What Is The Problem With The Hungarian Law On Foreign Funded NGOs?

On 13 June 2017, the Hungarian National Assembly (Parliament) adopted the Act LXXVI of 2017 on the Transparency of Organisations Supported from Abroad (hereinafter: the Law). It obliges associations and foundations that receives at least 7.2 million HUF annually from foreign source to register with the court as an organization receiving foreign funding, to annually report about their foreign funding, and to indicate the label “organization receiving foreign funding” on their website and publications. The list of foreign funded NGOs is also published on a government website.

This law has been a part of a series of measures that began in 2013 designed to discredit and silence civil society organisations that are trying to hold the government to account to its obligations concerning anti-corruption, environmental protection, fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. The draft of the law was submitted to the Parliament on the 7 April 2017 by three Members of Parliament, when unfounded allegations on NGOs by members of the Hungarian Government, misleading reporting on the activities of NGOs from government-friendly media, the so-called consultation with the title 'Let's Stop Brussels' characterized the season.

Read our full analysis with the Hungarian Helsinki Committee here. 

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