40 pct of 12,400 associations are moribund
The government yesterday launched a 45-day public consultation on drafting a new law to govern the setting-up and operation of the city’s associations, aiming to address operational irregularities and strengthen government oversight.
The government noted yesterday that there were fewer than 2,000 associations shortly before the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) on December 20, 1999, whereas the number has grown to approximately 12,400 today.
However, only about 60 percent of these 12,400 commun ity, sport, educational, business, welfare, mutual aid, professional, neighbourhood, cultural, artistic and other kinds of associations remain active. The remainder have either ceased operations or never began operating after their establishment, the government said yesterday.
Labour unions are regulated by specific legislation.
To resolve this, the government proposes designating the Identification Services Bureau (DSI) as the sole public entity formally tasked with supervising the city’s associations. The proposed law would streamline administrative registration procedures and establish a formal legal mechanism to dissolve inactive entities.
Additionally, the government proposes having the power to abolish any association if its objectives or operations are found to endanger national security.
The public consultation will run for 45 days until September 23. It was officially announced during a press conference yesterday at the Services Platform Complex for Commercial and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao Complex) in Sai Van.
The public consultation document, available in Chinese and Portuguese, is available on a dedicated website (https://www.dsi.gov.mo/assocp).
Three public feedback sessions are scheduled for August 16, August 22, and September 3 on the first basement floor of the Public Administration Building on Rua do Campo.
The establishment and operation of associations are currently regulated by Law 2/99/M – enacted in 1999 shortly before Macau’s return to the motherland – as well as provisions in the Macau Civil Code. The government proposes introducing a new, unified law to replace Law 2/99/M.
Speaking at yesterday’s press conference, Secretary for Administration and Justice Wong Sio Chak acknowledged that existing legislation can no longer meet the demands of Macau’s current socioeconomic development. He noted the need to safeguard the right of association, enhance internal governance, and optimise government oversight. Consequently, Wong emphasised, a modern law dedicated to associations is necessary.
According to the consultation documents, the government proposes that a non-local (“external”) association will only be allowed to set up a branch in Macau if it has been legally established in its home jurisdiction for a least three years. The number of branches would be limited to one per non-local association.
Following the consultation period, the government will review public feedback, draft the final bill, and submit it to the legislature for debate and voting. Wong said that the government aims to submit the bill to the Legislative Assembly within this year.
The consultation document highlights that Law 2/99/M and the Civil Code currently contain numerous overlaps and inconsistencies regarding association supervision. Furthermore, registering a new association currently involves three separate entities – the Identification Services Bureau, the Notary Office, and the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ).
The registration process is inconvenient for the public and incurs substantial administrative costs, the consultation document acknowledges, pointing out that the government proposes a single, specific public entity formally tasked with handling the registration of new associations and supervising their operations – the Identification Services Bureau.
The government proposes that a new association must be set up by at least seven individuals, who are required to submit an application to the Identification Services Bureau. After the establishment of the association, all the founders must be first-term board members.
The government proposes that the statutes of newly set-up associations will no longer be required to be published in the Official Gazette (BO). Instead, the Identification Services Bureau will publish their statutes on its website.
DSI Director Sonia Chan Hoi Fan said during the press conference that in the future after the new law comes into force, the bureau will also publish the statutes of existing associations on its website, which were previously published in the gazette.
Chan noted that according to the current law regulating trade unions, the statutes of newly established trade unions must still be published in the gazette.
The government proposes that the Identification Services Bureau can decide to abolish an association after the MSAR’s Committee for Safeguarding National Security has concluded that its objective or operation will endanger national security.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Wong Sio Chak (centre) speaks during yesterday’s press conference at the Forum Macao Complex near Macau Tower as other officials, including Identification Services Bureau (DSI) Director Sonia Chan Hoi Fan (second from left), look on. Chan, a former secretary for administration and justice, has headed the bureau since December last year. – Photo: Tony Wong
