Assembly of NGOs prepared remarks to draft law On Non-profitable Organizations

The Center of Legal Transformation at the Assembly of NGOs started collecting signatures under a collective address to the draft law On non-profitable organizations.

According to the schedule of the legislative activities, an appropriate draft law is to be introduced in the Parliament in March 2011. The law will influence the development the whole civil society in Belarus. Thus, it's a convenient moment for the articulation of the joint position of non-profitable organizations of Belarus on issues of the legal regulation of their activities.

Organizations of the Belarusian civil society worked out a general approach to the content of the draft law, taking into account the proposals, remarks and expert conclusions of a number of national and foreign non-profitable organizations.

The document is proposed for signing by a wide range of non-profitable organizations including business associations, parties, trade unions, religious organizations, creative unions, institutions, etc. The initiators of the address to the Parliament hope that hundreds of non-profitable organizations will join the address and the legislators will have to react to the voice of the consolidated civil society.

The address criticizes the complication of the registration rules for institutions and associations of legal entities which are now registered by application. The authors of the address also call on the legislators to permit registering the legal address at the place of residence of the founder. the owner of property or a member of the registered organization (as it is already provided for some non-profitable organizations, such as private unitary enterprises). They also propose holding open hearings with the participation of all interested sides in order to discuss and develop the draft law before its consideration in the first reading, and note that the adoption of the law can either improve or deteriorate the situation of non-profitable organizations. In particular, it could become a reason for the abolishment of the notorious Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code, penalizing activities on behalf of unregistered organizations.

Signatures in support of the address will be collected during till 23 February, when the document will be passed to the Government (which is responsible for preparation of the draft) and to the Parliament.