The Guangzhou government expects social organizations to become much more common in the Guangdong capital after it put into effect a series of measures meant to make it easier to register a social organization.

So far this year, 24 city-level social organizations have been able to be registered with local civil affairs departments without first having to find a governmental department in their field to act as a supervisor, the director of Guangzhou Administration of Non-governmental Organizations revealed at a press conference in Guangzhou on Sunday.

Since Jan 1, the Guangzhou government has extended that convenience to social organizations that fall into eight categories: guilds and non-local chambers of commerce and public service, social service, economic, technological, sport and cultural organizations.

"Since May 1, all other social organizations — except for private organizations that specialize in education, training and medical care — have joined the favored group," said Tang Guoping, director of the Guangzhou Administration of Non-governmental Organizations.

Social organizations are welcoming the new system, which saves them the trouble of having to find a governmental department to act as a supervisor.

Zhang Lifan is the director-general of Guangzhou Green Point Environmental Protection Information Center, an NGO that helps university students in Guangdong province undertake projects to protect the environment.

When Zhang wanted to have the NGO registered in 2007, he looked for a supervisor among local education, forestry and sanitation management departments but couldn't find one.

"I understand why governmental departments are reluctant to take on the responsibility of being supervisors," Zhang said. "To ensure a social organization is independent, a supervisor has no right to interfere in the organization's financing and personnel administration. Yet it gets the blame if a social organization misbehaves."

Zhang said getting rid of the supervisor requirement has eliminated a defect in the system now used to register social organizations and will ensure the organizations can develop soundly.

"Now, under the city's new act, a directly registered social organization will be an independent legal entity responsible for its own behavior.

"The supervision of social organizations has also become more reasonable and effective."

The city's new system of administrating social organizations calls for putting then under the supervision of various governmental departments. The departments divide up the supervision work according to their differing functions.

For example, police will supervise measures social organizations take to secure an activity, fire departments will consider the fire safety of offices or activity venues, and quality inspection departments will supervise the organizations' products.

"People regard registered social organizations as being more reliable and are thus more willing to participate in the organizations' activities," said Zhang, who is excited about the prospect of having his NGO registered.

The procedures for registering have been simplified. Social organizations no longer need to have their names approved or to draw up various plans before they go to a civil affairs department to be registered.

Among the 24 newly registered social organizations in Guangzhou this year, one managed to complete its registration in 20 days, while it usually required about 60 days in the past.

Tang, from the Guangzhou Administration of Non-governmental Organizations, said social organizations will be able to go through registration procedures online starting in September.

Moreover, the government will work to break the monopolies that exist in some industries' social organizations this year and to keep social organizations independent from governments.

"We will now allow the existence of more than one guild in one industry," Tang said. "And for organizations that offer social services that have to do with charity, culture, education, sports, health and environmental protection, we will approve the registration of organizations with similar functions as long as they have different names."

As for keeping social organizations independent from governments, the Guangzhou Administration of Non-governmental Organizations advises governmental departments and public institutions to avoid establishing guilds, chambers of commerce and social organizations that offer charitable and social services.

Retired civil servants or employees of public institutions should not work part-time at such social organizations until they have been away from their former posts for more than three years.

Tang said the government will keep improving the procedures used to gauge social organizations. It plans to begin evaluating all local social organizations by 2015 and expects that more than 80 percent of them will be ranked at a level of AAA or above. The top ranking is AAAAA.

On May 5, Zhongshan, another city in Guangdong province, released a plan concerning the development of local social organizations, especially those established by young people or run for them. The city plans to incubate fifty social organizations for youth and three to five social enterprises every year starting in 2012.

Zhongshan also intends to cooperate with well-known non-governmental organizations in China to bring from five to 10 of the organizations to the city by 2015.

"It's encouraging that the government is supporting the development of social organizations," said Zhang from Guangzhou Green Point Environmental Protection Information Center.

"But I'm worried that quality may be sacrificed for quantity under the pressure of achieving the numbers called for in the plan."