A small-scale Civil Society Organization will be allowed to legally operate upon obtaining written permission from the CSO Authority as per its rules and regulations. They do not need to formally register. The National Assembly members passed the recommendation today. The recommendation is a new section proposed by the Human Rights and Foreign Relations Committee on the Civil Society Organization (Amendment) Bill 2021.
The Chairperson of the Human Rights and Foreign Relations Committee, Passang Dorji (PhD), said the new section will make it easier for many informal CSOs operating in the country.
“There are many CSOs that are not registered. So, if we give the CSO Authority to give permission to the informal CSOs, for instance, they can give the permission to operate for two or three years. This will regulate them as per the Act. And secondly, this will benefit those who aren’t registered and want to serve the communities. The other reason to add this section is we looked into the Religious Organizations Act of the country,” he said.
According to the Chairperson, not only the registered organizations but also those not registered and small organizations can operate upon obtaining written permission from the authority as per the Act. The Chairperson recommended adding this section to the Bill.
Home and Cultural Affairs Minister Ugyen Dorji said this will help in regulating the CSOs that are not registered.
“This is because the Authority has the opportunity to monitor as per its rules and regulations if the new section gets adopted. And for the CSOs, they just require to obtain written permission from the Authority to operate,” said Lyonpo.
The House also passed the committee’s recommendation of allowing the authority to determine endowment funds for the CSOs from time to time. And regarding taxes, the house agreed on exempting tax for CSOs in accordance with the Taxation laws of the country.
The House also supported the proposal for a new section to provide adequate human resources to the CSO Authority to exercise its powers or functions efficiently.
The House passed the Committee’s new section on allowing the CSO Authority to coordinate to conduct the annual audits of CSOs in consultation with the Royal Audit Authority.
The House retained the original clause on the approval period of registration of CSOs to six months. The committee had proposed to reduce it to three months.
The House will adopt the Bill tomorrow. The Bill was first introduced in the National Council as a Private Member Bill in its 27th session.
Today, there are 54 functional CSOs in the country.
Sonam Pem
Edited by Sonam
