Amendments to the Law on public associations need to be analysed by CoE – experts

Moldovan NGOs are concerned about the bill on amending the Law on public associations, worked out by the Government, which regulates the procedure of state registration and the activity of public organisations. According to a statement signed by 14 NGOs in Moldova, the proposals for amending the Law on public associations have been grounded on the necessity to adjust some of the provisions of the Law to the new Civil Code, which was enacted in 2003. Civil society asserts that many of the stipulations of the draft law have no connection with the provisions of the Civil Code, and will introduce multiple impediments and bureaucratic restrictions in the process of registration and the activity of public associations in Moldova. In the authors’ opinion, freedom of assembly is the foundation of the existence and functioning of the civil society in every state. This is why any interference of public authorities and unfounded limitations in realising the right to freedom of assembly are dangerous and unacceptable. Based on this belief, public organisations call on the Parliament to submit the bill to the Council of Europe for expertise, and then organise public parliamentary consultations concerning the respective bill with the participation of public organisations. Only after these measures are undertaken, should the Parliament debate the draft in the second reading. API says that the bill contains several suspect “innovations”, including the proposal for registering only the public organisations that do not violate “the morals”. Another stipulation oblige founders to indicate their name, residence, date of birth, citizenship and other identity data, which represents an unnecessary interference in the private life of the organisation’s founders. The bill also proposes that the list of documents which are to be presented to the registration body (mayoralty or Ministry of Justice) should be unlimited, a fact which will facilitate the officials’ abuses and will delay the respective process. Another proposal is to annul the pecuniary accountability of the state for illegal liquidation of a public organisation. The mentioned statement is signed by 14 NGOs, among which ADEPT, Amnesty International Moldova, “Promo-Lex” Association, “Acces Info” Centre, “Jurists for Human Rights” Public Organisation The respective bill has been examined and passed by the Parliament in first reading on November 24, 2006.