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Strasbourg, 18 September 2012 

Secretariat Working Paper:

‘Russia 2012 NGO Law’ 

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RUSSIA 2012 NGO LAW 

Background

  Civil society in Russia consists of approximately 220,000 non-commercial organizations and

 public associations (collectively referred to as ‘NGOs’) [ICNL, 2012].

  Russian government regulation of these NGOs has attracted considerable attention since January

2006, when President Putin enacted the ‘ Russian Federation Law on Introducing Amendments to

Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation’ . This law is commonly referred to as the 2006

Russia NGO law to reflect the actual target of the legislation, namely nongovernmental

organizations

  This law introduced a number of new burdensome requirements for Russian and foreign NGOs

operating in Russia. It expanded de jure the ground on which the registration authority may deny

registration to organizations. For instance, this new legislation provided that registration can be

denied if the organization's " goals and objectives ... create a threat to the sovereignty, political

independence, territorial integrity, national unity ... and national interests of the Russian

 Federation" [ICNL, 2006, p.2].

  This law also expanded the supervisory powers of the Russian authorities over NGOs. It has

granted state officials the power to summon documents dealing with the details of an

organization's governance and to send government representatives to all of an organization's

events, without restrictions [ICNL, 2006, p.2].

  The Kremlin has justified this law on the basis that it must monitor foreign funding of Russian

 NGOs. This is something that the Kremlin has regarded with great suspicion since the so-called

'colour revolutions' in Ukraine and Georgia when public uprisings peacefully overturned pro-

Kremlin governments. Moscow firmly believes those uprisings were spearheaded by foreignfunded NGOs.

  In fact, this legislation has been applied selectively to silence critical voices within Russia. NGOs

which work on controversial issues such as human rights, those working in sensitive regions such

as the North Caucasus and those seeking to galvanize legitimate public dissent have been

specifically targeted by the authorities [ New Statesman, 2008].

Brief overview of the 2012 law

 

On 21st July 2012, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial bill named 'Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Regarding the Regulation of

 Activities of Non-Commercial Organizations Performing the Function of Foreign Agents'. This new

law will come into effect in November 2012, 120 days after its publications in the mass media on 23

July.

  The law will require for all NGOs to register with the Russian Ministry of Justice prior to the receipt

of funding from any foreign sources if they intend to conduct political activities. Such politically

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active NGOs are to be called 'NGOs carrying functions of a foreign agent', a label which is resonant

of Soviet fears about foreign spies. These foreign-funded NGOS will be required to clearly identify

themselves as 'foreign agents' in public presentations and on all publications and websites. NGOs

that fail to register as 'foreign agents' can be suspended for up to six months, by simple decision of

the authorities without a court order.

 

Moreover, these NGOs will have to allow official checks of their income, accounting andmanagement structures as well as regularly make public their sources of income and their

management. Specifically, these organizations will have to commission costly audits annually,

report on substantive work twice a year, and report on financial activities on a quarterly basis. At the

same time, harsh sanctions are included for non-compliance with relevant regulations by both the

organizations and their leaders: individuals that fail to comply with this law will face up to four

years in prison and fines of up to 300,000 rubles (€7,400) and their organization will be fined up to

1 million rubles ( €25,000) [RIA Novosti, 2012].

  The bill's author, Alexander Sidyakin, a member of Putin's United Russia party, argued in the

Russian media that the law was aimed at “ensuring transparency” and would “by no means interfere

with [NGO] activities". Interestingly, Sidyakin was also the author of the recent amendments to the

law that imposed increased restrictions on public rallies in Russia, which was adopted in June this

year with extraordinary speed [Human Rights Watch, 2012].

Council of Europe’s official position

  The Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland condemned this new law in an official statement issued

on 7 July 2012. He declared that he is “ particularly worried that this is only the latest in a series

of attempts to change in haste key legislation regulating democratic life in Russia, without giving

enough time for proper reflection and public debate” He expressed serious concerns about the

deteriorating climate for the development of civil society in Russia, pointing to the fact that theCouncil of Europe reviewed the 2006 NGO law which was then revised by the Russian

Government to incorporate several of the recommendations made by the Council of Europe.

[Council of Europe, 2012].

  In an interview with the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Jagland further criticizes this law by

stating that the term of ‘foreign agent’ is reminiscent of the Stalin era. He elaborated on the term

'foreign agent', finding the term to be "unfair [and] inappropriate [in that there is no use for such

a term] in a modern lawmaking [and that] it belongs to the past and does not belong [in] a

democratic society". He went on to say that the term is also “often used in other authoritarian

regimes against everybody that has different views" [RIA Novosti, 2012].

  Similarly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)'s co-rapporteur on

Russia, Andreas Gross, greatly criticized this law for non-compliance with European standards

and stated that this breach will be included in the PACE 80-page report on Russia, due to be

 presented to the PACE's Assembly in October [Radio Free Europe, 2012].

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Impact on Youth NGOs

  The full consequences of this law are not yet known, because no prosecution has been brought to

date. Yet this law will clearly have an adversarial impact on the NGOs with which foreign

organizations work together with in Russia  Many of Russia’s NGOs rely heavily on foreign funding to operate in Russia where finding

sponsors has become difficult since the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003, which was

 partly seen as a punishment for his funding of opposition and democracy groups [Guardian, 

2012].

  Although these new regulations will not apply to religious organizations, NGOs created with the

 participation of state agencies, charity groups and cultural associations, it is evident that a number

of independent youth organizations are likely to fall under these draconian restrictions due to the

law's vague formulation of 'political activity'.

  A number of small local youth organizations are likely to find it increasingly difficult to find

funding and meet the government's new requirements for NGOs. These organizations will most

 probably be forced to shut down and this will ultimately result in an weakening of Russia's civil

society.

  All in all, this law raises concerns about the Russian Federation's compliance with its

obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and other

international agreements. Specifically, this law breaches the ECHR Article 11, which

guarantees the freedom of association, and also runs contrary to the Council of Europe's

Fundamental Principle of the Status of Non-Governmental Organizations, which sets out

 best practices for the regulation of NGOs. 

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