Unlike in previous years, the legislative agenda for 2026 has been released in advance. It was approved on November 18, 2025 by the presidential edict No 400.
Several of the bills on the agenda directly relate to the activities of civil society organisations, especially the Law “On Foreign Gratuitous Assistance.”
As of today, the receipt and use of foreign aid is regulated by Decree of the President No. 3 "On Foreign Gratuitous Aid" dated May 25, 2020. Since 2001, receiving foreign aid in Belarus has been subject to an authorisation procedure. Foreign aid must be registered with a state agency, recipients need to request a separate decision from the state for tax exemptions, and receipt of foreign aid is only possible for closed list of purposes, with the state having broad powers to restrict its use. Due to the amendments to the Constitution in February 2022, this decree will be replaced by a special law "On Foreign Gratuitous Aid".
It should also be noted that in 2024, there was a slight expansion of the scope of possible goals for which CSOs can receive assistance from internal corporate sources, according to the new edition of the Presidential Edict No. 300, signed on March 27, 2024.
Three potential approaches to drafting a law on foreign aid
While chances for liberalising foreign aid in Belarus are small, and repression against its recipients is growing, there is still some hope that the new law may bring positive changes for CSOs.
In particular, CSO experts had already proposed during discussions on the 2026 legislative plan that the draft law on foreign aid should replicate the expansion of eligibility criteria for receiving aid that had already taken place in 2024 for domestic corporate aid in Edict No. 300. This would allow CSOs to receive foreign aid for any purpose specified in their statutes, except for prohibited purposes. This is possible even without changing the current system of preliminary registration of foreign aid, which exists under the decree. This could be a positive step towards bringing domestic legislation in the field of foreign aid in line with international standards and in accordance with the recommendations of the CSO Meter.
On the contrary, a negative change could be the adoption of a new law, similar to foreign agent type legislation seen in Russia and most recently in Georgia.
The third, neutral option could be an interim one, if the new law does not introduce any essential changes to the existing procedure and becomes just a technical measure, whereby the current presidential decree will be copied and pasted into the new law.
The probability of this neutral scenario increases given that the president plans to draft a bill on “Foreign Grant Aid” himself in November 2026 and submit it to parliament by February 2027.
Volunteering bill unfrozen, work starts from scratch
The legislative agenda also puts forth a plan to develop a concept for a bill “On Volunteer Activities”. There is currently no legislative act in Belarus that comprehensively regulates volunteer activities. As seen in Armenia and Moldova, such laws are an important step to promote people’s engagement and support civil society.
The discussion on regulating volunteering in Belarus started in 2019. The draft law developed in 2020 extensively drew on proposals from Belarusian CSOs and experts and took into account international practices. Among other things, the justification for the draft law referenced the report Volunteering: European practice of regulation, prepared by ECNL at the request of Belarusian organisations. The report presented a broad overview of possible models and approaches to the legal regulation of volunteer activities.
During the initial drafting of this bill in 2019-2020, there were concerns that it might restrict opportunities for CSOs, by introducing mandatory regulations on volunteering. Now, in the context ofsignificant restrictions on freedom of association, the expectations are rather positive - it might create a legal field for volunteer initiatives that emerge in place of previously forcibly liquidated CSOs.
We can expect the formalisation of volunteer activities of the staff of commercial companies working within the framework of corporate social responsibility. In addition, formalising the criteria of “volunteer” may help to consolidate ties with supporters for those CSOs that exist in the form of non-member types of legal entities (foundations and especially institutions), which are easier to register than member-based association forms.
Expected changes to the Trade Unions Law, the Environmental Code, and several other laws outlined in the plan are also relevant from a freedom of association perspective.