“A number of changes in the authorities of the supreme body of non-governmental organizations are provided under the new law,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, the EU funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project Manager said at the training for NGOs on the New NGO Law, which was held today in Vanadzor City, and recommended to pay attention to this fact.
Further Mr. Zadoyan spoke about the authorities of the supreme body – the assembly and the executive body of the organization. Listing the powers of the assembly he said, “The powers include making decisions on establishing separate subdivisions or institutions and adopting their statutes, formation, election (appointing) of bodies provided by the statute or early termination of their powers (dismissal), in cases where remuneration for the executive body of the organization is provided decide the terms and conditions of remuneration, etc.”
The assembly also approves the development of strategies, Karen Zadoyan advised NGOs to pay much attention to this issue.
Parallel with the innovations the new law includes problematic norms that need solutions. The primary issue is related to the running entrepreneurial activity. There are a number of controversial provisions here in the areas of turnover, value added and profit tax. There are also problems in terms of free competition with commercial organizations. Provisions preventing the effectiveness of NGO activities exist in the sections related to registration through restructuring, as well as the volunteer work.
Mr. Aleksander Shagafyan, President of Armenian Center for Democratic Education (CIVITAS) participated in today’s workshop as well. He spoke about the “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project and said that it is intended to identify and solve problem in 9 areas. “We are not going from top to bottom, but from the bottom up. We have identified the problems and are saying lets solve together through other discussions and find solutions,” Mr. Shagafyan said.
Mr. Marat Atovmyan, Mentors’ Group Coordinator/Justice and related Sectors Mentor spoke about the idea of the creation of incubators, and stressed that in addition to local experts, international experts will also provide professional knowledge to NGO representatives in Yerevan and in marzes.
On 16 December 2016, the RA NA adopted the New Law of the Republic of Armenia on Public Organizations (NGO Law), which came into force on 4 February, 2017. The law includes a number of innovations as well as problematic norms. The training is conducted in the scope of the Europe Days and the regular training was designed for organizations of Lori marz.
After the training, ALA President provided individual counseling to the representatives of NGOs>
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO in cooperation with its partners; Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, SME Cooperation Association and Union of Communities of Armenia.
Gevorg Tosunyan
Aleksander Sargsyan
