Parliament approves NGOs bill, refers it to State Council

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill developed by chairman of parliament's social ‎solidarity committee Abdel Hadi el Qasabi and ‎‎203 other MPs on regulating the performance of NGOs.

After being approved, the 89-article ‎bill will be referred to the Egyptian State Council, House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said.

The House of Representatives is open to any amendments or observations to be submitted by the government before the final approval of the bill, he added. 
The NGOs' parliamentary-approved bill urged the establishment of a national body under the Egyptian Cabinet to gather representatives of the various bodies concerned to be responsible for handling the issues of the non-governmental organizations operating in Egypt and their sources of funding.

Under the new bill, a new NGO will be established upon a notification that must include all required data and legal terms.

The bill allows NGOs and other entities established in accordance with its provisions to operate only in the areas of community development specified in its statute.

It prevents NGOs from operating in areas that fall within the scope of political parties, syndicates, and trade unions, or taking part in activities that have a political nature, or harm the country's national security, the public order, the public morality or the public health.

The bill prevents NGOs from establishing or forming secret societies, brigades, military or paramilitary formations, or practicing activities that lead to breaching the national unity or the national security public calling for discrimination between citizens on grounds of sex, origin, color, language, religion or belief, or taking part in any activities that incite racism or hatred or similar objectionable causes of the Constitution and the laws.

It prevents NGOs from supporting, financing or promoting election campaigns for presidential, parliamentary, or municipal candidates, and also prevents them from providing financial support to political parties or their candidates or independent candidates, or nominating candidates under the NGOs umbrella, or granting any scientific or professional certification.

The bill obligates NGOs to announce their sources of funding, the names of their members, their annual budget and their activities on their official websites and on the official website of the ministry concerned, inside its headquarters, or through any other means of publication. 

It states that every organization has the right to receive cash and collect donations locally from Egyptian natural or legal persons, however the money shall be deposited in its bank account and spent for the same goal it was collected for.

The bill gives only judicial authorities the right to sack an NGO board or dissolve the organization upon a request of the administrative body or any party concerned with the issue in case a violation of the law is commited by the board.

The bill authorizes the prime minister to give an NGO a "public interest" description at its founding or after its establishment upon a request from the organization and in accordance with the controls prescribed by the law's executive regulations.

It states that a relevant decision by the prime minister shall determine the public authority privileges enjoyed by the organization with a "public interest" description, including a ban on the seizure of all or some of its funds and the possibility of expropriation for public interest to achieve the purposes of the organization.

The bill allows establishing a civil institution by one natural or legal founder.

It also allows giving up to three-year renewable working permissions for foreign NGOs to operate in the country in the fields allowed for Egyptian NGOs, however, a foreign NGO shall get a permission from a national body to be tasked with organizing the work of foreign NGOs according to the law.

The bill obligates NGOs to join specialized or regional unions.

It also outlined the provisions of the general union for NGOs' associations and institutions.

The bill also identified the sanctions for violating the provisions of the law, limiting them to penalties for acts that pose a threat to national security or breach the donors' trust, involving deterrent penalties to achieve a balance between the freedom of the civil work and the maintenance of the country's national security and public order, in line with international standards in this regard.

Source: MENA