Parliament To Consider Introduction of Dual Registration of Religious Organizations

On May 24, the Supreme Council will consider Bill 10221 envisaging assumption by religious organizations of the status of religious persons and introduction of their “dual registration.”

According to the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF), this legislative initiative was developed by the Ministry of Justice but was registered in the Parliament on behalf of the President’s Representative in the Supreme Council, Yurii Miroshnychenko.  

The bill envisages making substantial alterations to the law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Consience and Religious Organizations,” which would completely change the procedure of assumption by religious organizations of the status of legal persons. They will be able to obtain that status only upon two separate procedures, the state registration in the State Registration Service (governed by the Ministry of Justice) bodies and registration of their statutes in regional state administrations which is required by the current law.

The bill does not specify which of the two procedures should be undergone first and what will be the legal consequences of the registration of the statute of a religious organization in that case.

According to IRF, the introduction of the dual registration will obviously lead to the complication of the registration procedure.