Re-registration 1999

In February 1999 the state reregistration of the Belarusian NGOs was announced Within the limited period (February 1 - July 1, 1999) all the Belarusian NGOs without exception had to be re-registered The experience to conduct a campaign of the like was gained by the Belarusian authorities during the re-registration of enterprises with different forms of ownership in 1996, when afterwards their number was decreased by 35 %. In 1997 the reregistration of mass media took place. In the case with NGOs the requirements and the procedures for going through the re-registration was made much more complicated. In addition to this the re-registration was held in extremely short time. Which is more, a special Republican Committee on the registration (reregistration) of NGOs w'as created whose competence was not defined by any of the normative acts. It is the decisions of the Committee that the representatives of the registrating organs are guided by, though the Committee itself is not a juridical person and its decisions can not be appealed in court. (fragment)