Thursday, December 5 2019 16:23

ArmInfo. On December 5, the Armenian government approved the draft law on amendments to the RA Law "On Public Organizations".

According to David Ananyan, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee  (SRC) of Armenia, who introduced the draft law, there is an objective  need to revise the current legislation. So, in the course of the  application of the RA Law "On Public Organizations" a number of  discrepancies were identified that required specification. The  objective is also to ensure a high level of public accountability.   However, the legislator was guided by the recommendation of paragraph  8.3 of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering).

As Ananyan explained, under the current regulations, only NGOs that  receive funding from public funds submit an annual report on  activities over the past year. By the current draft, the legislator  has waived this restriction. Henceforth, all NGOs will be required to  submit an annual report to the SRC, regardless of the sources of  funding.

The project also clarifies the requirements for the information  indicated in the report. So, NGOs receiving public money should not  only disclose the programs within which they receive this funding,  but also indicate the sources of funding. The remaining NGOs will  submit to the authorized body - SRC, information on the programs  within which money and property funds were received, without  indicating their sources of funding.

In addition, if under the current regulations, NGOs indicate in the  annual report the number of members of the public organization and  volunteers at the beginning of the reporting year, now it will be  required to submit data at the end of the reporting year. At the same  time, the legislator requires indicating the number of volunteers who  have worked in NGOs for at least 20 hours and are in contractual  labor relations with the NGOs.

To note,, according to paragraph 8.3 of the FATF recommendation,  countries should have a clear policy of promoting transparency,  reliability and public trust in the direction and management of all  NGOs.