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LAW NO. 154 OF 1959
Dated Nov. 7 th 1959 on Associations

In the name of the people

We, Al -Habib Burqiba, President of the Republic of Tunisia
Upon review of articles 8 and 64 of the Constitution,
The order dated September 15
th 1888 on associations,
T he order dated August 6
th 1939 in associations and the amendments thereof
And based on the proposals of the Minister of State for Interior and the Minister of State for
Presidency Affairs,

We hereby issue the following:

PART ONE
CREATION AND MANAGEM ENT
Chapter One
Normal Associations

ARTICLE 1:
An association is an agreement between two individuals or more through which their
experience and activity are shared on permanent basis and for purposes other than the
financial ones and generating profits th ereof .

Associations shall be subject, in their creation, to the public principles in transactions and
civil contracts.

ARTICLE 2:
It shall not be possible in any way to have the purpose for which the agreement was
conducted or the goal thereof contradi ctory to the laws and morals or leading to disrupting
public order, undermining the unity of national soil or the State's Republican regime.

The founders or directors of associations may not have been formerly convicted of any
felony against good morals.

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Refusal to license or the resolution requiring withdrawal of the associations' licenses that
allow continuation of activity or the revocation decision may all be enforced by all available
means.

During the month in which such decision is issued or published, the properties of these
organizations shall be liquidized.

ARTICLE 22:
Whoever bears responsibility or persists at any capac ity in bearing the responsibility of
running the unlicensed foreign associations or institutions shall be punished with a one to
five years imprisonment and a fine of ten to one hundred dinars.

Whoever participates in running these associations and affiliates shall be punished with
imprisonment for six months to three years and a fine of ten to fifty dinars.

These penalties shall apply to directors, facilitators and whoever taking part in the activity of
the associations or institutions working without consideration to the license requirements or
those that exceeded the expiry date.
PART TWO
DISSOLUTION, PENALTI ES AND ENFORCEMENT

ARTICLE 23:
Each association whose activity contradicts with the requirements of article 2 above or
rather deviated from its established objective stated in the Articles of Association shall be
dissolved by a rule of court upon a request from the prosecutors, the attorney general of the
Minister of State for Interior.

ARTICLE 24:
A temporary dissolution of the association in the manner indicated in the former article may
be executed by a request of the general prosecution or permitted for a definite term not to
exceed the period of issuing the final rule by the court of injunction. The decision may be
implemented before the rule.

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ARTICLE 25:
Every association that proves to have an objective, activity or conduct that is contradictory
to the public order and morals shall be dissolved by virtue of a reasoned decision of the
Minister of State for Interior.

ARTICLE 26:
The association's properties may be transferred upon the agreement of its members to
dissolve it as per the Articles of Association. If such articles of association do not address the
manner of transfer, such can be decided in the general assembly.

In case the transfer hasn't been processed as per the conditions above, the association's
properties shall be transferred to the State's possession which shall earmark them for
emergency or precautionary projects notwithstanding the right to retrieve such properti es
by a claim in accordance with article 28 below. In case the association has received regular
subsidy from the government or public institutions, its properties shall be liquidized by the
State Property Administration.

The liquidation outcome shall be awarded to projects of social interest.

ARTICLE 27:
It shall be imperative to liquidize the association upon its judicial or administrative
dissolution through the State Property Administration.

The liquidation net outcome shall be awarded to proje cts of social interest.

ARTICLE 28:
The donor, heirs or successors may retrieve their contributions, assets or stocks, for
associations upon their dissolution unless such have been already given to an emergency
project.

In case such funds and stocks h ave been intended for an emergency project, they may not
be retrieved as long as they are used for the purpose they were intended for.