12.01.07

New regulations for registering non-commercial organizations, including foreign ones, as well as public associations, political parties and chambers of commerce, which Rossiyskaya Gazeta publishes on page nine today (28 December), enter into force in the New Year.

Registration for non-commercial organizations was one of the hottest topics this year. What have the new regulations added and how have they changed the procedure and conditions for registration?

The regulations drawn up to enhance the quality of state services when non-commercial organizations are registered concern first and foremost the "technical aspect" of matters: what the FRS's (Federal Registration Service) offices should look like, what information it should provide about itself, how "the workplace" should be equipped, what modes of operation should be adhered to.

"This document regulates the work of officials in more detail but the most important thing is that it makes it more transparent," Anatoliy Panchenko, the deputy head of the FRS administration for the affairs of political parties, social, religious and other organizations, stresses.

The regulations introduce new modes of operation which are more convenient for citizens: visitors should not spend more than 20 minutes in a queue, officials should stick to certain rules in telephone conversations, air conditioners are compulsory in work places, as are places for visitors at car parks and from the 1 January 2008 access ramps for the disabled.

"Perhaps there are some details in the regulations which inconvenience officials but such inconvenience will benefit things," Anatoliy Panchenko thinks, "On the whole, what is convenient for the customer is also convenient for officials. During the past six months, foreigners re-registering non-commercial organizations have been really outraged by our conditions: it is cramped and uncomfortable. We really are cramped, our equipment is not good and the new regulations will enable us to improve conditions."

In Anatoliy Panchenko's opinion, there was "a normal regime without congestion and jams" in the FRS even before the regulations were adopted. There were never more than 15 people, together with translators and those accompanying them, in the queue and it was like that for just two days when all the fuss surrounding the re-registration of foreign non-commercial organizations occurred. And so the requirement not to detain visitors for more than 20 minutes in queues does not seem that revolutionary to him.

By comparison with the problems of all kinds of technical difficulties when registering property rights, where there are far more applications and appeals, the registration of non-commercial organizations is a "quiet haven".

Rossiyskaya Gazeta phoned several recently created charitable foundations to discover their impressions of the registration procedure. However, it turned out that they preferred to entrust the registration to specialists - legal firms or larger foundations. "It was a choice - devote my time to the children or to the registration," Yekaterina Chistyakova from the Give Life Foundation (its founders are the well-known actresses and philanthropists Chulpan Khamatova and Dina Korzun) explained to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Give Life got its registration the first time, with the help of a legal company. But the Help.org Foundation had to submit documents twice: the first time the foundation was not registered because the fee was not paid by the founder himself, but on his behalf.

Difficulties with drawing up the documents is the main problem when registering non-commercial organizations. "During the registration process it is very important that all the documents are correctly filled in, to the letter, and the order of the documents is even important so that the registrar is able to find everything easily," Inga Skvortsova, from the Kliff legal company, says. "This procedure is not regulated in any way, it is just that those who constantly deal with it know how to draw up a set of documents in the order required. If a stamp or signature is missing anywhere, if a copy is missing, all this can be a reason to return the documents."

The new document requires the registering body to indicate in a refusal "the norms (points, articles) in the Russian Federation Constitution and the Russian Federation legislation, the non-compliance with which led to such a decision being taken, the content of such norms and the form taken by the non-compliance with the requirements of the above norms".

"It just remains to be seen how this will be implemented," Skvortsova thinks. "It is unlikely that a simple reference to an article in the law will explain anything. Or the reason written for the refusal will be 'non-compliance of documents'. But this does not give the number of the page where there mistake was made. People have come to us after receiving a refusal and not being able to understand what they needed to correct."

Of the organizational problems which currently exist with the registration of non-commercial organizations, Skvortsov notes non-compliance with the time limits for registration, which instead of the set 24 days, may be as much as 50 days.

Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, January 2, 2007