R.P.Ts.
AGREES WITH
AMENDMENTS MADE IN LAW ON VOLUNTEERS
Regulations
that
establish for non-commercial organizations [NCO] the procedure
for use of boxes
for collection of donations cannot apply to the Russian Orthodox
Church,
inasmuch as the latter collects these funds not only for
charitable work but
also for liturgical activity, the director of the legal
department of the
Moscow patriarchate, Hegumenia Ksenia Chernega, told RIA
Novosti.
Earlier
changes were
introduced to the law "On charitable activity and voluntarism;"
in particular,
NCOs performing humanitarian activity were granted the exclusive
right to set
up boxes for the collection of donations. They established the
conditions for
the procedures of placement and use of these boxes. The law
provides that the
innovations "do not apply to boxes for the collection of
charitable
contributions that are set up by religious organizations for the
purposes of
conducting forms of activity that are provided for by their
charters."
"Legislation
regulating
matters of the placement and use of such boxes by religious
organizations is impermissible inasmuch as it contradicts the
prohibition of
government intervention in the legally conducted activity of
religious
associations that is established by article 4 of the federal law
'On freedom of
conscience and religious associations,'" Chernega told RIA
Novosti.
She
noted that
religious organizations "over the course of many centuries" have
placed boxes for collection of donations not only for the needs
of humanitarian
care but also "for the use of donated funds in liturgical and
other
religious activity."
"It is
obvious
that the procedure and forms of collection of donations of
believers for
conducting religious activity must be determined by the internal
regulations of
confessions," the representative of the Russian church summed
up. (tr. by
PDS, posted 10 April 2020)
PROCEDURE
FOR PLACEMENT,
INSTALLATION, AND USE OF STATIONARY AND PORTABLE BOXES FOR
COLLECTION OF
DONATIONS ADJUSTED
Federal
law of 7
April 2020 No. 113 "On introducing changes into federal law 'On
charitable
activity and voluntarism"
A box
for the
collection of donations is defined as any container for
collecting donations
(with the exception of non-cash financial funds), the right to
whose use
belongs exclusively to non-commercial organizations whose
charter documents
specify the right of conducting charitable activity. The box may
be either
portable or stationary.
The
placement of a
stationary box is made on the basis of an agreement concluded
between the owner
of the premises where the box will be located and a
non-commercial organization
to which it belongs, except for cases when the location belongs
to or is used
by the organization itself.
The use
of portable
boxes for collection of donations is permitted exclusively in
the place and in
the time of conducting a public event arranged by the
non-commercial
organization.
A
non-commercial
organization using a box for collection of donations must have a
provision for
a program or other act within the context of which it will
conduct a collection
of donations and must publish an account of the use of donations
collected
(including on the website of the organization in the internet
telecommunication
network).
In using
a box for
collection of donations, a non-commercial organization must:
--announce
the
purposes of the collection of charitable donations, placed on
the box for
collection of donations;
--indicate
its name
and address;
--indicate
the domain
name and/or network address of the website of the organization
on the internet
network (if available);
--indicate
on the
website of the organization on the internet network information
about the
location of the box for collection of donations (if available).
A
noncommercial
organization has the right to assure the possibility to learn
the information
specified in the present point by means of mobile devices.
Requirements
for
boxes for collecting donations and the procedure of their
placement and use are
determined by the government of the RF.
Cash
resources
collected with the use of a box for collection of charitable
contributions must
be deposited in a bank account of a non-commercial organization
within three
business days from the day of their extraction.
It is
intended that
the aforementioned provisions do not apply to boxes for the
collection of
donations placed by religious organizations for the purposes of
conducting
forms of activity provided for by their charters.
The
present federal
law will take legal effect 180 days after the day of its
official publication.
(tr. by PDS, posted 10 April 2020)
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