Resolution on Registration of Public Associations in Turkmenistan (2004) (English)
On Registration of Public Associations
In accordance with the Law of Turkmenistan “On public associations” I resolve:
1. to ratify the attached Rules for registration of public associations;
2. to establish the following registration fees for public associations:
- local public associations – six basic rates (базовая сумма);
- national public associations – ten basic rates (базовая сумма);
- international public associations – forty basic rates (базовая сумма), including 50% in foreign currency.
The registration fee for public associations of the disabled, veterans and youth shall be reduced by 50%. Children’s public associations shall be exempt from registration fees.
The registration fee for any subsequent changes and amendments to the by-laws of a public association which do not change its status shall amount to 20% of the initial registration fee.
The registration fee for re-registration of a public association which results in a change of its status shall amount to 50% of the initial registration fee (including in foreign currency for public associations operating abroad).
The registration fee for re-registration of previously registered public associations shall amount to 50% of the initial registration fee.
3. The fee for issuing duplicates of a registration certificate and by-laws of a public association shall amount to 20% of its initial registration fee.
4. Registration fees are to be transferred to the Turkmenistan State budget in accordance with the established procedure.
5. Upon request of the Ministry Adalat (Justice) of Turkmenistan, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Turkmenistan is to be granted financial means for producing registration certificate forms.
6. Declare Presidential resolution of 03 March 1992 “Questions of registration of public associations” invalid (Collection of Presidential acts and Governmental Decisions of Turkmenistan, 1992, No. 3, p. 210).
President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Turkmenbashi
Confirmed by the Decree
of the President of Turkmenistan
Rules for Registration of Public Associations
I. General provisions
1. On the basis of current laws of Turkmenistan these Rules are to regulate the procedure for state registration of public associations.
2. According to the law a public association becomes legally capable as a legal entity from the moment of its registration with the Turkmenistan Ministry Adalat and its entry into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
3. The Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan is to register all public associations regardless of their type and form, including branches and representations of foreign public associations established on the territory of Turkmenistan.
4. In order to be registered a public association must submit the following documents:
- application;
- two copies of the by-laws of the public association;
- record of the founding assembly or the general meeting containing information regarding creation of the public association, adoption of its by-laws and formation of its governing and supervisory bodies;
- information about the founders;
- receipt for payment of the registration fee;
- confirmation of legal address.
International public associations are to provide additional documents certifying the existence of a structural division, a branch (affiliate) or a representative office abroad. In order to register a structural subdivision on the territory of Turkmenistan a foreign public association must also submit notarized copies of its founding documents.
5. Applications for registration of a public association and of changes and amendments to its By-laws are to be signed by all of the founders and members of its governing body and should contain their first, middle and last names, date of birth and place of residence.
6. The record of the founding assembly or the general meeting containing information about the establishment of the public association, adoption of its By-laws and formation of its governing and supervisory bodies shall also contain the following information: date and place of the founding assembly or general meeting; the list of founders who participated in it, indicating their last names and initials; number and personnel of administrative bodies (presidium, secretariat, etc.); adopted decisions and the results of voting on such decisions; the first, middle and last names of elected members of governing and supervisory bodies; the last names and signatures of the chairman and the secretary of the assembly or the general meeting responsible for drafting the record.
7. Information regarding founders of a public association necessary for its registration includes: their full names, date of birth, citizenship, address of their permanent residence, their telephone number, passport data (series and number, date and place of issue, issuing body). The indicated information is to be certified by founders’ personal signatures.
A public association – legal entity acting as a founder shall provide the following information: its full official name, its legal structure, the territory (sic) of its activities, date of its registration, number of registration certificate and legal address.
8. Registration fees for state registration of a public association and of subsequent changes and amendments to its By-laws shall be collected according to procedures and at the rates specified in the laws of Turkmenistan. A public association is to submit a bank receipt confirming payment of the registration fee.
9. The legal address of a public association can be officially certified through a lease agreement and other types of documents confirming its location. The correspondence of the legal address of a public association with the address of residence of an individual (a house or an apartment legally belonging to a person) shall not result in the refusal of registration of the public association.
10. A public association is to submit two copies of each document, i.e. the records of the founding assembly or the general meeting, the document with the information about founders and the document confirming the legal address of a public association. Once the copies are proved [that are] identical to the originals, the latter are to be returned to the representatives of the public association upon receipt of their signatures on the copies.
11. Registration documents are to be submitted within one month from the date of the founding assembly or general meeting.
12. Registration documents are to be submitted by the members of the governing body or by its representatives or are to be mailed to the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan with notification and a list of the attached documents.
Representatives of the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan shall accept documents for registration through the chancellery without evaluation of the substance of the documents. The date of the entry of the founding documents into the Ministry of Fairness of Turkmenistan shall be the date of their submission to the registering body.
13. Registration documents of a public association shall be written in the state language of Turkmenistan.
II. Preparing documents for registration of a public association
14. Before a decision on registration of a public association is made, its documents, including its by-laws and other founding materials, are examined and analyzed to verify:
- their compliance with the Constitution of Turkmenistan, the Civil Code of Turkmenistan of Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, the Law “On Public Association” and other laws and legal acts;
- the availability of all the required documents and their accuracy;
- the accuracy of the information contained in the founding documents submitted for registration;
- the compliance of the name of a public association with the requirements of the law;
- the absence of a registered public association with the same name acting on the same territory.
15. During the stage of preparation for registration, the submitted materials can be returned to a public association, which shall be recorded in the log of incoming documentation (except for one copy of the by-laws and the application, which shall remain in the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan).
16. The Ministry Aladat of Turkmenistan is to inform the governing body of a public association of any comments and corrections to be made regarding the content of the founding documents which require changes and revision. There shall be no editing of the founding documents by representatives of the registering body.
17. Heads of a public association shall have the right to represent its interests regarding the issues of registration without the power of attorney if they are entitled by the by-laws of the association to represent it before the state bodies. Other individuals shall have the right to represent the public association with the power of attorney, which is to be issued in accordance with the by-laws by the authorized governing body or by the authorized official of a public association.
III. Decisions on registration of public associations
18. The Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan is to consider an application for registration of a public association within one month. Upon completion of the review, one of the following decisions shall be made:
- to register a public association and issue it a registration certificate;
- to reject the application for registration of a public association and give reasons for the rejection in writing. Such decisions can be appealed to the Kazyet.
19. On the basis of the decision on registration a public association shall be provided with the registration number and shall be included into the register of public associations.
20. A registered public association shall receive a registration certificate of the established form and a copy of its by-laws bound and sealed by the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan.
21. Two copies of the by-laws of a public association shall be bound and certified with the signature of the official responsible for the registration and by the official stamp of the Ministry Adalat on the back side of the last page. The second copy of the by-laws of a public association and a copy of its registration certificate shall be bound into the registration file and kept in the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan.
22. A public association can be refused registration in accordance with the procedures established by law. A public association shall not be refused registration on the basis of the lack of viability (нецелесообразность) of its creation.
23. In the case of a refusal of registration, a public association shall within 10 days receive a written notification of such decision indicating the laws of Turkmenistan whose violation constituted grounds for the rejection.
Documents submitted for registration shall be returned to a public association upon its written request. Copies of all of the documents submitted before the rejection of registration shall remain in the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan.
24. Refusal to register a public association shall not prevent subsequent submission of the documents for registration, subject to elimination of the shortcomings that constituted the grounds for the rejection.
A subsequent application submitted to the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan shall be examined and a decision on such application shall be made according to the procedures established by Turkmenistani law.
25. Refusal to register a public association can be appealed to the Kazyet.
26. Changes and amendments to the by-laws of a public association shall be registered in accordance with procedures and within the period of time established for the initial registration of public associations.
27. In the case of registration of changes and amendments to the by-laws of a public association resulting in changes of its legal structure, name, location of the governing body, territory of activities, aims and other significant features reflected in the Register, the public association shall receive a new registration certificate. The previous registration certificate and registered by-laws shall be returned to the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan.
IV. Annulment of registration of a public association
28. A public association is to be liquidated and to cease its activities in cases specified in its by-laws by the decision of the assembly or the general meeting or by the decision of the Kazyet, as well as upon cancellation of its registration by the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan.
The Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan nullifies registration if a public association that has switched mainly to business activities or if achievement of the goals specified in its by-laws are unforeseeable.
The Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan can submit an application for liquidation of a public association to the Kazyet in cases provided for by law.
Should the Kazyet decide to liquidate a public association, the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan is to issue the orders on annulment of its registration and on its exclusion from the Register.
29. The registration certificate of the public association and its registered by-laws are to be seized and attached to the materials of the registration file kept in the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan.
30. The decision on annulment of registration and exclusion of a public association from the Register shall be directed to the governing body of the public association, to the State Department of Foreign Investments under the President of Turkmenistan, to the tax authorities, to the Turkmenmillikhasabat (Turkmen National Statistics Bureau) and to the banks.
V. Consideration of applications regarding
issuance of duplicates of the documents.
31. Should the original registration certificate or the by-laws of a public association be lost, the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan shall issue duplicates of these documents.
32. In order to receive duplicates of the registration certificate and/or the by-laws a public association is to submit the following documents to the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan:
- application signed by the head of the public association;
- statement of the governing body of the public association regarding the loss of the original documents; and
- materials of the examination, acts, references and other documents confirming the fact of loss of the original documents.
33. Application for obtaining duplicates of a registration certificate and the by-laws are to be examined by the Ministry Adalat of Turkmenistan within one month. The front page of the duplicated document shall feature the inscription “duplicate”. The copy of the issued duplicate of the document and materials which served as grounds for its issuance is to be attached to the registration file.
VI. Drafting and keeping registration materials.
34. Registration materials of a public association shall be placed in a separate file containing all the documents submitted for the registration and specified in section 4 of these Rules and a copy of its registration certificate. A registration file is to include certificates of inspection of activities of a public association and their compliance with its by-laws, all of the subsequent correspondence with the public association, its annual reports on continuation of its activities, etc.
Pages of the registration file shall be numbered, clipped together and bound into the file containing the list of all of the attached documents.
Translated from the Russian by the OSI Turkmenistan Project.