On July 10, the Ministry of Justice published in the Electronic Register for Notification and Public Consultation the draft law “On the registration of non-profit organizations”. The accompanying report of the draft law mentions the institutions that have contributed to its drafting. We find very concerning that in this group of institutions, the civil society organizations were not mentioned, because they were acquainted with the draft law only after its publication for consultation, while special attention should have been paid to their involvement in the drafting process.

The initiative to revise the Law, introduce a simpler and more efficient registration procedure for NPOs and create an electronic register is positive, however, the draft law brings many changes which are a concern for civil society organizations, as well as ambiguities which are needed to be clarified in order for the law to function better.

The National Resource Centre and Partners Albania immediately initiated a consultation process with civil society organizations to discuss the draft law and come up with concrete recommendations in its regard. Through an open letter addressed to the institutions responsible for drafting the law, as well as information to donors and international organizations in the country, 27 civil society organizations, part of the consultation process, expressed their concern about the draft law and their opinion and recommendations on principle and articles of the law. For more read here: The Open Letter and Comments and Suggestions on the Draft Law

In response to the request of civil society organizations, a meeting was organized at the Ministry of Justice with representatives of the Directorate of the Codification and a representative from the group of CSOs, where all problematic issues of the law and relevant suggestions were presented. The comments and suggestions of the CSOs were accepted by the representatives of the Ministry, who committed themselves to review of the draft based on what was discussed and suggested.