Experts: It's time for state to debureaucratize the procedure for providing free assistance to NGOs

The authorities suggested third sector to voice their suggestions re legislative regulation of receiving foreign donations in Belarus. The question is whether the voice of NGOs will be heard?

Department of Humanitarian Affairs Office of the President of Belarus announced the preparation of new legal act aimed at upgrade of the procedure for providing free assistance to NGOs, its exemption from taxes and customs duties and offered non-governmental organizations share their suggestions. Now this procedure is regulated by the President’s Decree No.24 as of November 28, 2003 “On acquiring and using foreign donations”. The department was getting suggestions before March 30.

Center for Legal Transformation ”Lawtrend” and Assembly of NGOs suggested to elaborate consolidated stance on changes required in the legislation on receiving and using foreign donations to non-commercial organizations.

In result 29 non-commercial organizations put their signatures under the collective proposition. The collective proposition is based on long-term experience of the Center for Legal Transformation on consulting and helping organizations that are involved in receiving and allotting foreign donations, informed Yury Chavusau, a lawyer Of the Assembly Of Pro-Democratic NGOs Of Belarus.

The proposition of NGOs includes suggestions on resolution of the most important and conceptual problems that require changes in the legislation.

One of the main problems is to legislate a comprehensive list of objectives, for which foreign donations can be received. The proposition also suggests broadening the list of these goals considerably, and even abandon this list at all, which would allow organizations receive and use foreign donations for achieving any socially useful purposes.

In the process of elaborating legislation it is also suggested to reject the permitting procedures for receiving foreign donations. Now the situation looks like the state body can, basically, refuse registration of foreign aid at its own choosing and de facto forbid the use of the already received and assigned for charity aid.

It is also suggested to switch to automatic exemption of foreign donations from taxes and customs duties, as well as switch to the closed list of documents required for registration of foreign donations.

“Our suggestions are based on the principle of bigger openness of Belarus for foreign funding, bigger opportunities for non-commercial organizations to receive funding without numerous coordination with the state bodies, as well as they are in the course of debureaucratisation”, - Chavusau said.

“NGOs have been initiating abolition of permitting procedure for receiving foreign donations since 2001, when it was introduced. We have voiced our suggestions for amending the legislation more than once”, noted Volha Smalianka, the head of the Centre for Legal Transformation “Lawtrend”.

“Attracting foreign aid can significantly relieve the state budget. First of all, it concerns social sphere, including health care, social assistance to elderly and children, environmental protection, - she said. – For today the economic situation is not very optimistic in our country, so it would be logical to improve legislation on foreign donations by directing it to positive course that would be attracting funds from abroad”.

According to her, the experience of post-Soviet countries demonstrates that the biggest amount of funds from abroad attracts those states where regulation of foreign donations is quite free and there is no permitting procedures for receiving them. Such countries as Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan receive hundreds billions dollars a year from foreign investors.

Unfortunately, noted Smalianka, the project of decree on foreign donations that the public knows about didn’t meet support among NGOs:

“The assessment of the project of decree demonstrates that legislation isn’t following the path of easing the state regulation re receiving foreign donations, but is rather following the path of bigger restrictions. First of all, this is caused by the government’s attempts to coordinate any help and any goals this help pursues in our country”, - she marked.

In particular, this project introduces such notions as “humanitarian projects”, which, according to the developers’ intention, are realized only under state’s control and with the President’s coordination.

“And that results in system’s bigger bureaucratization for one thing; and for another, a foreign investor that provides help isn’t always ready to work when his or her project is under the state’s control”, - noted Smalianka.

Among the negative moments of the project of decree Smalianka mentioned the lack of a broader list of goals that these foreign donations can support. According to her, “today the list of goals to get foreign donations for is quite small and doesn’t provide for environmental protection, gender equality, human rights, or social support of women”.

At the same time the project of the decree elaborated by the authorities doesn’t change this list, but only introduces the notion of humanitarian programs and projects that might have broader goals but can only be realized together with the state bodies.

“Our suggestions are based on the principle f bigger openness of Belarus for foreign funding, bigger opportunities for NGOs to get funding without numerous negotiations with the state bodies, as well as they are in the course of debureaucratisation. We hope that state bodies won’t leave suggestions of NGOs unattended”, - Chavusau said.