The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law
Volume 4, Issue 4, June 2002
A publication of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Articles
The Legal Framework for Civil Society in East and Southeast Asia
Barnett F. Baron
A Flaw in Comparative Studies of the Tax Benefits for NGOs in Latin America
Antonio Itriago M. and Miguel
Itriago M
The Principle of Subsidiarity in Italy: It's Meaning as a "Horizontal" Principle and It's Recent Constitutional Recognition
Andrea Maltoni
A Synopsis of Law Reform for Iranian NGOs
Zahra (Sahar) Maranlou
Tax Treatment of NPOs in Macedonia
Prof. Dr. Vesna Pendovska
Competition and Abuse of Association Membership
Assoc. Prof. Ivo Telec
Reviews
Working with the Non-Profit Sector in South Africa
Working with the Non-Profit Sector in Nigeria
By the Charities Aid Foundation / Allavida
Reviewed by Karla Simon
Legal and Organizational Practices in Nonprofit Management
By Pacquale Ferraro
Reviewed by Karla Simon
Promoting Legal and Institutional Frameworks for Corporate Social Responsibility in Peru
By Javier de Belaúnde L. de R., Beatriz Parodi L., and Delia Muñoz M.
Reviewed by ICNL Staff
Social Responsibility: 12 Case Studies from Chile
by
Soledad Teixido, Reinalina Chavarri, and Andrea Castro
Reviewed by ICNL Staff
Case Notes
Asia Pacific:
Hong Kong
Newly Independent States: Russia
North Africa:
Egypt
North America:
Canada | United States
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Ethiopia
Western Europe:
United Kingdom
Country Reports
International:
FATF | World Bank
Asia Pacific:
Regional | Australia | Indonesia | Japan | New Zealand
Central and Eastern Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina | Czech Republic | Hungary | Lithuania | Macedonia | Slovakia
Latin America & The Caribbean: Chile | Peru
Middle East and North Africa: Kuwait
Newly Independent States: Armenia | Azerbaijan | Kyrgyzstan
North America:
Canada | United States
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Nigeria | South Africa | Tanzania
Western Europe:
Regional | Belgium | Germany | Italy | United Kingdom
- - - - - - - - - -
Country Reports: International
FATF
Financial Action Task Force Responds to Terrorist Activities by Targeting NPOs
At an extraordinary plenary held in Washington last October, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) agreed to a number of new measures designed to focus attention on financing of terrorist activities. Among the measures is one targeted specifically at NPOs. In this regard, the group agreed to “[e]nsure that entities, in particular non-profit organizations, cannot be misused to finance terrorism.”
Under the agreement, countries have been asked to review their legislation and regulations to ensure that NPOs cannot be misused in this way. The suggestion is made that NPOs are particularly vulnerable to such misuse, presumably because of lax oversight by governments.
It is expected that there will be follow-up actions in various countries to comply with this agreement. For example, Canada and the UK have each looked to charity law and attempted to strengthen it to avoid such problems. For a report on the developments in Canada, see Canada Country Update, Vol 4, Iss 2/3. In the UK, the Charity Commission issued a report in March 2002 describing its approach to charities that may be involved in terrorism.[1]
Subsequent developments along these lines will be followed by IJNL. Further information about the FATF actions can be obtained by contacting Helen Fisher of the OECD Media Relations Division at helen.fisher@oecd.org .
[1] See Charity Commission Press Release PR 22/02, March 13, 2002.
Report Issued on the World Bank Enabling Environment Project
The World Bank has issued a report following the CIVICUS-sponsored seminar in the Hague in October 2000. Since that time the project has been taken forward by an Advisory Group and by Bank staff. The seminar and the subsequent consultations identified two important concerns: A Handbook that was offered by the Bank; and the taking by the Bank of a prescriptive approach to legal frameworks. In this respect, the Bank has transferred copyright in the Handbook, and the Bank staff has moved in the direction of facilitating the sharing of knowledge and experiences among practitioners through a new website to be established in the context of the Global Development Gateway.
The Bank has also been appropriately influenced by the need to relate this activity more directly to Bank operations. Thus, concerns about relating the legal enabling environment to social accountability issues and implementation of Community Driven Development (CDD) are reflected in the current report on the project. This also stresses the creation of tools to assess the legal environment in various countries. Social accountability and CDD represent increasingly important elements in Bank supported operations. The Bank received guidance in this regard from the Advisory Group.