Letter regarding China Non-Mainland Non-Governmental Organization Management Law

SUMMARY

The Asian Affairs and International Human Rights Committees drafted a letter to the Presidents of the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou Bar Associations raising serious concerns about the draft People’s Republic of China Non-Mainland Non-Governmental Organization Management Law. The letter said that the Draft Law’s ambiguous and potentially expansive breadth, as well as the onerous registration and approval requirements it places on foreign non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”), will unduly discourage many foreign NGOs from engaging in a variety of beneficial exchanges with China, including its bar associations. For many NGOs, the effort required to respond to the Draft Law’s broad and ambiguous stipulations is unduly burdensome, and threatens to seriously disrupt the exchange of knowledge capital between China and the rest of the world.