In 2023 and 2024, a number of mechanisms have been gradually introduced to limit the opportunities for interested parties to carry out certain service provision activities. And although these regulations are not directly aimed at regulating CSOs, they apply to all legal entities and therefore affect the interests of CSOs, narrowing the possible range of activities available to them.
While the licensing of medical services or alcohol sales are justified, complex accreditation requirements are now being introduced in areas where this is not necessary. In practice this means that CSOs and other entities have to obtain government permission for common activities, such as- holding concerts, distributing printed publications, working as tour guides, operating rural tourist estates, etc. Some of these licensing measures affect activities that are essential for the operation of CSOs.
Sometimes, these mechanisms are formalised through the direct introduction of licensing for a certain type of activity. But in other cases, they are formalised indirectly, through veiled de facto licensing, when certain activities require an organisation to be included in a special list or register (even if such activity or service is provided to CSOs without charging a fee).
New amendments introduce the licensing of certain social services
On July 1, 2024, amendments to the laws “On Social Care” and “On Licensing” came into force, which introduced licensing of activities on the provision of social services in the form of inpatient social care (care which requires admitting the patient to a hospital). As of now, there are 34 non-state entities carrying out such activities in Belarus.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection stated that licensing of this activity was introduced in order to ensure the safety of living for elderly people and people with disabilities, as well as the quality of social services provided to them. Licensing requirements in this area relate to fire safety standards, sanitary and epidemiological requirements, requirements for the essence and quality of social services. The license will be issued by local authorities; the timeframe for examining applications for a license can range from 15 up to 25 days. The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, by Resolution No. 32 of May 15, 2024, approved the procedure for assessing the compliance of the capabilities of a license applicant with pre-licensing requirements and of a licensee with licensing requirements. In case of disagreement with the refusal to issue a license, the license applicant has the right to appeal it in court.
CSOs operating in the social sphere perceive pre-licensing and licensing requirements as quite complex and even restrictive, removing most CSOs from the market for the potential provision of this category of social services.
The norm on licensing of social services came into force on July 1, 2024, and the deadline for obtaining a license is October 1, 2024. After this date, the delivery of social services that provide accommodation without a license is prohibited.
In general, these and other types of licensed activities are regulated by law in such detail that only large organisations with numerous staff, most often commercial organisations, can meet the licensing requirements, and small CSOs are not able to fulfil them. For example, the expanded system of licensing for educational activities in preschool and secondary education (introduced on January 1, 2023) led to an almost complete disappearance of private schools in Belarus. Only 6 schools out of the 34 operating at the start of the licensing campaign have managed to retain their status (they make up only 0,2% out of a total of about 3,000 schools).
Applying for a license often requires the work of a lawyer (whose costs start from 500 EUR), as well as the presence of a number of highly qualified technical specialists. This is a large obstacle for the CSOs that aim to provide social services. The Unified Register of Licenses shows that less than 0,1% of licenses (51 out of 64,950) were issued to public associations (most of them are licenses for children’s health improvement abroad).
Obtaining a license comes with other forms of government intervention, including inspections and possible sanctions in the form of suspension or termination of licenses.
Veiled licensing: mandatory accreditation, certification or listing
Besides direct licensing, CSOs can also be denied access to certain types of activities through veiled licensing, which effectively has the same restrictive effect.
In total, about 40 areas and types of activities are subject to licensing in Belarus, but many other areas and activities require accreditation, certification or inclusion in a special register. The number of these types of restricted activities is growing, expanding into new areas, including those popular among CSOs. For example, in the summer of 2024, the General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus took the initiative to introduce a special register of organisers of children's recreation activities, where all children's camps will be required to register. This initiative threatens the interests of many youth, social and charitable CSOs, for which summer camps and summer schools are a popular method of working with youth and other target groups.
In order to have the right to distribute printed publications, organisations must enter their data into the register of distributors of printed publications. Being listed in another, separate register is required to distribute periodicals (both registers are maintained by the Ministry of Information). In internationally accepted practice, this kind of regulation applies only when information dissemination resources are limited (for example, the allocation of radio frequencies for radio stations).
Mandatory licensing introduced in new areas
Since July 1, 2023, rural touristic and historical hamlets must obtain a decision from the district executive committee to be able to provide services in the field of agroecotourism (according to the presidential edict No 351 “On the development of agroecotourism”). More than 50% of agricultural estates did not receive the appropriate decision.
Public associations working on the protection of consumer’s rights must also undergo a new process of certifying their employees, according to the Resolution of the Government dated December 28, 2023 No. 958.
Activities for the development of physical culture and sports, are considered illegal business activities unless they receive state accreditation (according to the amendments to the “On Physical Culture and Sports”). Thus, existing legal entities, including CSOs, had to obtain a certificate of state accreditation until January 1, 2024.In total, about 2,600 organisations, including CSOs, and individual entrepreneurs had to receive state accreditation for the right to carry out activities for the development of physical culture and sports. According to the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, as of January 12, 2024, only 80% of physical culture and sports organisations and individual entrepreneurs involved in this area received state accreditation.
Authorities can also refuse to give accreditation to organisations on the basis of disrespectful attitude towards state and public institutions, including state symbols of the Republic of Belarus, the constitutional system, or illegal acts against the order of government, public order and public morality. For example, an organisation whose head has been arrested for participating in an unauthorised assembly can be denied accreditation.
This was the basis for the refusal of state accreditation of several organizations, such as the Homiel sports public association Judo Club “Pride”. The largest number of CSOss that remain registered in Belarus are physical education and sports organisations (out of about 1,693 public associations registered in Belarus as of the end of April 2024 and not in the process of liquidation, 589 are sports-oriented associations.)
According to the Ministry of Sports and Tourism if an organisation carries out activities in the field of physical culture or sports without obtaining accreditation and the appropriate certificate, this will be considered illegal entrepreneurial activity, which is subject to a significant fine, and to criminal liability if it received significant income.
Re-licensing sudden and unjustified: not all CSOs can pass the repeated test for compliance
Legal entities organising cultural and entertainment events must also be included in the appropriate register (according to the Resolution of the Council of Ministers dated June 22, 2022 No. 401 “On the register of organizers of cultural and entertainment events).
This measure significantly restricted the opportunities for CSOs to hold concerts, festivals and other similar events, but around 700 organisations and individual entrepreneurs initially managed to get into the register. However, a year after the introduction of this resolution (in September 2023) additional strict requirements were introduced. One must now have at least three years of organisational experience, and the head of the organisation or individual entrepreneur must not have committed any offences. In addition, cultural and entertainment events must be the main activity of the legal entity or individual entrepreneur. Entities already included in the register had to re-submit an updated package of documents in accordance with the new forms by October 23, 2023. At the moment, only 45 organisers of cultural and entertainment events remain in the register, none of which are CSOs. CSOs from the cultural and recreational sphere now in practice do not seek to be included in this list, when necessary, they turn to government agencies and philharmonics, or to a few private commercial agencies included in the register.
Re-certification is often politically motivated
The re-certification mechanism is also used to regulate the practice of law, including for the purpose of political control over the attorney community. Many attorneys, including those defending political prisoners, including CSO and opposition activists, were deprived of the opportunity to practice law due to failure to undergo re-certification (direct deprivation of a license is also used against undesirable attorneys as a means of political pressure and a ban on the profession).
Since July 2023, even tour guides and their interpreters are subject to professional and ethical requirements defined by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. The justification for the proposed changes does not hide the political nature of this re-certification: “The changes provided for by the draft are related to the results of an analysis of the activities of tour guides and guides-interpreters on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Based on the results of this analysis, it has been discovered that some tour guides and guides-interpreters make negative statements regarding the existing state system of the Republic of Belarus. The current response measures of depriving these guides and guides-interpreters of certification certificates prove their efficiency,” note the draft developers. As a result, there is a shortage of tour guides in the country. Currently, the governmental National Tourism Agency performs the functions of the certifying body, and the professional and ethical requirements for tour guides and guides-interpreters are established by government resolution No. 33 of July 4, 2023 (the open part of the National Register of Tour Guides and Guides-Interpreters is available here). Already in March 2024, a public discussion of the draft resolution on changes in the professional certification of tour guides and guides-interpreters was held, but the state authorities did not receive a single comment within the public discussion. It should be noted that, according to the regulations, representatives of public associations may also be included in the certification commission for the certification of audio guides (mobile audio tours).
Existing and new licensing requirements, veiled de facto licensing, and requirements for re-certification or confirmation of status narrow the pool of CSOs that have legal access to carry out crucial activities. These restrictions primarily affect CSOs that have retained their legal status despite the campaign of mass liquidation. But they also narrow the space for the activities of public initiatives that, after forced liquidation, are trying to restore their activities in the form of a commercial organisation or an individual entrepreneur.