The proton donor-acceptor mechanism of catalysis makes it possible to study catalytic reactions at the elementary particle level, which made it possible to obtain the laws of homogeneous catalysis. The main characteristics of homogeneous catalysis were obtained from the rate law. The main parameter in the formulas of the laws of homogeneous catalysis is the total electric charge obtained by the reactants. It was shown that in such dissimilar and different types of catalysis as homogeneous and field catalysis, the same mechanism of catalysis is realized. This mechanism is based on the transfer of electric charges to the reagents by means of protons and electrons. The proton and electron donor-acceptor mechanisms are charge-symmetric mechanisms of catalysis. The difference between the proton donor-acceptor mechanism of homogeneous catalysis and the electronic donor-acceptor mechanism of field catalysis lies in the electrical charge carriers. The donor-acceptor mechanism claims to be a universal mechanism of catalysis. The key factor leading to a decrease in the activation energy of a chemical reaction is the change in the charge state of the reactants. A generalized law is obtained, from which the laws of homogeneous and field catalysis follow as particular results.