Hungarian parliament passes foreign-funded NGO transparency law – UPDATE

Lawmakers on Tuesday passed a law requiring civil groups receiving foreign donations above a certain threshold to register as organisations funded from abroad.

The government-sponsored bill was passed with 130 votes in favour, 44 against and 24 abstentions.

Under the law, civil groups will be required to register as foreign-backed groups once their foreign donations reach 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,400). European Union funds will not count towards the threshold.

The NGOs’ details will be made public and they will be required to declare that they are considered organisations funded from abroad by law on their websites and in all of their press materials.

Civil groups that fail to disclose the source of funding they receive from abroad will be sent a notice by a public prosecutor calling on them to comply with their obligations. NGOs that fail to fulfil their obligations after a second notice will be fined.

Under the original bill, if an NGO would still have failed to fulfil their obligations after the imposition of a fine, a public prosecutor would have taken legal action for the dissolution of the NGO in question, but this provision was removed at the recommendation of the Venice Commission.

NGOs are eligible for deregistration as a foreign-backed group if their foreign donations do not reach the 7.2 million forint threshold for two consecutive fiscal years.

In line with the Venice Commission‘s recommendation, NGOs will not be required to submit detailed personal data of foreign donors if their individual annual donations do not amount to 500,000 forints.

The law does not apply to sports or religious organisations, associations or foundations that do not qualify as NGOs or national minority organisations.