(Adopted at the Forty-fifth Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth People's Congress of Shenzhen Municipality on October 29, 2020)

Chapter One General Provisions

Article 1 For the purpose of improving the elderly care service system, promote the healthy development of the elderly care service sector and make qualified the elderly care service available to the elderly, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the general principles of relevant laws and administrative regulations and in light of the actual circumstances of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

Article 2 These Regulations shall apply to the elderly care service and their supervision and administration within Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

Article 3 The elderly care service shall follow the principles of government leadership, policy support, social participation and market-oriented operation, with home-based care as the first choice, community-based care as the support, and institutional care as the pillar, featuring the promotion of a combination of medical and health care to effectively satisfy the demands of the elderly for diversified and multi-level the elderly care service.

Article 4 The municipal people's government shall coordinate the development of elderly care service sector, incorporate the elderly care service into the plans for national economic and social development, make and optimize special plans for the elderly care service development in light of the level of the economic and social development, and include the work related to the elderly care service in the performance appraisal system.

All people's governments at district level shall be responsible for organizing the implementation of these Regulations within their respective jurisdictions. Subdistrict offices shall be responsible for organizing the work related to the elderly care service for seniors within their respective jurisdictions, and guiding community residential committees and institutions providing the elderly care service to carry out the work related to the elderly care service.

Article 5 The municipal civil affairs department shall be the competent department in charge of the work related to the elderly care service in Shenzhen and shall be responsible for the overall planning, organization, coordination, guidance, supervision and management of the work related to the elderly care service in Shenzhen.

The civil affairs departments at district level shall be responsible for  organizing the implementation of the work related to the elderly care service within their respective jurisdictions.

The relevant departments of municipal and district people's governments and mass organizations, including but not limited to trade union, the Chinese Communist Youth League, women's federation, and disabled persons federation, shall effectively coordinate the work related to the elderly care service.

Article 6 The municipal people's government shall establish a joint commission for the the elderly care service at the municipal level and establish a coordination mechanism for the work related to the elderly care service in Shenzhen, study and solve major problems in the work related to the elderly care service, and improve the elderly care service system. The joint commission shall be participated by municipal departments of development and reform, education, science and technology innovation, industry and information technology, civil affairs, finance, human resources and social security, planning and natural resources, housing and construction, health, state-owned capital supervision and administration, market regulation, healthcare security, and other departments.

Article 7 The municipal people's government shall, in accordance with the principles of complementarity of resources, information exchange and coordinated development, push forward the coordination and cooperation on the elderly care service within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and promote the integrated high-quality development of regional the elderly care service sector.

Article 8 Citizens, legal persons and other organizations shall be encouraged to provide, participate in and support the elderly care service in various forms.

the elderly care service industry associations, the elderly organizations, charitable organizations, volunteers service organizations and other social organizations shall, according to their duties and charters, participate in the work related to the elderly care service.

Article 9 All sectors of society shall extensively carry out publicity and education on respecting, supporting and helping the elderly, advocate the new concept of healthy living in old age, and establish a good social trend of respecting, caring for, and helping the elderly.

Chapter Two Planning and Construction

Article 10 The municipal planning and natural resources department shall, in conjunction with the municipal departments of development and reform and civil affairs, make special plans for the layout of elderly care service facilities according to factors including but not limited to the level of the social and economic development, population structure and distribution of the elderly, public service resources, and the demand for the elderly care service. Such special plans will be incorporated into the detailed control plans upon approval by the municipal people's government, to provide guidlines for the planning and construction of elderly care service facilities.

Special plans for the layout of elderly care service facilities shall clarify the planning criteria for elderly care service facilities at the municipal level, district level, subdistrict office level and community level, and incorporate them into Shenzhen's urban planning criteria and rules. The community-based elderly care service facilities shall be planned in a coordinated manner and set up in combination with the public service facilities for health and disabled care for the purpose of receiving complementary advantages and sharing benefits.

Special plans for the layout of elderly care service facilities shall be evaluated every five years and be appropriately adjusted according to the evaluation results.

Article 11 The municipal planning and natural resources department shall guarantee the availability of land for construction of elderly care service facilities pursuant to relevant planning.

The properties including commercial, office and industrial in-stock properties and warehouses, and community houses shall be encouraged to used for establishment of the elderly care service institutions. If it is necessary to comply with formalities to change the entity with the land use right, the following provisions shall be applied:

(1) If a new entity with the land use right is a non-profit entity, the land previously allocated may be used the same way it was allocated;  

(2) If a new entity with the land use right is a for-profit entity, the procedures may be performed by agreement pursuant to the type of the new entity, new right type, and market price.  

No change in the use of land previously approved for elderly care service facilities shall be allowed unless the required statutory procedures are completed. If it is indeed in the public interest that the use of land previously approved for elderly care service facilities is changed upon approval or the facilities established on the land previously approved for elderly care service facilities are dismantled upon approval, the new or existing facilities with an area and standard that are not lower than the previous one shall be constructed or acquired as a replacement for those dismantled.

Article 12 When granting or transferring the right to use of any construction land, the relevant departments shall stipulate the area, development and investment conditions and construction period of the ancillary elderly care service facilities, as well as the way of delivery, operation, management and supervision after completion.  

The land used for elderly care service facilities shall be managed in strict  accordance with the provisions set forth in the contract for granting the right to use of the state-owned construction land of Shenzhen or in the decision instrument on transfer of the state-owned construction land of Shenzhen, and the property rights of such land shall be registered according to law.

Article 13 The municipal and district people's governments shall build a multi-level, full-coverage, efficient and convenient the elderly care service network as a whole. Each district shall build at least one district-level public elderly care service institution. Each subdistrict office shall build at least one comprehensive elderly care service institution and establish elderly care service stations in communities pursuant to the distribution of the elderly.  

Public elderly care service institutions shall use unified logo, and elderly care service institutions at the same level shall have unified construction and management standards.

Article 14 The ancillary elderly care service facilities as determined in the plan for new construction or urban renewal projects shall be planned, constructed, inspected for final acceptance and delivered for use synchronously with the projects pursuant to relevant standards.

If existing elderly service facilities in the built-up area fall short of the standards prescribed in the plan, the district people's government shall solve the problem through purchasing, replacement, leasing or other ways.

Chapter Three Home-based and Community-based the Elderly Care Service

Article 15 Home-based care shall be the first choice for the elderly. The children and spouse of the elderly and other persons who have the obligation of maintenance and support shall perform the obligations of financial support, life care, and spiritual comfort to the elderly according to law.

Article 16 The municipal and district people's governments shall improve the home-based and community-based elderly care service system, encourage and support non-governmental entities to provide the following services for the elderly based on the community facilities with the principle of proximity, convenience, safety, quality and reasonable price:  

(1) Daytime care, meals assistance, bathing assistance, cleaning assistance, mobility assistance, payment and shopping assistance;

(2) Home care, medical examination, health management, medical rehabilitation, and hospice care;

(3) Care visit, psychological counseling, and emotional counseling;

(4) Education and training, cultural and entertainment activities, sports and fitness, leisure and health maintenance;

(5) Safety guidance, and emergency relief;

(6) Legal advice, fraud awareness and prevention publicity, people's mediation, and legal aid.

Article 17 The municipal and district civil affairs departments shall, in conjunction with finance and other departments, work out a directory of public services for the community-based elderly care according to the specifics of the elderly care service. Information on the type, nature, items and charging standard of services shall be clearly specified in such directory.

Article 18 The district people's governments shall, through subsidies and other incentives to guide and support elderly care service institutions to construct accommodations for home-based elderly care, improve the professional long-term care service system featuring interlinked home-based care, community-based care, and institutional care, and provide professional home-based care services for the moderately disabled elderly.

Article 19 The district civil affairs departments shall provide the following services to family caregivers of the disabled elderly through procurement of services:

(1) Skill training for family care services;

(2) Mental health counseling and intervention services;

(3) Replacing family caregivers of the severely disabled elderly to provide temporary or short-term care for them.

Article 20 Where the barrier-free modification of living facilities in the families of the elderly complies with relevant provisions, the families may apply to the community grassroots units for subsidy. The subdistrict offices shall summarize and report such applications to the civil affairs departments for approval. The applicants shall be given the following subsidy if the application is approved:   

(1) Some subsidy to be given from the district governments budget for the families of the moderately disabled elderly;

(2) Full rate of subsidy to be given from the district governents budget for the impoverished families of the elderly.

The implementation rules for the subsidy payment referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be formulated by the municipal civil affairs department, in conjunction with the municipal finance department.

Article 21 The civil affairs departments shall establish visiting system for the elderly of advanced age in the communities to regularly visit them at their homes or by telephone to learn about their living conditions.

Article 22 Medical institutions, elderly care service institutions, property management service enterprises, housekeeping service enterprises, as well as other social organizations and individuals shall be encouraged to provide home-based and community-based the elderly care service. Relevant social organizations and professional institutions may be entrusted with operation and management of community-based elderly care service facilities.

The municipal and district people's governments may provide support for non-governmental entities' establishment of elderly service institutions, including but not limited to government-funded construction and private operation, provision of space, rent subsidies, and, etc.

Article 23 The district people's governments shall push forward barrier-free modification of public service facilities closely related to the daily life of the elderly in old residential areas, including but not limited to ramps, toilets, stair handrails and elevators.

Chapter Four Institutional the elderly care service

Article 24 The municipal and district people's governments shall invest in the construction of public institutions for the elderly care service according to special plans for layout of elderly care service facilities, to provide long-term care services for the eligible elderly.   

Non-governmental entities shall be encouraged to establish multi-level, multi-type elderly care service institutions. Non-governmental entities shall be encouraged to participate in or undertake the operation of government-funded elderly care service institutions by means including but not limited to entrusted management, equity joint venture, cooperative joint venture.

Article 25 Accommodations in elderly care service institutions shall be mainly composed of nursing accommodations. For new public elderly care service institutions, nursing accommodations shall account for more than 80% of the total accommodations; for existing elderly care service institutions, the proportion of nursing accommodations shall increase gradually.  

Article 26 The municipal and district civil affairs departments shall ensure the admission of the elderly with registered residence in Shenzhen Municipality and under any of the following circumstances to public elderly care service institutions within one month after they submit the application:

(1) Elderly living in extreme difficulties;

(2) Moderately disabled elderly, handicapped elderly or those of advanced age in low-income families in need;

(3) Moderately disabled beneficiaries enjoying state pension, regular subsidy or subsidy of preferential treatment;

(4) The elderly who have made significant contributions to society as recognized by the municipal and district people's governments;

(5) The elderly in special families due to family planning.

The municipal and district civil affairs departments shall ensure the admission of other severely disabled elderly with registered residence in the Shenzhen Municipality to public elderly care service institutions within three months after they submit the application.

Where there are no sufficient accommodations in public elderly care service institutions for all elderly persons referred to in the preceding two paragraphs, the municipal and district people's governments shall ensure their admission by purchasing accommodations in private elderly care service institutions.

Article 27 The public elderly care service institutions shall apply different charges to the elderly referred to in Article 26 hereof admitted by them and exempt the elderly living in extreme difficulties with registered residence in the Shenzhen Municipality from service charge; the public elderly care service institution shall charge the moderately disabled elderly, the handicapped elderly or those of   advanced age in low-income families in need pursuant to the minimum living standard for residents; the public elderly care service institution shall apply government-set prices or government-guided prices to other elderly who are eligible for admission to the public elderly care service institutions based on the actual cost, net of the government input and social donations which is subject to the non-profit principle.

For the public elderly care service institutions which are constructed by the governments and operated by private entities, the competitive approaches for the selection of operators including but not limited to bidding shall be adopted. The chargeable items and rates shall be reasonably determined by the operators according to the entrustment agreement and reported to the civil affairs department for record filing.

For the private elderly care service institutions, the chargeable items and rates shall be determined by the operators at their discretion. The rates shall remain relatively stable and the cycle of rate adjustment shall not be less than one year. A 30-day notice on rate adjustment shall be given to the elderly admitted and their custodians. The municipal departments of development and reform and civil affairs shall guide and standardize the operators' independent pricing according to law.

Elderly care service institutions shall publish the chargeable items and rates to the public and be subject to supervision.

Article 28 Elderly care service institutions shall enter into service contracts with the admitted elderly or their custodians to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties according to law.

The template elderly care service contract shall be developed by the municipal civil affairs department.

Article 29 Elderly care service institutions shall be staffed with managerial personnel and professionals and technicians that are qualified and competent for the services and operations, and with a specified number of nursing personnel according to different nursing levels, and provide services to the admitted elderly in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations and the provisions of elderly care service contracts.

Elderly care service institutions and their staff shall respect the personal dignity of the admitted elderly, and protect their personal rights, property rights, and other legitimate rights and interests.

Elderly care service institutions shall be encouraged to cooperate with childcare institutions and schools to explore the model of inter-generational mutual support for the elderly.

Article 30 Elderly care service institutions shall propose a proper resettlement plan for the admitted elderly if they intend to suspend or terminate operation.  Elderly care service institutions shall give a 60-day written notice to the admitted elderly and their custodians, make an announcement to the public, if such elderly care service would be suspended or terminated; and elderly care service institutions shall submit the resettlement plan for the admitted elderly to the district civil affairs departments in the place where they are located.

The district civil affairs departments shall supervise elderly care service institutions that intend to suspend or terminate operation to implement the resettlement plan to properly resettle the admitted elderly at the expense of the institutions themselves. The district civil affairs departments shall provide necessary assistance to elderly care service institutions in the resettlement of the elderly.

Article 31 The municipal and district people's governments may provide some subsidy to elderly care service institutions that purchase elderly care service institution liability insurance.

Chapter Five Combination of Medical and Health Care

Article 32 The municipal and district people's governments shall promote the integrated development of medical and health care services and the elderly care service as a whole, and establish and improve the mechanism of combining medical and health care.

The municipal health department shall, in conjunction with the municipal civil affairs department, integrate medical and health care and elderly care resources, guide and support the medical institutions and elderly care service institutions in establishing the mechanism of combination of medical care and elderly care, as well as in carrying out exchange and cooperation in medical and care services, disciplinary study and personnel training, to provide services including but not limited to inpatient treatment, rehabilitation care, and hospice care to the elderly.

Article 33 The municipal and district people's governments shall advocate the combination of family sickbeds and home-based elderly care. For elderly patients who meet the conditions for setting up family sickbeds, medical institutions may set up family sickbeds in their places of residence and provide medical and health services according to law.

The municipal health department shall, in conjunction with the municipal healthcare security department and other relevant departments, improve the service standards for family sickbeds.

Article 34 Community health service institutions shall provide the following services for the elderly in communities:

(1) Establishing health records for the elderly, and providing basic public health services, including but not limited to disease prevention, health management, medical examination and chronic disease management;

(2) Providing basic medical services including but not limited to diagnosis and treatment of common and frequently-occurring diseases based on both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)therapy and Western medicine therapy, guidance on rational drug use, and patient referral appointments;

(3) Providing the elderly with medical treatment of common and chronic diseases, family sickbeds, hospice care, and nursing and rehabilitation guidance services in accordance with the family doctor service agreements and norms.

Article 35 Elderly care service institutions may set up medical facilities including but not limited to clinics and infirmary according to law, and may also sign cooperation agreements with medical and health institutions to provide medical and health services for the admitted elderly.

Article 36 Medical and health institutions shall set up green passages or preferential windows for the elderly in terms of appointment for medical consultation, referral, registration, payment and taking drugs, so as to provide convenience for the elderly to seek medical treatment. The leading hospital of the community-level medical consortium shall set up departments of rehabilitation medicine, TCM and geriatrics.

Medical institutions shall be encouraged to establish department of geriatrics to provide rehabilitation, nursing, hospice care services and elderly care accommodations. Grassroots-level medical institutions shall be encouraged to increase the number of accommodations for rehabilitation and nursing.

The accommodations for combined services of medical care and elderly care in medical institutions shall not be included in the statistical indicator of average length of stays.

Article 37 The health department shall give full play to the role of TCM in ensuring healthy elderly care by applying TCM in the whole process of healthy elderly care from medical diagnosis, medical treatment, nursing, preventive treatment of disease to rehabilitation.     

Article 38 Medical practitioners and registered nurses who work in medical institutions may practice in medical institutions dedicated to providing medical services to the elderly, provided that they perform their contracts and fulfill their duties as full-time employees.

Article 39 Medical personnel who work in internal medical facilities of the elderly care service institutions shall be entitled to the same treatment as similar professionals and technicians who work in other types of medical institutions in terms of qualification accreditation, professional title evaluation, continuing education and recommendation evaluation.

Medical personnel who work in the internal medical facilities of the elderly care service institutions shall be subject to the management of the health department.

Article 40 The municipal people's government shall push forward the education for the elderly in a coordinated way, establish and improve education networks for the elderly at municipal, district, subdistrict and community levels, share education resources, courses and teachers for the elderly, and build platforms of learning and social life for the elderly.

Article 41 The municipal and district people's governments and relevant departments shall strengthen health publicity and education, and develop educational activities in fitness, health care, disease prevention and rehabilitation, and mental health of the elderly, with a view to preventing the occurrence and development of diseases and improving the health level of the elderly.

Guidance and supports shall be provided to non-governmental entities in providing the elderly with services, including but not limited to geriatric education, care-oriented travel, geriatric culture, geriatric leisure and entertainment.

The elderly shall be encouraged to engage in social activities voluntarily and according to their ability, including but not limited to the dissemination of cultural and scientific knowledge, participation in the development and application of science and technology, and the development of public interest undertakings.

Chapter Six Safeguard Measures

Article 42 The municipal and district people's governments shall establish financial guarantee mechanism commensurate with the growth of the elderly population and the level of economic and social development, the elderly care service funds shall be allocated from the general public budget and the welfare lottery public welfare fund dedicated to the elderly care service in an overall manner to develop the elderly care service system, and establish and improve the subsidy system and procurement system for the elderly care service.

Article 43 The municipal and district people's governments shall, in accordance with relevant provisions, provide the following basic public services for elderly care:

(1) Providing services to the elderly living in extreme difficulties with registered residence in the Shenzhen Municipality, including but not limited to the minimum living allowance, medical treatment, care and nursing;

(2) Providing services to the elderly in low-income families in need with registered residence in the Shenzhen Municipality, including but not limited to financial subsidy, home-based care service, barrier-free renovation, and visiting;    

(3) Inclusive old-age allowance, geriatric health management, geriatric health promotion, geriatric cultural activities, geriatric education, care skills training for the family caregivers of the elderly and other services;

(4) Preferential treatment in life service, legal aid;

(5) Other public services for elderly care as provided by the municipal people's government.

The municipal people's government shall regularly issue the list of basic public services for the elderly care, specifying the service items, service beneficiaries, service measures, service standards and responsible entities.

Article 44 The municipal people's government shall establish a unified comprehensive evaluation system of the elderly to scientifically determine the disability level, service type and care level of the elderly, which shall serve as the basis for the relevant subsidies, long-term care insurance benefits, home-based and community-based the elderly care service which could be enjoyed by the elderly, and admission to elderly care service institutions or medical institutions.

Article 45 The municipal civil affairs department shall, in conjunction with the municipal market regulation and other departments, formulate relevant local standards for home-based care, community-based care and institutional care services, and establish and improve the municipal elderly care service standard system.

Elderly care service institutions and related industry associations shall be encouraged to, with reference to the elderly care service standards of developed countries and regions, formulate and implement enterprise standards, group standards or industry standards higher than the local standards of the Shenzhen Municipality, and improve the level of the elderly care service.

Article 46 The municipal and district people's governments shall push forward the construction of professional teams for the elderly care service in a coordinated way, incorporate the training of elderly care service professionals into the municipal talent policy system, train and introduce outstanding elderly care service talents, and provide preferential policies to outstanding talents in terms of residence, settlement, housing security, children's schooling, etc.

Article 47 The municipal and district people's governments shall include elderly care service professionals training in the systems of higher education, vocational education, continuing education and vocational skills training, encourage and support institutions of higher education, vocational schools, technician training schools and training institutions in offering courses or training programs relating to the elderly care service, including but not limited to geriatric medicine, health and elderly care based on TCM, rehabilitation, nursing and social work, and establish teaching practice bases in elderly care service organizations and medical and health institutions to train elderly care service professionals.

Civil affairs departments may provide appropriate rewards or subsidies to graduates of institutions of higher education, vocational schools and technician training schools, who have been engaged in rehabilitation, nursing and other activities related to the elderly care service in elderly care service institutions for a specified number of years.

Article 48 Departments of civil affairs, human resources and social security, and health shall establish training bases of the elderly care service, and strengthen the skills training and appraisal for elderly care service providers.

Elderly care service organizations and medical and health institutions shall be encouraged to provide free vocational skills training for eligible elderly care personnel. Elderly care service institutions shall regularly have their personnel receiving professional ethics education and vocational skills training. Personnel who work in elderly care service institutions shall participate in professional ethics education and vocational skills training.

Article 49 The municipal peoples government shall coordinate the development of institutional care, community-based care and home-based care as well as other forms of all-round, full-cycle care services.

Where elderly care service institutions provide services, including but not limited to elderly care, rehabilitation care and hospice care, the personnel who directly provide such service shall have received and successfully completed nursing skills training. The specific measures shall be formulated separately by the municipal civil affairs department in conjunction with relevant departments.

Article 50 The elderly care service officer system shall be established. The district people's governments shall assign elderly care service officers through purchasing services, who are mainly responsible for information registration, demand investigation, visits, policy dissemination and duties in connection with the elderly care in the communities. A elderly care service officer shall protect personal privacy and other legitimate rights and interests of the elderly in collecting and registering their basic information.

Article 51 Long-term care insurance system shall be established. The municipal people's government shall, with the principles of broad coverage, guarantee for basic insurance, multiple levels of care insurance and sustainability,  establish a multi-level care guarantee system based on long-term care insurance and supplemented by social assistance, social welfare, charity and commercial insurance with a view to providing long-term care service guarantee for the disabled persons.

Article 52 The employees and personnel not in service who have reached the age of 18 and are not enrolled, shall participate in long-term care insurance if they have participated in the municipal basic medical insurance.

Article 53 Long-term care insurance premium shall be paid monthly at a rate of 0.1% based on the average monthly salary of the Shezhen Municipality's in-service personnel in the previous year. If an insured person is an employee, the employer and the employee shall pay 50% of the insurance premium respectively; if an insured person is a retiree, a resident or other personnel, such person shall pay 100% of the insurance premium; the insurance premium for the persons in need shall be subsidized by the government.

The municipal people's government may, in accordance with the level of the economic and social development of the Shenzhen Municipality, the balance of income and expenditure of long-term care insurance funds and other factors, timely adjust the premium rate of long-term care insurance and report it to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shenzhen Municipality for record filing.

Article 54 The benefits of long-term care insurance shall be determined in line with the assessed care grade, service model, and cumulative years of participating in long-term care insurance.

Article 55 The long-term care insurance fund shall be used to pay long-term care insurance benefits, care grade assessment fees and other charges prescribed by the municipal people's government.

The long-term care insurance fund shall not be used to pay the expenses that are within the coverage of the basic medical insurance, work-related injury insurance and other social insurance funds, and the care fees that shall be borne by a third party according to law.

Article 56 The insured persons who have reached the prescribed care grade as assessed by the Municipal Assessment Committee of Care Grade of Disabled Persons under Long-term Care Insurance shall enjoy the benefits of long-term care insurance in accordance with the relevant provisions.

The Municipal Assessment Committee of Care Grade of Disabled Persons under Long-term Care Insurance shall be composed of representatives from municipal departments of healthcare security, civil affairs, finance, human resources and social security, and health as well as other mass organizations including but not limited to the Disabled Persons' Federation.

The standards for assessing care grade of disabled persons shall be developed by the municipal healthcare security department in conjunction with the municipal civil affairs department, health department, etc.

Article 57 Commercial insurance institutions shall be encouraged and supported in developing long-term care commercial insurance products connected with long-term care insurance to satisfy the multi-level care needs of disabled persons.

Article 58 The municipal and district people's governments shall improve the subsidy system for the elderly of advanced age and make appropriate adjustments thereto according to the level of social and economic development.

The district people's governments shall purchase accidental injury insurance for the eligible elderly with registered residence in the Shenzhen Municipality.

Article 59 The public welfare institutions for elderly care and for the combined services of medical care and elderly care shall enjoy the same land use policies as the counterparts established by the governments, and may use state-owned granted land or collectively owned land according to law.

Elderly care service institutions shall enjoy preferential tax policies and administrative charge reduction policies in accordance with relevant provisions of the State and Guangdong Province; for elderly care service institutions recognized by the civil affairs departments, they shall be charged for the use of water, electricity and gas according to the relevant standards applicable to the residents.   

Article 60 The municipal and district people's governments and their relevant departments shall formulate and improve relevant policies, push forward the development of the elderly care sector based on science and technology, support, guide and encourage scientific research institutions and enterprises to develop the products and services good for the elderly care with new-generation technologies, including but not limited to artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data, and promote the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements.

Elderly care service institutions, families and individuals shall be encouraged to use high-tech products good for the elderly to improve the quality of elderly care.

The municipal civil affairs department shall establish a smart elderly care service platform, integrate elderly care service information resources, establish and improve a sharing mechanism for elderly care service information, achieve the interconnection of elderly care service data, provide one-stop services relating to elderly care including governmental procedures, public services, analysis and decision making, and advocate the smart application for the elderly care service and management, with a view to providing efficient and convenient the elderly care service.   

Non-governmental entities shall be encouraged to provide related services to the elderly through the smart elderly care service platform, including but not limited to daily call, remote care, and home safety monitoring.

Civil affairs departments shall, in accordance with relevant provisions, provide emergency call devices for the elderly of advanced age, those living alone and those with special needs. Such emergency call devices shall be connected to the smart elderly care service platform to provide wireless positioning, safety monitoring, real-time help and other services.

Article 62 All service institutions closely related to the daily life of the elderly shall provide exclusive channels for the elderly to handle business, retain services including but not limited to on-site services and cash payment services, and provide door-to-door services for the disabled elderly who are unable to go to the site.

Article 63 Enterprises, public institutions, other organizations and individuals shall be encouraged to support the elderly care service by means of donation and volunteer services.

Younger elderly or the healthy elderly shall be encouraged to provide volunteer services to the disabled elderly or the elderly of advanced age.

Article 64 The municipal civil affairs department shall guide and assist the Municipal Volunteer Federation to establish a time-savings system of volunteer service time for the elderly, and release information on the needs of service beneficiaries, the storage and transfer of volunteer service time, and the evaluation on volunteer service through the smart elderly care service platform.

When the volunteers or their immediate family members become old,  volunteer service time stored can be exchanged for the equivalent elderly care service time.

Article 65 Public welfare and charity forces shall be supported in getting involved in the services for helping the elderly, cultivating and developing charitable organizations for helping the elderly, and establishing charitable service network for helping the elderly, so as to provide care services in material, spiritual, health and culture areas for the elderly living alone, in empty nests or with disabilities, and to create a good social atmosphere for respecting and helping the elderly.

Article 66 The mechanism of available the elderly care service provided in other places for the elderly with registered reisdence in Shenzhen Municipality shall be explored. The elderly with registered residence in Shenzhen Municipality but living in places other than Shenzhen Municipality shall be entitled to the same benefits as living in Shenzhen according to relevant provisions.

The cooperation between the elderly care service institutions in Shenzhen and those in other cities shall be given support in providing relevant services for the elderly with registered residence in Shenzhen Municipality living in other places.

Article 67 The municipal and district civil affairs departments and the community residents committees shall, according to law, provide assistance to the elderly with no capacity for civil conduct or with limited capacity for civil conduct, including but not limited to appointment of guardians, and perform the duties of temporary guardianship and public guardianship according to law.

Chapter VII Supervision and Administration

Article 68 The municipal civil affairs department shall establish a citywide unified quality assessment system and evaluation system for the elderly care service.

The municipal civil affairs department shall organize a comprehensive assessment of the government-run elderly care service institutions in terms of the staffing, facilities and equipment conditions, management level, service quality, satisfaction of service beneficiaries and social reputation, and release the assessment results to public.

District civil affairs departments shall organize a comprehensive assessment of the private elderly care service institutions within their respective jurisdictions in terms of the staffing, facilities and equipment conditions, management level, service quality, satisfaction of service beneficiaries and social reputation, and release the assessment results to public, and take the assessment results as an important basis for the governments' purchase of services and granting of construction and operation subsidies.

The municipal and district civil affairs departments may entrust professional institutions to carry out the specific assessment and evaluation.

Article 69 The municipal civil affairs department shall establish a credit evaluation system for the elderly care service, record and collect the credit information of elderly care service institutions and their employees according to law, for the purpose of the information exchange and sharing with the national credit information sharing platform.

The municipal civil affairs department may entrust credit rating agencies to perform credit rating of elderly care service institutions.  

Article 70 The municipal civil affairs department shall establish a reporting and complaint mechanism for the elderly care service, publish the hotline, mailbox and E-mail address for reporting, and accept complaints and reports related to the elderly care service.

The municipal and district civil affairs departments shall, within ten working days after the date of receiving the report or complaint, verify and handle the matter, and inform the complainant and informer of the result.

Article 71 Market regulation departments shall, within their functions and authority, supervise and control issues including but not limited to advertisements, food and drugs, and prices in connection with the elderly care service to maintain market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly.

Departments responsible for fire control, production safety and other supervisory functions shall, within their functions and authority, perform their supervisory duties according to law.

The municipal healthcare security department shall be responsible for the supervision and administration over the Municipal Long-term Care Insurance Fund.

Article 72 Departments of civil affairs, health and market regulation shall strengthen supervision and administration over healthcare products, financial products and services provided to the elderly.

Institutions and personnel engaged in the elderly care service shall not sell healthcare products, financial products or services to elderly care service beneficiaries and their families, and shall not provide support for the marketing activities of other business entities.

Article 73 The municipal civil affairs department shall, in conjunction with the municipal departments of health and healthcare security, strengthen the statistical work related to the elderly care service to accurately reflect the development status of the elderly care service, and timely obtain the basic data, including but not limited to the overall scale, industry structure, service quality, economic and social benefits of the elderly care service.

Article 74 Elderly care service institutions and their employees shall be given support in establishing elderly care service industry association to carry out service quality evaluation, service behavior supervision, grade assessment, third-party certification and other activities, and in strengthening construction of industry self-discipline and integrity.

Chapter Eight Legal Liability

Article 75 Where any entity, in violation of the paragraph 3 of Article 11 hereof, changes the use of the construction land for elderly care facilities without performing legal procedures, the entity shall be ordered by the land planning supervision department to make corrections within a specified time limit and imposed with a fine of not less than 50 yuan but not more than 200 yuan per square meter of the land in which use has been changed without authorization. The underlying land shall be resumed free of charge if no correction is made within the time limit.

Article 76 Where any entity, in violation of Article 14 hereof, fails to construct ancillary the elderly care service facilities in the community according to relevant provisions, the entity shall be ordered by the land planning supervision department to make corrections within a time limit, and shall be refused to verify the planning as a punishment and imposed to a fine of not less than 10% but not more than 20% of the construction cost of the elderly care service facilities if no correction is made within the time limit.

Article 77 Where any entity changes the use of elderly care service facilities invested or funded by the government without authorization, the entity shall be ordered by the district civil affairs department to make corrections within a specified time limit, and surrender the illegal gains, if any; if no correction is made within the time limit, such entity shall be imposed to a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 300,000 yuan; if the circumstance is severe, the entity shall be imposed to a fine of not less than 300,000 yuan but not more than 600,000 yuan and shall be disqualified from bidding, with a relevant announcement to be made.

Where any entity dismantles the elderly care service facilities invested or funded by the government, the entity shall be ordered by the district civil affairs department to restore the facilities to their original state and be imposed to a fine of not less than 5% but not more than 10% of the construction cost of the elderly care service facilities, and shall be imposed to a fine of twice the reconstruction cost of elderly care service facilities if the facilities are not restored to their original state within the time limit.

Article 78 Where any elderly care service institution, in violation of the paragraph 1 of Article 30 hereof, fails to properly place the admitted elderly while suspending or terminating its operation, the elderly care service institution shall be ordered by the district civil affairs department to make corrections within a time limit, and shall be imposed to a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan if no correction is made within the time limit.

Article 79 Where any institution or personnel engaged in the elderly care service, in violation of the paragraph 2 of Article 72 hereof, sells health care products, financial products or services to elderly care service beneficiaries and their families, or provide support for the marketing activities of other business entities, the illegal gains shall be confiscated by the market regulation department according to law, and the violator shall be imposed to a fine of 30,000 yuan if the sales revenue is less than 10,000 yuan, or a fine of three times the sales revenue if the sales revenue is not less than 10,000 yuan, and shall be investigated for criminal responsibility if such violation is considered as a crime.

Article 80 Where any elderly care service institution or individual defrauds any allowance, subsidy or reward, the elderly care service institution shall be ordered by the district civil affairs department to return the allowance and be imposed to a fine of three times the amount of the allowance, subsidy or reward defrauded, and shall be investigated for criminal responsibility if such defraud is considered as a crime.

Article 81 Where any entity obtains expenditure from the long-term care insurance fund or long-term care insurance benefits by fraud, forgery of certification materials or otherwise, the entity shall be ordered by the municipal healthcare security department to refund it and be imposed to a fine of not less than two times but not more than five times the amount defrauded, and shall be investigated for criminal responsibility if such defraud is considered as a crime.

Article 82 Where any entity or personnel violates the provisions hereof, but these Regulations have no provision on punishment for such violation, it shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations.

Chapter IX Supplementary Provisions

Article 83 The terms used in these Regulations bear the meanings set out below:

(1) the elderly care service refer to the society-wide services provided for caring the elderly, consisting of the basic public services provided by the government, market-oriented services provided by enterprises, and public welfare and mutual services provided by social organizations on the basis of the obligation of maintenance and support by family members, including home-based, community-based and institutional the elderly care service.

(2) Basic public the elderly care service refer to the inclusive and fair the elderly care service provided by the municipal and district people's governments based on the demand for the the elderly care service, the level of economic and social development, the government's security ability in respective jurisdictions, primarily consisting of the public the elderly care service required by the State and Guangdong Province, and those supplemented by the Shenzhen Municipality.   

(3) Community-based the elderly care service refer to the care services for the elderly living at home in the community, including basic public services provided by governments, professional services provided by enterprises and social organizations, public welfare and mutual services provided by mass organization of self-government at the grassroots level and volunteers.

(4) Elderly care service institutions refer to institutions that provide the elderly with such services as daily life, diet, care and nursing, rehabilitation training, culture, sports and entertainment, medical and health care, including elderly care institutions, community-based elderly care service institutions, and other enterprises, public institutions and social organizations in which business scope and articles of association include the elderly care service.

(5) Elderly care institutions refer to institutions registered according to law to provide full-day centralized accommodation and care and nursing services for the elderly with over 10 sickbeds.

(6) Elderly care service facilities refer to the housing and site facilities that are built to provide residential care, life care, rehabilitation care, culture and sports and entertainment services to the elderly.

(7) The elderly living in extreme difficulties refer to the elderly who are unable to work, have no source of livelihood, no supporters, or in which supporters are truly unable to support them.  

(8) The disabled elderly refer to the elderly who are assessed as incapable of self-care or completely incapable of self-care, including those with dementia.

(9) Special families under family planning refer to those which, during the period when the State advocated that each couple bears only one child, only gives birth to one child for life without adopting a child or only adopts one child according to law without giving birth for life, and in which only child is with disability at the level 3 or above or died, and do not give birth to another child or adopt a child.

Article 84 These Regulations shall come into force on March 1, 2021. The long-term care insurance premium stipulated in these Regulations shall be collected and paid from October 1, 2021, and the specific measures shall be separately formulated by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government.