ArmInfo. All public organizations of Armenia undertake to submit state income annual report, regardless of funding sources. National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia at the meeting of March 25 in the second and final reading amended the law on public organizations.
According to the Chairman of the SRC, David Ananyan, at present, there is an objective need to review the current legislation. So, in the course of the application of the RA Law "On Public Organizations" a number of discrepancies were revealed that required specification. The goal is also to ensure a high level of public accountability. At the same time, the Cabinet was guided by the recommendation of paragraph 8.3 of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering). In connection with the proposals, a working group was formed to draft a bill. The development process lasted almost a year, and numerous public hearings were held, as a result of which all the interests of the beneficiaries were taken into account. Under the current regulations, only PAs that receive funding from public funds submit an annual report on activities in the past year. However, henceforth, all organizations will be required to submit an annual report to the SRC, regardless of funding sources. So, public organizations receiving public money should not only disclose the programs within which they receive this funding, but also indicate the sources of financing. The remaining non-governmental organizations will submit to the authorized body -SRC, information on the programs within which money and property funds were received, without indicating their sources of funding. In addition, if, under the current regulations, the PAs indicate in the annual report the number of members of the public organization and volunteers at the beginning of the reporting year, now it will be required to submit data at the end of the reporting year. In this case, it is required to indicate the number of volunteers who have worked in the NGO for at least 20 hours and who are in the contractual relationship with the NGO.
It should be noted that the non-governmental international organization Transparency International also touched on this topic, which stated its concern in connection with the presented document. Recall that, according to paragraph 8.3 of the FATF recommendation, countries should have a clear policy of promoting transparency, credibility and public trust in the direction and management of all non-profit organizations.