From January 2021 entered into force the Law “On the central register of bank accounts”. The main subject of the law is the financial institutions, but it has a direct effect on all legal entities, including NPOs.

In October 2020, after been informed about the draft law and getting acquainted with it, in cooperation with experts and a group of organizations, we analyzed the draft law and its impact on the non-profit sector and drafted a Legal Opinion which was sent to the Ministry of Finance and Economy to address the problematic issues raised. The Opinion was also widely shared with civil society organizations, donors and other institutions.

After the adoption of the Law, we found that a small part of the recommendations are reflected in the law, respectively:

(1) Article 8 point 2 of the Law does not explicitly provide that the accounts of NPOs and their respective data will be part of the Register. However, the term ‘legal entity’ also includes NPOs.

(2) Article 8 point 4 has an express provision which enables the Register not to keep data on the amounts of bank accounts.

(3) The term ‘multi-purpose’ in the article defining the Register as a database has been removed.

(4) Article 10 does not expressly provide for the right of the General Directorate of Taxation (GDT) to conduct on-site or remote inspections.

These are issues accepted and changed. Meanwhile, other suggestions regarding the body that administers the Register, the rights of the institutions interested in receiving info, etc., do not respect the constitutional guarantees related to them. The maintenance and administration of the Register by an executive body such as the General Directorate of Taxes (GDT) and the GDT’s right to provide information to interested institutions without court confirmation are the most vulnerable points of the law. Especially for these points, the law can be subject to review by the Constitutional Court, set in motion by the subjects that legitimize themselves to address this court.

The adopted law has many other points that are contrary to other laws and the basic principles of establishing structures of state institutions (identified in the legal analysis of NPOs in October 2020).

For more information find HERE the full Opinion