This is not really new news, but part of an ongoing story given that Shenzhen first started carrying out direct registration for social organizations as early as 2008. The upshot of this article appears to be that the new regulations are actually being carried out.
It notes that more than 700 NGOs, out of a registered total of 5,094, have been directly registered with the Civil Affairs department since the new regulations went into effect. In the first half of 2012, 61 NGOs registered directly, accounting for 66 percent of all successful registrations during the same period. Perhaps the more interesting news in this article is that Shenzhen is currently drafting a regulation to allow overseas charitable organizations to register with the Civil Affairs office in Shenzhen. Currently, with the exception of the 1989 Provisional Regulations for Foreign Chambers of Commerce and regulations issued by the Yunnan provincial authorities in 2009, there are no stand-alone regulations governing the registration and management of overseas NGOs.
