The State Duma adopted in the final reading amendments to the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”

Government amendments to the law "On freedom of conscience" were adopted in the second and third readings. The controversial provisions on the attestation procedure and on the name of legal entities were finalized taking into account the wishes of religious organizations, other proposals were not changed.

On March 23, 2021, the State Duma adopted in the second reading a bill amending the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations". It was submitted to the lower house of parliament in July 2020 and passed on first reading in December. The amendments drew criticism from religious organizations and were partly revised . In the final version, the following amendments are made to the law "On Freedom of Conscience":

• Throughout the law, the term "members" is changed to "participants"; "forms of activity", which are indicated in the statutes of religious organizations, are changed to "types of activity"; the term "institution" is excluded from the concept of "religious organization".

• It states that the state does not interfere in the activities of religious associations, " if it does not contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation " (in the current wording - if " it does not contradict this Federal Law ").

• It is established that the leader and member of a religious group cannot be:

  • a foreign citizen or stateless person in respect of whom a decision has been made on the undesirability of staying in the Russian Federation;
  • a person included in the list of extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring;
  • a person in respect of whom, by a court decision that has entered into legal force, it has been established that his actions contain signs of extremist activity;
  • an individual whose accounts are frozen by the Interdepartmental Commission on Combating the Financing of Terrorism. Thus, the requirements already existing in the legislation for non-profit organizations, including religious ones, apply to leaders and members of religious groups.

• An annual frequency of notifications about the continuation of the activities of a religious group is introduced (now - once every three years), as well as a requirement to indicate in these notifications information in an amount similar to the notification about the beginning of the activities of the group. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice will be obliged to inform the applicant in writing about the receipt and registration of a notification on the creation or proposal of the group's activities within five working days.

• It is indicated that religious organizations can enter, leave and be excluded from the centralized organization, if this corresponds to its internal regulations, however, a ban on their exit can also be established.

• The use of information about religion in the name is allowed for legal entities created by religious organizations, and is prohibited for other legal entities. The latter will have to bring their names into line with the law by 2022. By the second reading, an amendment was introduced to the bill, which makes an exception for registered public organizations and public movements: they will be able to include information about religion in the name " on the basis of the written consent of a centralized religious organization of the corresponding confessional affiliation ."

• It is determined that if a religious organization belongs to a foreign religious organization, its name must be indicated in the charter.

• Registration of religious organizations is simplified: the Ministry of Justice will not require information about the address of the permanent governing body of the organization, and will also have to independently request a copy of the charter of the founder of the organization if it is not provided by the applicant.

• The amendment that caused the most controversy, concerning the attestation of clergy, received the following expression for the second reading. Those clergy and religious personnel of religious organizations who have been trained in foreign educational organizations according to training programs for clergy or religious personnel, respectively, and at the same time for the first time begin to perform worship, rituals, missionary work or teaching in Russia, "receive additional professional education in the field of fundamentals of public -confessional relations in the Russian Federation ". They will be able to undergo such studies either in spiritual educational organizations that implement such programs with state accreditation of the Russian Federation, or in federal universities, the list of which will be determined by Rosobrnadzor. After that, according to the bill, they are certified by the governing body of the central religious organization of the corresponding confessional affiliation. These provisions will apply only to the clergy, who will begin their activities after the entry into force of the law.

The law will enter into force 180 days after it is signed by the president and officially published. The statutes of religious organizations established up to this point will be subject to alignment with the new law; until the moment of correction, they will act only in that part that does not contradict it.

It should be noted that the replacement of the word "members" with "participants" caused concern among a number of believers and lawyers: for Christians, the concept of "member of the church" is significant. In addition, the law may create additional bureaucratic difficulties for religious groups (the procedure for submitting notifications becomes more complicated for them) and religious organizations (many of them will have to re-register the charter).

Finally, the ban on participation in religious groups, including those on the list of Rosfinmonitoring, looks problematic, if not in direct conflict with the constitutional right to practice religion together with others. Such a restriction of freedom of conscience can hardly be considered justified, especially considering that religious groups do not own their own property and, accordingly, their leaders and members cannot dispose of it in order to finance terrorist or extremist activities. In addition, the Rosfinmonitoring list includes not only convicts, but also those accused and even suspected of terrorist and extremist articles.

On March 24, the bill was passed in third reading. The deputies did not make any changes to the text of the bill.

Sources

• Draft Law No. 992354-7 On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations" (in terms of improving the legal regulation of the activities of religious associations) // CREATION GAS "Lawmaking". 2021. March 23.
• The State Duma adopted the law "On certification of the clergy" // RIA News. March 24, 2021