Repubblika has sent a letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela regarding the new VO public collections and VO charity shops regulations.

The Civil Society Movement, in the letter argues that the Prime Minister has made rules that “stifle the freedom of volunteering. You need to withdraw them immediately.”

“By this letter we ask you to withdraw and repeal Subsidiary Legislation 492.03 – Voluntary Organisations (Public Collection) Regulations and Subsidiary Legislation 492.04 – Voluntary Organisations Regulations (Charity Shops),” it said.

“We are available for a discussion on how this area can be better regulated, but these legal notices are built on a false premise – that is to say that voluntary associations are unreliable, rather suspicious – and therefore they need to be be revoked without further delay,” said Repubblika.

On Saturday, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Voluntary Organisations said that it had taken note of the appeal by various voluntary associations.

In a statement, it said that the “drafting of the legal notice was with the clear intention to be in favour of enhancing transparency. At the same time, the Secretariat understands the concerns of the organisations and will be looking to address these concerns.”

The Secretariat went on to say that it is informed that the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector has consulted with “hundreds of voluntary associations” registered with the Office of the Commissioner for the Voluntary Sector on the law governing this field.

The next step is for the MCVS to move forward once the internal process through which it will be taking a position on this same notice is completed, the Secretariat said.

The Civil Society Movement also sent a Memorandum to the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector, in which it said that it “appreciates the need to ensure that financial criminals are not permitted to avail themselves of the vehicle of voluntary organisations to act as fronts to cover their crimes.”

However, “we find that the regulations introduced under the Voluntary Organisations Act in September 2020 fail to introduce measures that can realistically contribute to a clampdown on money laundering and financial crime.”

It argued that, “even as they fail in what appears to be their primary justification, the new regulations suffocate fundamental freedoms of law-abiding citizens preventing them from associating or from freely expressing their views.”

“New measures such as permits to raise funds or to engage volunteers are unnecessary and do nothing to help flush out money laundering,” it said.

“Similarly,” it said, “rules on collections using collection jars and home-dropped envelopes, raffles and collections during mass events make the processes impractical. The new rules increase time and cost in bureaucratic procedures and reduce access for law-abiding voluntary organisations to donations that are fully compliant with the law.”

It also argued that, “these measures will suffocate genuine NGOs such as cultural, sports and charity organisations but will do nothing to combat financial crime.”

Repubblika went on to say that the regulations also empower the government to “sanction, censor and in effect ban NGOs who express views or campaign for policies that the government disagrees with or disapproves of.”

The memorandum can be read in full in English by clicking here to download.

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