Regulating Political Activities of Non-Governmental Organizations

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 2015

This study by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law was prepared at the request of the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations of the Council of Europe.

It reviews regulation of CSO participation in political activities, including policy-making, with the goal of providing a deeper understanding of various approaches in defining and regulating political activities vis-a-vis public policy and advocacy related activities. The study further develops information presented in the paper “Political Activities of NGOs: International Law and Best Practices” published in 2009 by ICNL. To this end, the study updates the regulatory approach in England and Wales and Hungary, discussed in ICNL’s paper, and introduces case studies on Azerbaijan, Croatia, England and Wales, Estonia, Hungary, Moldova, Netherlands, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and Spain.