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.