CSOs Evaluate Legal Problems

NGO legal barrier survey results

Georgian Business Law Center (GBLC) has published legal barrier survey results, which lists major problems in current legislation that affect non-governmental organizations’ development.

The survey was done within the framework of Citizens Advocate! Program (CAP) and includes the opinions of ten legal experts, as well as 51 civil society organizations (CSO) in seven cities of Georgia.

Results show the legal environment regulating CSOs development in Georgia is satisfactory, but is far from perfect. As it was anticipated the main problem is connected to implementation of the taxation legislation. 

The survey also showed that the implementation problems vary from region to region, depending on policy pursued by the local administrations and tax authorities.

Compared to the neighboring states, the experts noted that the CSO-related legislation in Georgia is of an acceptable quality; however it still fails to compare well with the legal acts of the most developed democracies. Experts say one of the main obstacles is in subsidiary legislation that overburdens the CSOs with regulations and blurs the concepts provided in laws.

They have also noted that the Civil Code – main legislation that regulates CSO work – is adequate to the current needs. However, some noted that the restrictions on legal forms of the organization – an association or a foundation – no longer reflects the diversity of the CSOs in Georgia, which include think tanks, community based and charitable groups.