RULES FOR REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS FOR STATE REGISTRATION OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS IN AGENCIES OF JUSTICE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (Russian text)

1. General provisions

1. The present rules have been developed on the basis of the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" of 26 September 1997 (Legislative Assembly of the Russian Federation, 1997, no. 39, p. 4465), hereafter called the law, and other legislative acts of the Russian federation and they regulate the procedure for review of applications for state registration of religious organizations in agencies of justice of the Russian federation.

2. In accordance with point 1, article 11 of the law, state registration of religious organizations is conducted by the federal agency of justice, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation, and agencies of justice of the component elements of the Russian federation, hereafter called the registering agencies.

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation registers centralized religious organizations which have local religious organizations on the territory of two or more component elements of the Russian federation and also religious institutions and organizations formed by centralized organizations, registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation.

Agencies of justice of component elements of the Russian federation register local religious organizations and centralized religious organizations comprising local religious organizations located within the boundaries of the territory of one component element of the Russian federation, and also religious institutions and organizations formed by centralized organizations registered in the agencies of justice of the component element of the Russian federation.

3. Religious organizations created before the law took effect and which registered their charters in agencies of justice are subject to state reregistration, which should be carried out no later than 31 December 1999 in accordance with the requirements of the law. The review of applications for state reregistration of religious organizations is conducted by the same procedure and within the same length of time as the state registration of religious organizations. Upon expiration of the indicated time religious organizations that have not undergone reregistration may be liquidated by legal process upon appeal from the registering agency.

According to point 3, article 27 of the law, reregistration of religious organizations that are liable for liquidation or prohibition of their activity, as indicated in the law, is not performed. Upon rejection of reregistration for the indicated reasons, the registering agency transmits the materials to a court.

Religious organizations that do not have a document confirming their existence on the corresponding territory for at least fifteen years or confirming their membership in a centralized religious organization enjoy the rights of legal entity provided that they are reregistered annually until the expiration of the indicated fifteen year period.

II. Procedure for submission of documents for state registration of religious organizations

4. For state registration of a local religious organization its founders present to the corresponding registering agency the following documents:

4.1 Application for state registration in the established form in accordance with appendix no. 1 to the current rules.

4.2 List of persons who formed the religious organization, indicating citizenship, place of residence, and date of birth.

4.3 Charter of the religious organizations in duplicate, corresponding to the requirements of article 10 of the law.

Both copies of the charter must be typed, identical, numbered, and verified by the administrative body (administrator) of the religious organization.

4.4 Minutes of the constituent meeting, containing information about the date and place of the meeting, quantitative and personnel composition of the participants and executive bodies, substance of the decisions made (for creation of the religious organization, adoption of its charter, election of executive bodies) and the results of the votes on these matters.

4.5 Document confirming the existence of the religious group on the given territory for at least fifteen years, provided by an agency of local administration, or confirming its membership in a centralized religious organizations, provided by its administrative center.

4.6 Information about the fundamentals of the doctrine and practice corresponding to it, including the history of the evolution of the religion and of the given association, the forms and methods of its activity, its attitude toward the family and marriage and toward education, distinctives of its attitude toward the health of the adherents of the given religion, and restrictions for members and clergy of the organization with regard to their civic rights and duties.

4.7 Document confirming the place of the premises (legal address) of the religious organizations being formed.

If the place of the premises and legal address of the religious organization are not the same, then the address of the actual place of the premises of the religious organization must also be given.

4.8 If the superior executive body (center) of the religious organization being created is located outside the Russian federation, then also the charter or other constitutent document of the foreign religious organization, verified by the state agency of the state in which this organization is located, must also be submitted.

5. For the state registration of centralized religious organizations and also of religious organizations formed by centralized religious organizations, the following must be presented to the registering agency:

5.1 Application for state registration according to the form established in subpoint 4.1 of the present rules.

5.2 List of founding body of the religious organization with indication of denomination, location, administrative body (administrator) and registration data.

5.3 Notarized copy of the charter and evidence of the state registration of the founding body (founder).

If the founding body (founder) is registered in the same registering agency to which the application for state registration of the religious organization being created is being submitted, the documents indicated in this subpoint are not submitted.

5.4 Charter of the religious organization being created, in duplicate, verified by its founding body (founder), in accordance with the requirements established in article 10 of the law.

5.5 Pertinent decision of the authorized body of the founding body (founder).

5.6 Information about the religious organizations constituting the structure of the centralized organizations being formed, with charters and copies of certificates of state registration of no fewer than three local religious organizations constituting its structure.

5.7 Document confirming the local premises of the executive body (legal address) of the religious organization being formed.

5.8 If the superior administrative body (center) of the religious organization being formed is located outside the Russian federation, then the documents provided for in subpoint 4.8 of the present rules are submitted.

5.9 Documents and other materials are submitted to the registering agency in the Russian language, the state language of the Russian federation (Law of RSFSR "On Languages of the Peoples of RSFSR," Record of the Congress of Peoples Deputies and Supreme Soviet of RSFSR, 1991, no. 50, p. 1740).

6. Documents issued by the organizations and institutions of foreign states are submitted to the registering agency in the state (official) language of the country of the premises, with translation into Russian, executed by established procedure.

Official documents and acts issued by organizations and institutions of foreign states that are participants in the Hague convention of 1961, which the Russian federation joined in 1992, if not otherwise provided for by treaties and agreements of the Russian federation with foreign states, are admitted for review if they contain the special stamp "apostille" (evidence), which certifies the genuineness of the signature and the capacity in which the person signing the document was acting, and the genuineness of the seal or stamp attached to this document.

Official documents and acts issued by organizations and institutions of foreign states that are not participants in the Hague convention of 1961, if not otherwise provided for by effective treaties and agreements of the Russian federation with foreign states, are admitted for review if there is consular legalization which has been issued by the consular institutions of the Russian federation abroad and the consular administration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian federation.

Official documents and acts issued by countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States are admitted for review without any special certification if such documents and acts have been prepared and attested by an institution or a person specially authorized to do so within the limits of their jurisdiction, in accordance with the established form and certified by the official stamp (Minsk convention on legal aid and legal relations for civil, family, and criminal matters, signed by the Russian federation in 1993).

III. Procedure for review of applications for state registration of religious organizations

7. Application for state registration and constituent documents of the religious organizations are presented to the registering agency by the directors of the religious organization or persons specifically authorized for this either directly or through the mail with a notification and a list of the enclosures.

8. Documents of religious organizations submitted for state registration are recorded in accordance with established procedure and are transmitted to the executor. The date of submission of the constituent documents to the registering agency is the date of their actual arrival at the registering agency.

The registering agency must be assured of the genuineness of the documents submitted and, if necessary, has the right to conduct an inquiry into their genuineness.

9. In accordance with point 9, article 11 of the law, if the applicant (applicants) fails to fulfill the requirements provided in the law, the registering agency has the right to leave the application without review upon notifying the applicant (applicants) of this. At the same time the documents submitted for state registration are returned to the religious organization.

10. According to point 8, article 11 of the law the application for state registration of a religious organization, formed by a centralized religious organization or on the basis of a verification provided by the centralized religious roganization, is reviewed within one month from the day of the submission of all necessary documents. In other cases the registering agency has the right to extend the period for review of documents to six months for conduc ting a state expert investigation by the procedure established by the government of the Russian federation.

11. In accordance with the results of the review of the application, the registering agency makes to decision to grant state registration of the religious organization or to refuse state registration.

12. The decision on state registration of the religious organization is framed in the form of a conclusion and is announced by order of the registering agency or by decision of the authorized responsible person of the registering agency.

13. The registered religious organization is given a certificate of state registration in the established form according to appendix no. 2 to the present rules and one bound copy of the charter certified by the registering agency.

On each page of the two copies of the charter a special stamp is placed with an indication of the name of the registering agency, the registration number, and the date of registration.

Both copies of the charter of the religious organization are bound and certified on the back of the last page by the signature of the authorized responsible person and the official stamp of the registering agency.

The second copy of the charter of the religious organizatin and copy of the certificate of state registration of the religious organization are bound in the registration file kept in the registering agency.

14. On the basis of the decision on state registration of a religious organization a registration number is issued, by which it is entered into the unified state register of legal entities, conducted by the registering agency in the form in accordance with appendix no. 3 to the present rules and notification of the state registration of religious organizations is sent to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation within the time and in the form established by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation.

In case of the change of information entered into the unified state register of legal entities, the religious organization is obliged in accordance with point 12, article 11 of the law within one month from the day such change takes effect to notify the registering agency of this.

15. In accordance with point 1, article 12 of the law a religious organization may be refused state registration under the following conditions:

--the goals and activity of the religious organization violate the constitution of the Russian federation and the legislation of the Russian federation, with citation of the specific articles of the laws;

--the organization being formed is not recognized as religious in nature;

--the charter and other submitted documents do not fulfill the requirements of the legislation of the Russian federation or the information contained in them is not verified;

--there is a previously registered religious organization in the unified state register of legal entities with the same denomination;

--the founder (founders) of the religious organization are not authorized.

16. In case of refusal of state registration of a religious organization, written notification of the decision is given to the applicant (applicants) with an indication of the reason for refusal. Refusal of state registration of a religious organization by reason that its formation is not worthwhile is not permitted.

In such a case, documents submitted for state registration are returned to the religious organization only upon its request. In this case copies of all documents that were in the file at the moment of refusal of state registration are kept at the registering agency.

17. Refusal of state registration of a religious organization does not preclude a second submission of the document for state registration, provided that the reasons for the refusal of registration have been removed.

Review of a second application to the registering agency and the decision on this application are conducted by the procedure provided for in the present rules.

18.. Refusal of state registration of a religious organization by the registering agency as well as rejection of such registration may be appealed in court.

19. In case the court recognizes that the refusal of state registration of a religious organization lacks basis in law, the implementation of the legal decision taking legal effect is carried out by the procedure established by legislation.

20. Changes and additions to the charter of a religious organization are subject to state registration, which is carried out in accordance with point 11, article 11 of the law by the procedure providing for registration of religious organizations.

21. In the event of the state registration of changes and additions in the charter of a religious organization that entail changes in its name and administrative jurisdiction, the religious organization is given a new certificate of state registration with its former registration number. The certificate of state registration previously granted and the charter are annuled and are subject to be returned to the registering agency.

22. In accordance with point 9, article 8 of the law, a religious organization is obligated to inform the registering agency every year of the continuation of its activity with an indication of the information entered into the unified state register of legal entities.

The indicated information about local religious organizations may be submitted to the registering agency of the respective centralized religious organization.

Nonsubmission of the indicated information over the course of three years is a basis for suit by the registering agency in court for recognition that the religious organization has ceased its activity.

IV. Cancellation of an act of state registration of a religious organization

23. In accordance with point 1, article 14 of the law, a religious organization may be liquidated

--by decision of its founders or the agency authorized to do so by the charter of the religious organization;

--by decision of a court under conditions established by the law.

Notification of the liquidation of a religious organization may be submitted to a court by the registering agency under conditions provided for by the law.

24. Upon liquidation of a religious organization the registering agency issues an order for the removal of the religious organization from the unified state register of legal entities.

The certificate of state registration of a religious organization and its charter, verified by the registering agency, are subject to confiscation and they are added to the materials in the registration file located in the records of the registering agency.

V. Review of applications for issuance of duplicates of documents

25. In case of the loss of the originals of the certificates of state registration of a religious organization or the charter of the religious organization, the registering agency may issue a duplicate.

26. For issuance of duplicates of the certificate of state registration of a religious organizations and (or) the charter of a religious organization, the following documents are submitted to the registering agency:

--application, signed by the director of the religious organization;

--decision of the executive body of the religious organization regarding the loss of the originals of the documents;

--materials of verification, acts, affidavits, and other documents that confirm the fact of the loss of the originals of the indicated documents.

27. Application for issuance of duplicates of the certificate of state registration of a religious organization and charter are reviewed by the registering agency within one month. Where necessary a verification of the loss is conducted.

Based on the results of the review of the application, an appropriate conclusion is composed.

28. On the basis of the application, a decision to issue duplicates of documents or to refuse to issue them may be made. The decision on issuance of duplicates of documents is announced by order of the registering agency or by decision of an authorized official of the agency of justice.

In case of refusal of issuance of duplicates of documents, the applicant is informed of this in writing along with a statement of the reason for refusal.

29. In preparing the duplicates of the registration documents, the notation "duplicate" is placed on front of the pages. A copy of the duplicate of the document issued as well as materials providing the reason for its issuance are added to the registration file.

VI. Composition and storage of materials on state registration of religious organizations.

30. Materials on state registration of a religious organization are kept in an individual registration file in which must be located all documents submitted for state registration as well as a copy of the certificate of state registration of a religious organizations.

All subsequent correspondence on the given religious organization, affidavits regarding verification of its business activity, annual information about the continuation of its activity, and other materials pertaining to the religious organization are added to the registration file.

Pages of the registration file are numbered, fastened, and bound into the folder with an inventory of the documents included within it.

31. The registration files are kept in the registering agency and are permanent records.

Release of archival materials and copies of the registration file, as well as access to them by researchers, are carried out according to established procedure.

Appendix no. 1: Application

Appendix no. 2: Certificate of state registration

Appendix no. 3: Verification of registration in state register of legal entities

(tr. by PDS)