work coordination agencies of each province (autonomous region, municipality) (hereinafter referred to as evaluation and recognition work coordination agencies) shall generally conduct a centralized review of the evaluation and recognition projects declared by social organizations once a year.

Article 11 The approval of evaluation and recognition projects for national social organizations generally follows the procedures below:

(1) Applications for evaluation and recognition activities conducted by dual management national social organizations are handled by the General Office of the Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, which will forward them to the National Evaluation and Recognition Work Coordination Group Office; applications for evaluation and recognition activities conducted by directly registered and decoupled national social organizations are accepted by the National Evaluation and Recognition Work Coordination Group Office.

The office of the National Evaluation and Recognition Coordination Group studies and proposes preliminary review opinions.

The National Evaluation and Recognition Coordination Group conducts a centralized review and proposes draft approval opinions, which are publicly announced for 5 working days.

After the review opinions are submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council for approval, the National Evaluation and Recognition Coordination Group approves the application unit.

The office of the National Evaluation and Recognition Coordination Group announces the approval results to the public.

The approval of evaluation and recognition projects by social organizations in provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) can refer to the above procedures.

Article 12: If there is a need to adjust or change the name, sponsoring unit, activity period, selection scope, selection quota, or award setting of an already approved evaluation and recognition project, a new application must be submitted and approved according to the original approval procedure.

Article 13: Social organizations conducting evaluation and recognition activities must comply with the following regulations:

1. Evaluation and recognition activities may not be conducted without approval.

2. Activities must not exceed the purposes, business scope, and activity regions specified in the constitution.

3. Activities must not target party committees, governments, or party and government agencies at all levels, and generally should not select leaders from party and government agencies or public institutions as candidates.

4. Activities must be conducted strictly according to the approved application content, and sub-projects must not be changed or set up without authorization.

5. National social organizations must not require local social organizations to carry out evaluation and recognition activities, and local social organizations must not use national social organization evaluation and recognition projects to add or indirectly add projects.

6. No fees or disguised fees may be charged.

7. Activities must not be conducted in cooperation with profit-making organizations or entrusted to profit-making organizations, and cooperation with foreign organizations must not be conducted without approval.

8. The names of evaluation and recognition projects and awards must be prefixed with the name of the social organization or comply with relevant regulations.

9. The selection methods and results must be made public, except for those that are not disclosed according to relevant regulations.

10. The situation of conducting evaluation and recognition activities must be included in the annual work report and publicly released.

Article 14: Social organizations conducting evaluation and recognition activities generally follow the procedures below:

1. Develop a plan. Social organizations with approved evaluation and recognition projects must develop a work plan before carrying out activities and submit the work plan and relevant materials specified in Article 6 of these measures to the office of the evaluation and recognition coordination agency for record.

2. Issue a notice. A notice for conducting evaluation and recognition activities must be issued to relevant parties and made public, while establishing a review working committee to be responsible for specific work.

3. Recommend for review. Relevant parties propose eligible candidates and publicly announce them within an appropriate scope. After public announcement with no objections, they are reported, and the review working committee organizes the review.

4. Seek opinions. If the candidates involve enterprises and their responsible persons, opinions must be sought from relevant authorities such as ecological environment, human resources and social security, taxation, market supervision, and emergency management; if the candidates involve party and government agencies and their staff, opinions must be sought from organizational personnel and discipline inspection departments according to management authority.

5. Public announcement. The review working committee will publicly announce the candidates.

6. Decision. The social organization issues a decision on evaluation and recognition, awarding medals, plaques, certificates, etc. to the candidates.

7. Record. After the evaluation and recognition activities are completed, the results must be promptly reported to the business management unit or industry management department, and also reported to the office of the evaluation and recognition coordination agency for record.

Article 15: The office of the evaluation and recognition coordination agency is responsible for compiling the directory of social organization evaluation and recognition projects, implementing dynamic management, building a query and public announcement platform, facilitating complaint and reporting channels, and encouraging social supervision. Social organizations conducting evaluation and recognition activities must actively accept supervision from the public and media.

Article 16: Social organizations conducting evaluation and recognition activities must accept supervision and management from the departments responsible for awards and recognition, registration management agencies, business management units, industry management departments, as well as discipline inspection, publicity, internet information, public security, market supervision, and auditing departments.

Article 17: The social organization registration management agency is responsible for supervising and reviewing the compliance of social organizations with the relevant provisions of Article 13, items 1, 2, 5, 6, and 10 of these measures.

If a social organization violates the above regulations, the registration management agency shall order the cessation of activities, eliminate the impact, and take the relevant circumstances as important references for annual inspections and grade assessments; in serious cases, administrative penalties shall be imposed according to law, and the violations shall be included in the social organization's credit record; if necessary, a recommendation may be made to the evaluation and recognition coordination agency to revoke the approved evaluation and recognition project.

Article 18: The business management unit and industry management department are responsible for reviewing the necessity and feasibility of social organizations establishing evaluation and recognition projects, guiding and supervising the conduct of the reviewed social organization evaluation and recognition activities; cooperating with relevant departments to promptly identify, stop, and investigate illegal and irregular activities.

If a social organization violates items 3, 4, 7, 8, or 9 of Article 13 of these measures, the business management unit and industry management department shall order the cessation of activities, eliminate the impact, publicly expose the violations, and report the handling situation to the registration management agency. If necessary, a recommendation may be made to the evaluation and recognition coordination agency to revoke the approved evaluation and recognition project.

Article 19: If a social organization conducts evaluation and recognition activities in violation of regulations, relevant management departments shall criticize and educate the main responsible person and direct responsible person of the social organization, order inspections, issue warnings, or organize handling; if there are disciplinary violations, party discipline and administrative penalties shall be imposed according to relevant regulations; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be pursued according to law.

Article 20: The publicity and internet information departments are responsible for supervising and managing the news publicity work of social organization evaluation and recognition activities.

No unit or individual may conduct any form of publicity or reporting on evaluation and recognition activities that have not been reviewed and approved. Publicity or reporting on illegal evaluation and recognition activities shall be investigated and dealt with by the publicity and internet information departments according to law.

Article 21: The evaluation and recognition coordination agency is responsible for overseeing illegal and irregular evaluation and recognition activities of social organizations, and shall seriously investigate and deal with them according to law and regulations. If a social organization evaluation and recognition project has any of the following circumstances, the evaluation and recognition coordination agency shall revoke it:

1. Falsifying information during the application.

(2) Causing significant negative social impact, with strong public response;

(3) Losing practical significance for promoting work;

(4) Not carried out for two consecutive cycles;

(5) Considered necessary to be revoked by the registration management authority of social organizations, the competent business unit, or the industry management department.

If a social organization falls under the first or second circumstance of the previous paragraph, the coordinating agency for evaluation and recognition work shall cancel its eligibility to apply for evaluation and recognition activities and awards for five years.

Article 22: Social organizations with approved evaluation and recognition projects that do not meet the conditions specified in Item 2 of Article 6 at the time of implementation of these measures shall meet the corresponding requirements within five years; if they still do not meet the specified conditions five years after the implementation of these measures, or if they have not met the specified conditions for five years, the coordinating agency for evaluation and recognition work shall revoke the project.

Article 23: If the recipients of awards and recognitions have serious disciplinary or legal violations, or if they conceal facts or commit fraud to obtain recognition, their awards and recognitions shall be revoked. The awarding entity is responsible for making the revocation decision, recovering their certificates, medals, and other awards, revoking the corresponding benefits enjoyed due to the recognition, recovering any monetary rewards obtained, and announcing this within a certain scope.

Article 24: Scientific and technological awards conducted by social organizations in accordance with the "Regulations on National Science and Technology Awards" shall be filed with the scientific and technological administrative department and reported to the national coordinating group for evaluation and recognition work.

Article 25: Social organizations in each province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government) conducting evaluation and recognition activities shall be managed within the quota of provincial work department evaluation and recognition projects.

Each province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government) may formulate specific measures based on actual work.

Article 26: These measures shall be interpreted by the office of the national coordinating group for evaluation and recognition work.

Article 27: These measures shall come into effect on April 16, 2022. The "Interim Regulations on the Management of Evaluation and Recognition Activities of Social Organizations" (Guo Ping Group Fa [2012] No. 2) issued by the national coordinating group for evaluation and recognition work in 2012 is simultaneously abolished.