CONFERENCE “PRESENTATION ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND REMAINING CHALLENGES OF THE LEGAL REFORM AFFECTING CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN BULGARIA”

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) with the support of the United States Agency for International Development organized a PRESENTATION ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND REMAINING CHALLENGES OF THE LEGAL REFORM AFFECTING CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN BULGARIA.

 

The conference took place on April 21, 2004 at Radisson SAS Hotel, Hall 6 in Sofia. Official guests to the event were Mrs. Debra McFarland, USAID Mission Director, Mr. Stephan Klingelhofer, ICNL President and Mr. Lyutvi Mestan, Member of Parliament and one of the initiators of the amendments to the Non-profit Legal Entities Act (NPLEA). More than 60 NGO representatives took part in the event as well.

At her Official Opening, Mrs. McFarland in her speech emphasized on the important role that the project implemented by ICNL in partnership with BCNL has played for the development of the legal framework for NGOs in Bulgaria.
In his greeting speech to the participants, Mr. Mestan made a short presentation of the suggestions for amendments and supplements to the NPLEA which are imminent to be entered in Parliament underlining that they come as a result from the implementation of the in practice for more than 3 years and are aimed to clarify the legal arrangements making them easier for interpretation and implementation without changing the philosophy of the law. Mr. Mestan underscored that in future the efforts have to be focused on the creation of more favourable tax legislation for NGOs and especially such in public benefit.
In his presentation, the President of ICNL Mr. Klingelhofer made a brief analysis of the whole process of creation of the contemporary legal framework for NGOs with an appraisal for the considerable success achieved in Bulgaria in international context. He shared that ICNL in its present activity uses Bulgaria with respect to the development of legislation for the third sector as an example for a good practice.

Two new books “Taxation of NGOs” and “NGOs and VAT”, written by experts from the Ministry of Finance and the Supreme Tax Directorate, published by BCNL were presented at the conference as well.