Ministry of Interior Circular No. 10/AM/2006
Unofficial Translation
This is related to setting a new mechanism to notify the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities for
establishing associations in Lebanon and facilitating this issue as an application for the Law on
Associations issued in 1909 and its amendments.
First: In R elation to the Establishment of a N ew Association
The second A rticle of the Law on Association s stipulates the following:
“ No permit is initially needed to found an association. However, in all cases the government
must be notified of the association after it is founded in accordance with Article 6. ”
Therefore, it is enough upon establishment of certain association s (social, cultural, political and others..)
that its founders should provide the Ministry of Interior and M unicipalities with a notice including the
following documents:
• Name of the association and its address.
• Three copies of bylaws of the association signed by its founders and certified with the
association ’s stamp a nd it is possible to take the model of other bylaws prepared by the Ministry
which are given free of charge to founders.
• The names of the founders (and none of the founders should be under twenty years of age as
stipulated by the Law on Associations ).
• Judicial records [of the founders] that are not more than three months old.
The Ministry of Interior and Municipalities will scrutinize such documents and founders are given a
receipt to indicate that the Ministry has taken a notice of the association esta blishment, without
referring the notification to any reference for enquiry. The statement will be by the notification of the
Minis try to other references (m inistries, departments, unions, etc.)
The Ministry of Interior and municipalities has the right to r efuse the delivery of the indicated
statement in the following cases:
• If the statement does not include the legally required information.
• If the goals of assoc iation are illegal or contrary to the provisions of the law or public order or
morals.
In case o f rejection of notice for the above stated reasons, the association will be dissolved by a decree
issued by the Council of Ministers.
After taking the notice, it is referred to the Official G azette for publication according to the applicable
practices.
S econd: The Association ’s Administrative Body
The seventh Article of the Law on Associations stipulates the following:

“ An administrative body must be present at the main office of each association and consist of at
least two persons …”
The sixth Article of the same L aw stipulates the following:
“ … the government must be immediately informed of any amendment or change that occurs in
the bylaws of the association, its administrative body, or its location ..”
We conclude from the above that an association has the full freedom to elect its administrative body.
This election is not subject to the monitoring of the Ministry of Interior and M unicipalities, as there is
no need for the attendance of a representative in the electoral process due to th e absence of the legal
provision.
In return, based on the Article Six above, the association should deposit with the Ministry of Interior
and Municipalities a copy of the minutes of the election signed by the members of the General Assembly
in the electora l process according to the applicable practice. According to the said minutes, the
association has the right to obtain an official notice issued b y the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities
with the names of the administrative body members according to d ata and information in the file.
Third: Amending the Bylaws of Association s
The sixth Article of the Law on Association provides the following:
“ … the government must be immediately informed of any amendment or change that occurs in
the statutes of the association, its administrative body, or its location with the legal effect of
such amendment or change being exercised on a third party from the day the government is
informed of it.”
Consequently, amendments of association bylaws are not subject to any endorsement whatsoever or for
any special norms except for what has been stipulated in the bylaws of an a ssociation. However, under
the above -mentioned sixth Article , the Ministry of Interior and M unicipalities must be notified
immediately of any changes . A mendment s are considered effective for an association upon their
passage; however, they are only effecti ve for third parties from the date that such change has been
notified to the Ministry of Interior and M unicipalities.
Four: Annual Documents Which Should Be Provided by Association s
The seventh Article of Decree No. 10830 dated 9/10/1962 provides for th e following:
“In the first month of every year , each legal association shall provide the Ministry of Interior
with a list containing the names of its members and with a copy of its annual budget and from
its previous account. This account is subject to the supervision of the competent ministry.
The eighth A rticle of the same D ecree provides for the following:
“ Anyone who violates the provisions of the previous article of this Decree will be fined between
five hundred and two thousand lira s. The fine wi ll be doubled in case it has been repeated.”
Thus, each association should provide, in the first month of each year, the following documents:
• The accounts of the past year.

• The budget of the next year.
• A list of the na mes of the general body members.
The association will be fined in case it is late in providing such above documents.
Fifth: The Dissolution of Associations
A rticle 3 of the Law on Association s provides the following:
“ Founding an associations on any unlawful basis which violates the provisions of laws and
public documents or which aims to jeopardize the comfort of the monarchy and integrity of
state property, change the form of the current government, or politically discriminate between
different Ottoman citizens is not permitted. Th e attestations of such will be refused and they
will be dissolved by decree issued by the Council of Ministers. ”
Article 14 of the Law provides the following:
“ If an association has been banned by the government or dissolved with the consent and option
of its members or by virtue of its internal statutes and a text exists in the statutes regarding its
assets, then this is placed in operation. Otherwise, the resolution given by the G eneral Assembly
of the association is placed in operation. ”
The first A rticle of D ecree No. 10830 provides the following:
“It is prohibited for anyone to continue membership in an association which has been dissolved
due to the incarceration of its members for crimes related to the security of the state…”
Article 38 of the Pe nal Code provides the following:
“ Any secret association will be dissolved and its funds will be confiscated .”
It is concluded from the above that cases in which it is permissible to dissolve an association are as
follows:
• By its G eneral Assembly according to the stated provisions in its bylaws .
• By a criminal court based on the Article 338 of the Penal Code .
• By the administrative action in case of violation of Articles 3 or 14 of the Law on Associations or
Article 1 of Decree of the government if its subject is based on illegal base which come s under
the following cases in the A rticles 3 and 14 of the Law on Association s or the first Article of
Decree 10830 as stated above.
Beirut on 19 May 2006
Acting Minister of Interior and Municipalities
D r. Ahmed Fatfat