The Constitutional Court grants non-profit organizations the right to freedom of organization

The Constitutional Court announced on Monday, November 20, the decision-making related to the search of some non-profit organizations to annul some provisions of the law "On the registration of non-profit organizations", as incompatible with the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.

Applicants, Albanian Committee of Helsinki, Tirana branch; Albanian Media Council; The Alliance against LGBT Discrimination and the Balkan Network for Investigative Journalism, Albania - BIRN Albania, have claimed in research that the content of some provisions in this law violates the constitutional right to organize, which is guaranteed by Article 46 of the Constitution and Article 11 of the Convention European Commission on Human Rights; that they are contrary to the provisions of Article 17 of the Constitution and international standards, which require that the limitation of this right, including sanctions, be provided by law, have a legitimate purpose and be proportional to the purpose that is intended to be achieved .The Constitutional Court announces that it has partially accepted the request, revoking the provision that determines the obligation for initial registration within a 30-day period.

"The court came to the conclusion that it not only does not originate as such from the legislation in force, but, on the one hand, it brings other additional obligations for these entities and, on the other hand, its non-compliance leads to its being considered as a violation , with the consequence of the administrative penalty with a fine.

Consequently, this provision imposes a disproportionate burden, especially on organizations that intend to be newly created, thus constituting an obstacle in terms of freedom of organization", the Constitutional Court assesses.

In relation to those provisions that have foreseen the powers of the chancellor, the court comes to the conclusion that they are contrary to Article 46 of the Constitution, which has expressly provided that the registration of organizations or associations is done in the court, which is the only competent body in relation to any action carried out by the organization or association, both in relation to the acquisition of legal personality or its termination, as well as actions related to the exercise of this activity.

"Consequently, the chancellor, although he exercises his duties near the court, is not included in the constitutional concept of the court in terms of issues related to the registration of non-profit organizations", argues the Court.

Other legal provisions that have been struck down as incompatible with the Constitution are those of points 2 to 6 of Article 49 of the disputed law.

"The court came to the conclusion that these provisions do not meet the required constitutional standards regarding the clarity of the legal norm in terms of the meaning and calculation of fines on the declared annual income of non-profit organizations.

Likewise, even the minimum and maximum limits for the imposition of fines do not meet the required standards for the proportionality of the restriction, thus not respecting the constitutional criteria of limiting the freedom of organization", it is quoted in the announcement of the Constitutional Court, which further states that the part The rest of the research has been dismissed as it assesses that their content does not essentially violate the freedom of organization, nor does it make its exercise impossible./BIRN