Report on Government Ordinance 26 governing Associations and Foundations in Romania

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  • Country: Romania
  • Language: English
  • Document Type: Domestic Law or Regulation
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G.O. no 26/2000 regarding the associations and foundations
The NGO`s initiative of amending the legal framework

Short history
G.O. no 26/2000 regarding the associations and foundations was
adopted in 2000 following the NGO`s in itiative and represented a step
forward considering the previous legal frame dating since 1921.
In 2003 the Romanian Government, without consulting the civil
society, has amended the ordinance meaning that they introduced
the necessity of initial advisory opin ion from the resort ministry when
building an association or a foundat ion. So, NGO`s have protested
towards the adoption of the G.O. no 37/2003, the demands regarding
the amendment of the legislative frame being victorious in 2005, after
the parliamentary elections from November 2004.
Context
The initiatives of the NGO`s have started in February 2005 by
organizing a round table to which part icipated representatives of the
Romanian Government, Parliament, diplomatic missions and also
impotents leaders of NGO`s whic h brought on the public talking
agenda the amendment of the legislation regarding the associations
and foundations. The next period were organized numerous debates

both in the middle of the NGO`s and public central authorities
(Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture, Department for
Institutionalized Analysis from the Romanian Government) for the
identification of changing proposals to correspond to the nowadays
realities.

Amendments
The most important amendments ad opted in July 2005 through Law
no. 246/2005 following the N GO`s initiative related to:
• the elimination of the advisory act at building an association;
• making easier the procedure of building and changing an
organization, an NGO, (minimum patrimony, the form of the statute
and of the constitutive act or the changing process, if the case, the
appointment of a censor);
• stating the statute of a branch and the clarifying of some aspects
regarding the capacity exercise of branches;
• eliminating the provision referring to preferential access of public
utility NGO`s to resources coming from local or central budgets;
• stating the destination of goods belonging to public utility NGO`s
after being dissolved.