After the legislation aimed at strengthening the financial sustainability of civil society, known as the 2% law, is passed, the nongovernmental organizations will be more active and transparent, said participants in a public debate staged at IPN. The law provides that the private individuals and legal entities will be able to transfer 2% of the income tax paid to the state to NGOs.

Chairman of the National Participation Council Sergiu Ostaf said that this law is a mechanism that builds ties between people and noncommercial organizations. It will be possible to transfer at most 2% of the income tax to NGOs that have the status of public utility. Only the organizations that commit themselves to publish progress reports and financial reports and will avoid conflicts of interest inside them will be able to get such a status.

The representative of the NGO Council Iuliana Cantaragiu, who is an expert in tax legislation, said that the noncommercial organizations now have the status of public utility, but the law stipulates that they should again go through the relevant procedures because the criteria became tougher. The public utility certificate will be issued by a commission created under the Ministry of Justice, which will include representatives of the Government, Parliament and civil society.

The organizations that will misuse the money transferred by the people face such penalties as the refunding of the amount to the state, withdrawal of the public utility status for a period of three years and even fines.

The law provides that a person can transfer maximum 2% of the income tax to an organization, but minimum 100 lei. The practice of other states showed that during the first 2-4 years, only 7% of the people make use of this right. In 5-6 years the figure rises to 30%, but it never exceeded 40% in the European countries. The local organizations benefit from this money the most as the people know about their activity.

If it is passed by Parliament, the law will come into force on January 1, 2015.

The debate was held within the public campaign “Countdown to fulfillment of the government’s promises: seven days – seven priorities”.