Non-profit abbreviation

The deadline for re-registration of foreign NPOs in Russia expires tomorrow

The re-registration of Russian branches of foreign non-profit organizations, provided for by the new version of the law on NPOs, will inevitably lead to their reduction. The day before the deadline for submitting notifications to the Federal Registration Service, we can already talk about this with complete confidence. As the head of the service, Sergei Movchan, stated yesterday, only 80 organizations are registered, 72 notifications are still being considered and 25 packages of documents were returned to NPOs for revision. “Rosregistration” still reproaches NPOs for delaying the submission of documents, although the amendments to the federal law “On Non-Profit Organizations” that came into force on April 18, 2006 allotted exactly six months for re-registration for those who want to continue operating in the territory our country.

According to experts, the number of Russian branches of foreign NPOs before the legislation was updated amounted to hundreds. “Some people say about 500, others say 250, 300 - but no one knows the exact number,” Mr. Movchan said. Judging by his data, adoption agencies turned out to be the most law-abiding - half of the newly registered ones specialize in finding adoptive families for Russian orphans.

The head of Rosregistration assures that the law did not impose unrealistic requirements on NPOs, just as the service “does not refuse to accept documents from anyone.” According to him, non-profit organizations must attach five documents to the notification. “This list is exhaustive. Re-registration may be refused if not all documents have been submitted,” Mr. Movchan clarified. True, it is impossible to get into the register even if the documents contain spelling, stylistic or factual errors.

However, representatives of branches of foreign NGOs argue that the requirements of the Russian authorities are sometimes difficult to explain to foreigners. As the leading lawyer of the representative office of the British charitable organization Charities Aid Foundation CAF-Russia, Yulia Chekmareva, told Vremya Novostei, in particular, the difficulties were caused by the desire of Rosregistration to obtain information about the founders and members of the fund’s board of trustees. “The Board of Trustees of our organization meets once a year, and we need good reasons for its extraordinary convocation,” said Ms. Chekmareva. - However, they met us halfway and collected it. Also, the council members showed goodwill and provided their addresses to the Russian registration authorities, although this information is personal. All this was the reason that the re-registration was delayed and we were able to receive the necessary documents only in mid-September, although we sent them to the head office for processing back in July.”

CAF-Russia is lucky because you can communicate with members of the board of trustees. However, among the NPOs represented in Russia, there are some that were founded in the first half of the last century, and the founders, for obvious reasons, no longer have any addresses. So, in order to register in Russia, representatives of these organizations had to conduct historical research.

However, the death of the founders is not yet a reason to avoid filling out the required form when re-registering in Russia. As Natalya Veshnyakova, director of the department of management, organization and control of the Ministry of Justice, once again reminded yesterday, organizations that are not included in the register and have not submitted a notice of intention to re-register will not be able to carry out their activities from October 19. True, nothing prevents them from re-registering in the future, but the law already provides for a completely different procedure for this.

In addition to the inexorably approaching deadline for submitting documents for re-registration, the deadlines for submitting financial statements are also inexorably approaching, as the director of the Federal Registration Service recalled. NPOs included in the register must report on their financial activities by October 31. At the same time, Sergei Movchan promised not to “look into his pocket.” “We will not look at salaries, but at the goals and objectives stated by the organization, and what funds are used for this. And are these funds directed towards these goals and objectives? And the fact that a representative of a certain fund or foreign non-profit organization will have a salary of 10 thousand dollars - for God’s sake,” said Mr. Movchan. At the same time, the absence of financial statements, according to him, does not entail immediate exclusion from the register. “This will not happen automatically; naturally, we will communicate with this organization about why it did not file these financial statements, and after that issue a warning and make a decision,” he reassured.

Irina BELASHEVA