Comparative legal analysis of associations laws and regimes in the EU

Executive Summary

There is no single definition of association for all EU Member States. However, some patterns emerge. The first one is that the term “association” refers to a non-profit organization. It can also be observed that associations target those kinds of activities that aim to benefit the entire community. Another essential feature of associations is the “profit distribution constraint” among associations' members. It doesn`t mean, however, that associations cannot carry out economic activities. Associations in most Member States can perform economic activities if they are in connection with their primary objectives.

There is a vast number of typologies that can be used to categorize associations. A distinction can be made between: formal and informal associations; their main purpose(s); associations can also be of public or mutual benefit.

All EU Member States recognize the freedom of association in their Constitutions. However, exercising this right is not without restrictions. It is generally recognized in all Member States that associations cannot operate in a way that would go against social or public order. In addition to the recognition of the freedom of association by all Constitutions, Member States have also adopted complementary legal acts that form the legal framework of associations.

Associations have legal personality in all Member States, except SK and PL (in the case of ordinary associations). Associations that have legal personality can be subject to rights and liabilities just as natural persons and can acquire rights, assume liability, and participate in judicial proceedings.

The administrative cost for the registration of an association varies significantly among Member States (see table 4). In FR, PL and HU, it is free of charge. In other Member States, such as BG and RO, it ranges from EUR 25 to EUR 30, while it is significantly higher in IT, for instance, (ranging between EUR 290 and EUR 360).

One of the main characteristics of associations is that they cannot be founded for the primary purpose to carry out economic activities. However, associations are allowed to pursue economic activities if they are directly linked to the objectives defined in their constitutive act. The profit gained from such activities cannot be distributed among the members since they must contribute to the main objectives of the association.

In all Member States, the fundamental decisions of associations are taken by the decision-making body (such as General Assembly). Among them are: amending the constitutive act; appointing and removing the members of the executive body; approving the budgets and accounts; deciding on the association’s dissolution, on the amount of membership fees, on the budget or on changing the main purpose/objectives of the association.

Concerning taxation regimes for associations, it is common in all Member States (with the exception of CY) that associations are generally exempt from VAT. There are many variations with regards to the other taxes due by associations (see tables 5 and 6).

There is no systematic comparable data regarding the number of associations in the EU. Therefore, we aggregated the latest available data available for each country in order to estimate the total number of associations in the EU. It is 3 190 407. Almost half of them are concentrated in one Member State, FR, (1 300 000). The total number of members of associations based on the latest data available for each country is 91 018 622 in total. There is no systematic data about the revenues of the associations in the EU. We estimated an indicative figure based on the last data available for each country. It amounts to EUR 243 billion. Similar to the number of associations, FR plays an important role. It generates almost 50% of all revenue of the associations in the EU (EUR 111 billion, 2018). The average economic weight of the associations in the EU (based on the latest data available for each country) is 2.01% of GDP.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Definition

There is no single definition of association for all EU Member States. However, some patterns emerge.

The first one is that the term “association” refers to a non-profit organization. Therefore, making profit cannot be a primary objective. It can also be observed that associations target those kinds of activities that aim to benefit the entire community (public benefit) (AT, BG, CZ, DE, EE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LU, LV, MT, PL, SK) or the members of the association only (mutual benefit) (BE, CY, DK, ES, FI, FR, HR, LT, NL, PT, RO, SE, SI).

Another essential feature of associations is the “profit distribution constraint” among the associations' members. It doesn`t mean, however, that associations cannot carry out economic activities (AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK). Associations in these countries can perform economic activities if they are in connection with the primary objectives of the association. Therefore, what profit non-distribution means is that distributing the profit from economic activities is not allowed.

Characteristics

A common aspect is the number of persons required to form an association. It varies from two to three natural persons and/or legal persons (AT, BE, BG, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, HR, IT, LT, LU, LV, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI). However, in the case of HU, a minimum number of ten natural persons, legal persons or organizations without legal personality is required to form an association. In the case of GR, it is 20 .

Types of associations

There is a vast number of typologies that can be used to categorize associations.

Formal and informal associations

A first classification concerns Member States that distinguish between formal and informal associations, such as: de facto associations and registered associations (BE, FR, FI); common regime associations and associations under a specific regime (ES); associations with legal personality (all MSs except from SK and PL in terms of ordinary associations) and associations without legal personality (SK and PL in terms of ordinary associations) and associations with limited legal capacity (IT and NL); ordinary associations and registered associations (PL). All these countries, regardless of the terminology used, distinguish between more formalized associations and less formal ones.

Type of activity

The second type of classification distinguishes associations based on their activity. For example, in LV and DK there are voluntary associations (i.e., a landowners' association or a cultural association), cooperative housing associations, and special associations, such as purchasing associations. At the same time in PT, there is a distinction between cooperatives; mutual associations; mercy associations; foundations; community and self-managed subsectors; and associations with altruistic purposes. In HR, for instance, associations can be categorized on the basis of the following types of activities: technical education, protection and rescue, environmental protection, health care, sport, social activity, sustainable development, education, science and research, international cooperation, human rights, culture and art, economy, spirituality, politics, victim representation. As regards other Member States, similar categories exist.

Public or mutual benefit aim

Another classification is based on public or mutual benefit aim. Some Member States label associations as public benefit associations (AT, BG, CZ, DE, EE, GR, HU, IE, LU, MT, PL, SK), while others classify them as mutual benefit associations (BE, CY, DK, ES, FI, FR, HR, LT, NL, PT, RO, SE, SI). It is also possible, however, that both classifications exist next to each other (IT, LV).

Table 1: Overview of public benefit associations in the EU
Member State The notion of “public benefit”
AT Public benefit exists if the activity benefits the common good in an intellectual, cultural, moral, or material field. This applies to the promotion of art and science, health care, child, youth and family welfare, care for the elderly, the sick or people with physical disabilities, physical sports, public housing, school education, education, popular education, vocational training, the preservation of monuments, nature, animal and cave protection, local history, home care and fight against natural hazards.
BE No specific status
BG The activities in public benefit must include specific areas , such as, for example: developing and strengthening of spiritual values, the civil society, health care, education, science, culture, technologies, equipment or natural culture, and others.
CY No specific status
CZ Public benefit association is a legal entity which contributes to the general welfare of the society by performing its activities.
DE An organization pursues public benefit purposes (gemeinnützige Zwecke) if “its activities aim to support the general public materially, intellectually, or morally.” The beneficiaries of these activities should not be limited to a closed circle of people (such as, for example, members of one family or employees of one corporation).
DK No specific status
EE Each Non-Profit Association can apply for a status of public benefit and charitable organization for getting tax incentives.
ES No specific status
FI No specific status
FR No specific status
GR The new type of association is the foundation, which is a private law legal entity. It is not an association of persons, but rather a set of assets, that has acquired legal personality and is dedicated to serving a specific and permanent purpose for the public benefit.
HR No specific status
HU Associations qualify for public benefit status if they fulfil certain criteria. The most important one is that the organization must pursue a public benefit activity, that is, an activity, which directly or indirectly contributes to the realization of a public task (at a state or local government level). Moreover, the organization has to have adequate resources as well as social support. (See Act CLXXV/2011 Section 2(20))
IE Many public benefit organizations are established as one of the following legal forms: an unincorporated association; a trust; or a company limited by guarantee (CLG).
IT Associations can choose to pursue a public or mutual benefit aim. However, usually the benefit aim is the majority.
LT No specific status
LU Associations can be of mutual or public interest, according to their purpose. In accordance of Art. 26-2 of Sociétés et associations législation: Mémorial A - 569 du 28 juillet 2021, Associations et Fondations sans but lucratif, non-profit associations which pursue an aim of general interest may be recognized as being of public utility by a Decree of Grand-Ducal. In order to gain this recognition, they are required to operatein one of the following areas: philanthropic, religious, scientific, artistic, educational, social, sporting or touristic .
LV Associations could be of mutual or public benefit. In order to obtain a public benefit status, an association must operate in one of the areas defined by Public Benefit Organization Law: “a public benefit activity is an activity, which provides a significant benefit to society or a part thereof, especially if it is directed towards charitable activities, protection of civil rights and human rights, development of civil society, education, science, culture and promotion of health and disease prophylaxis, support for sports, environmental protection, provision of assistance in cases of catastrophes and extraordinary situations, and raising the social welfare of society, especially for low-income and socially disadvantaged persons groups”.
MT Public benefit associations cannot be established for commercial purposes. When a public benefit association wishes to carry out a business activity in order to raise funds to achieve its purposes, such an organization should establish an appropriate legal entity and the administrators should ensure that such activity does not overburden the human and financial resources of the association.
NL No specific status
PL Associations are also subject to the Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism, the so-called constitution of the third sector. Article 3 of the Act on Public Benefit Activity and Volunteerism indicates that non-profit associations constitute non-governmental organizations. These, in turn, conduct public benefit activity, i.e., socially useful activity in the sphere of public tasks specified in Article 4(1) of the Act (e.g., charity, social assistance, area of science, culture).
PT No specific status
RO No specific status
SE No specific status
SI No specific status
SK According to Slovakian Law on Non-Profit Organizations providing the general public benefits services n. 213/1997, the following categories of social services are considered of public interest: health services; social aid and humanitarian care; development and protection of cultural and spiritual values; human rights protection; education; science; environment; employment; housing.

Agreement

An agreement between members is the most fundamental feature of associations in all Member States. This requirement is not mentioned in the definition of associations in some Member States. Countries such as BG, CY, CZ, EE, FI, HR, HU, LT, LU, LV, NL, PT, SE, SI, SK) do not mention the notion of agreement in the definition of association in their country, while the other members (AT, BE, DE, DK, ES, FR, GR, IE, IT, MT, PL, RO) do. This last group of members establishes that an agreement among members is obligatorily requested to start an association. Such agreement should be prepared in written in all mentioned countries, while in Ireland in the past it was done orally.

Table 2: Summary of the countries with associations agreement in EU - 27
Member States Agreement: Yes or no
AT Establishment is achieved through the adoption of the statute (founding agreement). The agreement requires obligatorily at least two members which can be legal or natural persons.
BE As “an agreement between two or more persons to pursue a selfless goal following one or more defined activities, which constitute its legal status”.
BU No
CY No
CZ No
DE

The primary source regulating associations is the National Constitution of Germany (Grundgesetz) which establishes the freedom to associate as a basic right.

Agreements that restrict or seek to impair this right shall be null and void; measures directed to this end shall be unlawful.
DK

The members have entered into an agreement on the purpose of the association (usually as articles of association).

Association can conclude agreements and assume obligations in the same way as persons or companies and act in the form of "associations" according to Danish legislation.
EE No
ES "Associations are non-profit entities that are formed by agreement of three or more individuals or legal entities that undertake to pool knowledge, means and activities to achieve lawful, common purposes of general or particular interest.
FI No
FR An agreement between two or more persons for sharing, on a permanent basis, their knowledge or activities for any purpose, except sharing profits.
GR For its creation, there must be a constituent act, meaning a written agreement between at least five persons, in which they declare their will to create the FC.
HR No
HU No
IE The unincorporated association is based on membership of participants under the form of an agreement. In the past, this agreement was concluded orally. Now, the written forms are common. The agreement contains the terms and conditions that are written in the association’s constitution.
IT The association could be constituted through a private act or a non-formalized agreement between the members.
LT No
LU No
LV No
MT The Civil code defines an association as an agreement between three or more persons to establish an organisation with defined aims or purposes to be achieved through the dedication of efforts and resources by such persons and others who may join voluntarily, the patrimony, namely assets and liabilities, if any, of the association being distinct from that of the members, its administrators or any beneficiaries.
NL No
PL The Polish doctrine assumes that the statute of an association, which is the source of the legal relation of membership, is a civil law agreement concluded by the founders of an association, which may be later joined by other (remaining) members.
PT No
RO According to the framework law on associations and foundations , the association is a private subject of law constituted of three or more persons who, on the basis of an agreement, share, without being entitled to restitution, their material contribution, their knowledge and their lucrative activity, in order to accomplish activities of general interest, for the interest of a collectivity or, if such be the case, of their personal non-patrimonial interest.
SE No
SI No
SK No

2. Sources of law founding associations

All EU Member States recognize the freedom of association. However, exercising this right is not without restrictions. It is generally recognized in all Member States that associations cannot operate in a way that would go against social or public order.

In addition to the recognition of the freedom of association by all constitutions, Member States have also adopted complementary legal acts that form the legal framework of associations. The French-speaking Member States (BE, FR and LU), which are the pioneers of social economy, were the first European countries to recognize associations from a legislative point of view. Belgium was the first country in the EU to recognize associations (see its Constitution of 1831), which was followed by Germany 1and France (see: law of July 1, 1901) and Luxembourg (see: law of April 21, 1928). Later on, other European democracies, such as, Italy and Spain, and lastly, the post-communist countries, such as, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, have also legislated on associations.

Table 3: Overview of legal sources of associations in the EU
Member State Most relevant legal sources
Austria Association Act (2002)
Belgium

Belgian Constitution 7th February (1831)

modifications: (17 February 1994 and 23th March 2019)
Bulgaria

Art. 44 of the Constitution (1991)

The national Social Economy Concept (2011- modified 2018)

Non-Profit Legal Entities Act (2020)
Cyprus

Cypriot Constitution and the national Civil Code

Law 104(I)/ 2017
Croatia

The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (1990)

The Law on Associations (2014)
Czech Republic

The Constitution 1992 (art. 20)

§ 20 of Civil Code n°89/2012
Denmark

The Danish Constitution (1849)

Law on Registered Socio-Economic Enterprises, Social Enterprises (LRSE) (2014)
Estonia

The Constitution (1992)

The Non-profit Association Act (1996)
France

The Act of 1st of July (1901)

The Act of 31st of July (2014)
Finland

The Constitution of Finland (2000)

Associations Act 503/1989
Germany

Sections 21 to 70 of the Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB).

§2 (1) of the Law for Governance of Public Associations (Gesetz zur Regelung des öffentlichen Vereinsrechts, Vereinsgesetz)

section 52(1) of the Fiscal code (Abgabenordnung)

The National Constitution of Germany (Grundgesetz) (1949)
Greece

Articles 78-107 of the Greek Civil Code

Article 12 of the Greek Constitution (1975).

Law N° 4172/2013
Hungary

The main rules of associations are laid down in Act V/2013 on the Civil Code under Sections 3:63 – 3:87.

Apart from Act/2013, there are many other legal acts that regulate or are relevant to associations in Hungary. Among the most important ones are the following: The Fundamental Law of Hungary (the Constitution, adopted in 2011); Act CLXXV/2011 on the Freedom of Association, Public Benefit Status, and the Operation and Support of CSOs; Government Decree 350/2011 (XII.30) on Certain Issues of CSO Financial Management, Fundraising, and Public Benefit Status
Ireland

The Constitution of Ireland (Article 40.6.1.iii) (1937)

The Charities Act (2009)

Companies Act 2014 for the Designated Activity Company (DAC: a company with share capital that can be limited by guarantee).
Italy

The Italian Constitution (article 18) (1947)

Non-recognized or not associations: (Presidential Decree 361/2000). (Articles 36, 37, and 38 of the Civil Code) 2.

Social Promotion Association: (APS) (L. 383/2000)

Amateur sports association :(Law 289/2002 (art. 90))

The Civil Code: (recognized associations, legal personality, and unrecognized associations, ).

The laws from the nineties of the last century onwards were enacted to regulate certain aspects of associations, mainly by fiscal regulations and were aimed at facilitating their activities and development:

  • the Law of 11.8.1991, n. 266 (the so-called framework law on voluntary work),

  • The Law 4.12.1997, n. 460 contains provisions regarding 'non-profit organizations with a social purpose' (Onlus).

  • The l. 7.12.2000 n. 383 introduced the figure of social promotion associations (APS),
Latvia

The Constitution (1922)

The two main laws with relevance to the associations are Associations and Foundations Law as well as the Public Benefit Organizations Law (2003)
Lithuania

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (art. 35) (1992)

Article 2 of the Law on Associations (22 January 2004 No IX-1969, as amended on 2021-11-23 XIV-684)

Law on the Development of Non-Governmental Organizations 19 December 2013 - No XII-717 Vilnius (As last amended on 20 January 2022 – No XIV-916)

Law on Development of Community Organizations 21 December 2018- No XIII-1774 Vilnius as last amended on 25 June 2020 – No XIII-3137
Luxembourg

Law of 21 April 1928 on Non-Profit Associations and Public Benefit Entities

The Constitution of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg (Article 26)
Malta

The Constitution of Malta (Chapter IV), article 42 (1964)

The Voluntary Organizations Act XXII of 2007 (Chapter 492 of the Laws of Malta)

The Civil code, Title III, Sub-Title I (from 26 to 28) and Sub-Title III (from 48 to 56)
Netherlands The rules governing associations are found in Book 2, title 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Poland

The Constitution of 2 April 1997 (article 12)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Act of 7 April 1989 – the Law on Associations
Portugal

The Portuguese Constitution (article 46) (1976)

The Portuguese Civil Code (all under chapter II – section I regulates the general terms - article 157 to 166 - and section II specifically for associations – article 167 to 184)
Romania

Art. 40 of the Constitution (1991)

Important legal act in the field is also Government Ordinance no. 26/2000, approved by Law no. 246/2005.
Slovakia

Article 28 of the Constitution of Slovakia (1992)

The main piece of legislation regarding associations is the Civil Associations Act (§ 18-1 of Slovakian Code Civil; §829 of the Civil Code).

The Law on Public Administration Budgetary Rules n. 523/2004, regulating the foundation proceedings of budgetary organizations and state-funded institutions is also relevant.

Many other special laws which regulate the specificities of different association forms also exist in Slovakia:

Law on Non-Profit Organizations providing the general public benefits services n. 213/1997;

Law on Associations of Political Parties and Movements n. 424/1991;

Law on Religious Freedom and Church or Religious Organization Status n. 308/1991;

Law on Foundations n. 34/ 2002;

Law on Non-Investment Funds n. 147/1997.
Slovenia The Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia (art. 42) (1991)
Sweden

The Swedish Economic Associations Act 2018:672

The Instrument of Government 1974: 152

The Act of Succession

The Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression make up the Swedish Constitution
Spain

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 (EC)

The Organic Law 1/2002 of 22 March (LODA)

The Code of Associations (2022)

Law 5/2011 on Social Economy (article 5)

The different regions have also been assigned legal responsibilities for associations, and five of them have regulated their own regional law.

3. Formation requirements and constitutive acts and elements

Most of the 27 EU Member States (AT, BE, BG, DE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HR, IT, LU, LV, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI) require two main steps to form an association. The first step concerns the formation and the signing of the association`s constitutive act (AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, GR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, NL, MT, PL, RO, PT, SE, SI, SK). The constitutive act can take one of the following forms:

The second step involves the request for recognition (usually a request for registration) from the competent body (which is usually the Court of Registration, the Register of Associations, a ministry, public office or other authority). However, Denmark is an exception. They do not have written legislation on associations, which is why the two-step process is also not in place with regards to associations.

As regards the members of associations, it can be observed that they can be either natural persons, legal persons, or both (see section on membership).

Differences exist in the field of requirements for establishment of associations. Usually, a notarial deed is not mandatory to form an association, except from BE and GR in case of donation, and in case of IT only for recognized associations.

Another aspect is the language that must be used to sign the constitutive act(s) necessary for forming associations. All EU Member States require their own national language to be used, while in BE, the constitutive act can also be written in any official languages of the European Union, translated into Dutch, French, or German.

Finally, members are usually required to provide the following information of the association in its constitutive act: name, registration office, the goals and means for their achievement, the determination of the types of activities, the type of any additional economic activity (if any), the branches, the powers of the different bodies of the associations, the rules regarding the manner of representation of the association, the rules regarding the membership, the final date of existence of the association, the rules regarding the calculation of contributions, the way of distribution of any properties after reimbursement of any existing credit. However, not all EU Member States require this information to be included in the constitutive act of the association. Those that do not require this are CY, CZ, GR, HR, MT. Each Member State has its specific rules.

4. Registration requirements

The registration process varies among EU Member States. Four main tendencies can be observed:

Registration is a prerequisite for an association to acquire legal personality in almost all Member States. In some Member States, however, the recognition by a public authority (GR, BE in case of AISBL) or formation by members (SE, ES) have the same effect as registration in other Member States. Exceptionally, it can also be observed that registration is required by law, however, it does not grant the association legal personality (SK and PL in case or ordinary associations).

In those Member States, where registration is required, its requirements change according to the type of association. For example, in Belgium, there is a difference between ASBL and AISBL. In the first case, documents must be submitted for registration within 30 days after the signature of the founding parties. While, in the case of AISBL, the recognition is made by Royal order, which must have received in advance the constitutive act and the related documents (the process takes 30 days). Similarly, in GR, in order for an association to acquire legal personality, the competent Ministry examines the legality and the purpose of the association and approves its creation by issuing a Presidential Decree that is published in the Government Gazette.

The registration authority also varies among Member States. In some cases it is a Court (e.g. CZ, HU) or a Ministry/public office (e.g. FR, GR). In others this is under the remit of a separate entity, designated for registration (e.g. Registration of Associations in HR, Federal Registry in DE or Finnish Register of Associations in FI).

Finally, it also has to be examined, whether the registration of the association can be rejected and if so, on what grounds. Usually, an application may be rejected by the registration authority during the registration process if one of the elements of the constitutive act or one of the registration requirements is missing. The request for registration can also be rejected if the association's goal or purpose goes against public order, endangers national security or constitutes a crime. For example, the French Ministry of Interior can decide not to allow an association to pursue its activities if they are grounded on an illicit cause or purpose, as opposed to good moral standards, and thus, cause harm to the entirety of France and its democratic form of government (FR).

5. Administrative costs

The administrative cost for the registration of an association varies significantly among Member States. In FR, PL and HU, it is free of charge. In other Member States, such as BG and RO, it ranges from EUR 25 to EUR 30, while it is significantly higher in IT, for instance, (ranging between EUR 290 and EUR 360).

Table 4: Administrative Cost
Member State Administration cost
AT For establishing an association in Austria, the administrative costs are as follows: for the application EUR 14,30;  additional fees for enclosures (for enclosed articles of association): EUR 3,90 per sheet (max. EUR 21,80); for notification of the invitation to take up association activity upon application, if positive: EUR 6,50. 
BE The following administrative fees apply: for the constitution, equivalent to registration, EUR 206,91 if the association submits documents in hard copy and EUR 149,44 if it submits documents a e-form; for any modification to legal statute, as well as nominations and resignations, EUR 140,20 for documents either hard copy and e-form. 
 BG

The cost for a primary registration of an association is (EUR 25) for a primary registration. It could be done electronically for a reduced fee of 25 leva (EUR 12,5).

The annual fee for submission of an annual report about the activities of the association is 40 leva (EUR 20). There is also a reduction if done electronically 20 leva (EUR 10).
CY Fees vary depending on the required constitutive procedures. There is no set amounts as legal fees are also involved.
CZ The following administrative fees apply: proposal for first registering of an association: EUR 28.51 4; modification or completing of  information:  EUR 40.72
DE

The first registration with the court costs EUR 75. For later entries, for example in case of amendment of the statutes, the court will incur costs of EUR 50 plus minor publication costs, which vary according to federal States.  

The notary costs for the registration of the foundation of an association amount to EUR 20 and for the drafting of the application form for the register EUR 30 (total EUR 50).
DK

The registration for voluntary, ordinary and special associations is free of charge.  

Exceptionally, the establishment of an association with limited liability (fmba) the costs is  EUR 90.
EE

The administration fees as of 2022 are as follows.

EUR 30 for entry in the register of the association. 

EUR 10 for changing the data entered in the register. 

EUR 70 upon filing an appeal against a court ruling. 
ES The fee for the establishment of an association is EUR 38.89.  
FI The administrative cost for registration of an association varies between EUR 50 and EUR 180 (depending of the type of association and the type of registration  - paper/online). 
FR All the  procedures are free of charge. 
GR There is no administrative fee. However, the legal process involves a lawyer (the minimum amount set by the Bar Association is 95 euros plus VAT 24% for the application before the Court of  First Instance and another 95 euros plus 24% VAT for the process itself)
HR The administrative cost for establishing an association is as follows: the first cost is an administrative cost of 9.30 EUR. After receiving the decision for registration in the Register of Associations, they should pay for a stamp from EUR 19.94 to EUR 33.23. After obtaining the stamp, it is necessary to send a request to the Central Bureau of Statistics for entry in the Register of Business Entities. The request should be accompanied by a payment of EUR  7.31.
HU The registration is free of charge.
IE The Charities Regulator does not currently charge a fee for registration. However a fee of EUR100  is envisaged. 
IT The registration of associations includes registration fee and stamps, which vary between EUR 290 and EUR 360.
LT

Two tariffs type of fees apply for the registration of an association: 

The price for documents submitted via post or at the customer service office is EUR 25,65. 

The price for documents submitted via e-system is EUR 11,99. 
LU The cost for the registration of an association is EUR 20. 
LV The State fee for registration of an association or foundation is EUR 11, 38.
MT The registration fees in Malta are EUR 350. 
NL . The Registration of the association in the Netherlands with the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) costs 51, 95 EUR.
PL The registration process is free of charge.
PT

Depending on the selected way to constitute an association, the costs are as follows:  

  • Through public deed 

  • The notary will arbitrarily define the cost  

  • Constitution on the spot 

  • Students’ associations are free of charges;  

  • Other associations will cost EUR 300, 00. 25 

  • Further registration costs (when not automatically registered) – EUR 50, 00 26 
RO

The cost for registering an association is about EUR 30: 

- approximately EUR 20 - the tax for the judicial procedure;  

- approximately EUR 7 - the fee for reserving the association’s name; 

- EUR 1 - the fee for legalising the court decision at the end of the judicial procedure; the legalised court decision is issued by the Court’s clerk. 
SE Registering a non-profit association with the Swedish Companies Registration Office costs EUR 142 (new registration). Registration protects the name of the association in the county where it is registered. The name can be registered in several counties (protection registration) and the charge is EUR 114 Swedish kronor per county.29 
SI

For registration of an association or registration of an association composed of several associations, the costs are EUR 31.70; 

The costs for changing the basic act of the association are EUR 22.60;

For changing the name, headquarters or representative of the association the costs are EUR 9; 

The administrative cost for deleting an association is EUR 22.60. 

 
SK

Proposal for registering a civil associations EUR 66; 

Modification of the statue EUR 50; 

Engrossment of the new statues EUR 13; 

Copy of Register statement and of the Register information EUR 5; 

Deletion of the civil association from the Register; Modification of the registered information about the organization unit authorized to act in its own name; Deletion of the registered information about the organization unit authorized to act in its own name; Announcement of the information about the civil association's statutory organ: EUR 16,50; 

Registration of the information about the organization unit authorized to act in its own name 66 EUR.

6.Liability

The liability of association is linked to acquiring legal personality. Therefore, two questions have to be addressed preliminarily:

Liability in case of legal personality

If an association becomes a legal person, it will have a separate legal existence from its founders and members from the moment it acquires legal personality (all Member States, except SK and PL in case of ordinary associations). Therefore, the association will be liable for its debts and obligations to the extent of its own present and future assets that are separate from the assets of its members. In general, the members and founders are not liable for the debts of the association.

All associations are bound by the decisions of their governing bodies. Therefore, the membership (i.e. the members of the decision-making body) is not usually liable to third parties for the association’s acts.2

However, people involved in the governance of the associations (i.e. members of the executive body or members acting in official capacity on behalf of the association) may be held liable for their acts. The circumstances may vary from breaching the general duty of diligence (e.g. DK, IE) to intentional or gross negligence acts in performing the duties of administration (AT, BE, CY, DE, DK, FI, RO, SE). Depending on the circumstances and jurisdictions, the liability may range from personal to joint and severe liability3. The sanctions for voluntary directors and workers are lighter in some jurisdictions (e.g.AT, DE, FR). Executive officers or persons with representative powers may be also held liable. In this case, they are jointly and severally liable for any debts arising from a legal act that is executed during their management (NL, PT).

Liability in case of lack of legal personality

The liability of an association, which does not have legal personality (either operating without legal personality on a permanent basis or just for the period preceding its acquisition of legal personality) is treated by most national jurisdictions with direct reference to the founders and/ or members individual liability. In some cases, all members of the association4 are personally liable for any damage caused by any act or action of the association (e.g. AT, BE, EE, ES, GR, IE, MT, NL, SE).

Associations have legal personality in all Member States, except SK and PL in case of ordinary associations. Associations that have legal personality can be subject to rights and liabilities just as natural persons and can acquire rights, assume liability, and participate in judicial proceedings.

As regards the acquisition of legal personality, the following classification can be made:

Table 5: Associations With or Without Legal Personality
Legal personality: YES Legal personality: NO

  • Registration (AT, BE in case of ASBL, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, FI, FR, HR, HU, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL in case of registered associations, PT, RO, SI)

  • Recognition (GR, BE in case of AISBL)

  • Formation (SE, ES)

 SK, PL in case of ordinary associations

In most EU Member States, (AT, BE in case of ASBL, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, FI, FR, HR, HU, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL in case of registered associations, PT, RO, SI), associations acquire legal personality upon registration in a special register. The register can be held at the government level, in Member States such as BE and BG. In these two countries, the Ministry of Justice must ensure that registered associations pursue a social goal and do not cause harm to public order. At the same time in DE, the register of associations is kept at the local court (Amtsgericht) for the district in which the association has its seat (Eintragung).

In other Member States, not the registration but recognition by a public authority, which is the precondition to acquire legal personality (GR, BE in case of AISBL). Exceptionally, formation itself entails the acquisition of legal personality (SE, ES). As a last category, it is also possible that legal personality cannot be acquired at all by an association, which is the case for all associations in SK and in case of ordinary associations in PL.

8. Definitions of public interest

There is no exhaustive definition of the notion of public interest, neither at EU level nor at Member State level. Its meaning differs in the context of public law (i.e. constitutional, administrative, fiscal) and private law. What can be observed in terms of associations in this regard is that while they are regulated mainly by private law, their legal and regulatory framework borrows features from public law as well, particularly in terms of fiscal benefits, transparency and accountability obligations. This can be attributed to their nature of being “ providers” of public good. This is also reinforced by interlinkages between government participation in the formation of associations and public benefit. For example, in Cyprus and Greece, the State can participate in the formation of associations when there is a public purpose involved. In such cases, associations are ruled by public law, while they are generally subject to private law.

Public interest is commonly used when describing the activity of associations, and generally implies that the association is meant to serve the “broader public.” Not-for-profit purpose5 is part of the notion of public interest related to associations as it is explicitly required in order to benefit from a privileged fiscal status, such as tax-exemptions.

A great variety of terms is used for what it is generally called public interest6:common interest, general interest, public benefit, public utility, charitable purpose, interest for the public good.

The concept of public interest is also sometimes used to identify associations whose purpose benefits the society in general or a segment of the society: these are public benefit (or interest) associations.

On the contrary, associations whose purpose benefits only its members (e.g. professional organisations), are referred to as mutual benefit (or interest) associations.

In some Member States, the public interest concept is attributable and therefore implicit to all not-for-profit associations (IT, PL, PT, RO), hence they benefit from a different/ more favourable fiscal regime as compared to a company.

The majority of the EU jurisdictions (AT, BG, DE, ES, FR, HR, HU, IE, LU, RO) entail a special public benefit status granted only for some not-for-profit associations that meet specific requirements. The most common requirements are related to the field of activity associated with the purpose defined in the constitutive act of the association (e.g. culture, education, health care, social protection, implementation of family policy, protection of human rights, protection of the environment, protection of animals, sports etc) and with the engagement to benefit the society in general or a specific part of it. Additional requirements may be found in various jurisdictions and they are usually related to one or several of the following requirements: proofs of minimum number of members or income per year, significance of results achieved, influence and reputation exceeding the local scale, or a minimum duration of existence before applying for public benefit status.

The public interest/ benefit status plays a role in having access to fiscal support by public means:

Public benefit associations that have been granted any form of fiscal support by public means have additional reporting and transparency obligations (e.g. submitting and/ or publishing annual reports on their accounts and activities performed to a designated supervisory body, disclosing the proportion of funds used for management and administration. (For more details, see section on reporting and transparency).

9 Membership regimes

An association is a membership organisation composed of natural and/ or legal persons (all Member States) or even of organizations without legal personality in case of HU. As a general rule, membership’s entry, termination as well as the duties and rights are to be defined in the constitutive act of the association. All Member States acknowledge the competence of founders and members to regulate these matters. The same goes for the freedom of association.

All Member States acknowledge the right to freely associate (freedom of association). Citizenship does not generally limit the access to an association’s membership. However, there are exceptions as well. In CZ, for instance, only Czech citizens have the right to freedom of association. The same can be observed in Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia in terms of the nationality requirement. In FI, foreigners not residing in Finland are banned from being members of associations founded to influence state affairs. In HR, similar restrictions exist as foreign associations need to be entered in a separate register, called the Foreign Register of Associations. Another distinction is that foreign associations in Croatia do not acquire legal personality by registering, unlike domestic associations do. As opposed to direct restrictions on membership, indirect ones also exist. In HU, for instance, a special tax is levied to immigration-related activities that affect associations and their donors which thus has an indirect impact on membership as well.

Concerning the age limit of the members, it is common in all Member States that members cannot be underage. Nevertheless, minors’ access to membership is allowed in some Member States if accompanied by the prior written consent of their legal representatives (FR, HR, HU, LT, RO, SE).7 However, the extent and legal limitations of the minors’ legal capacity vary largely amongst Member States.

As regards the duration of membership, the majority of jurisdictions stipulate explicitly that no individual can be forced to be part of an association and that a member can withdraw at any time by specific procedures described in the association’s constitutive act and internal rules (AT, BE, BG, CY, FI, FR, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, SE, SI, SK). Most common causes for involuntary termination of a membership refer to unacceptable behaviour detrimental to the interests of the association or breach of the constitutive act’s provisions. A member may be excluded from an association on the basis of a decision made by the decision-making body (in most cases, this is the General Assembly). In case when such a decision is made by the executive body (generally, the Board), the member should have the possibility to request a revision by the decision-making body.

When categorizing the types of membership, the following classification can be made: voting and nonvoting members, full rights or aspiring members, founders and associates’ members, honoraria or supporting members. This is the case for AT, BE, CY, EE, GR, HU, IT, LV. Due to the intuitu personae character of membership, it is usually stipulated by law that it is not transferable and not inheritable.8

The equality of members is also acknowledged by all Member States (i.e. having equal voting rights in the sessions of the decision-making body), unless provided otherwise in the constitutive act of the association. The right to be informed of the activity and financial status of the association, the right to be elected in the governing and representative bodies and the right to have access to the association’s programmes and infrastructure as well as the right to use its assets are also commonly observed in all EU Member States.

With regards to asset-management, an important restriction has to be noted as the non-profit distribution constraint is stipulated in the national laws of all Member States. The asset-lock rule that prevents the distribution of assets to members in case of dissolution and to any person whose membership has terminated9 are explicitly expressed in or deriving from the national laws’ provisions.

Apart from asset-management, transparency is another important issue to be upheld. It has to be noted in this regard that while public disclosure of members’ identity is rarely mandatory by law (LU10), associations are required to keep track of their members in order to allow clear identification at any moment, should the members’ themselves or the competent state bodies require access to this information (FI, HR, HU, IT, LT, LV). 11,12

10.Economic activities permitted

One of the main characteristics of associations is that they cannot be founded for the primary purpose to carry out economic activities. However, it doesn`t mean that all economic activities are prohibited. Associations are allowed to pursue economic activities but only if the economic activity is directly linked to those objectives of the association that are defined in their constitutive act. It is an important requierment, however, that the profit gained from such activities cannot be distributed among the members since they must contribute to the main objectives of the association. This is called the profit non-distribution constraint.

As pointed out, associations can carry out economic activities only if they are not intending to make profit for their members or third parties: profit distribution is therefore prohibited by law. The activities of associations should be based on the principle of non-profitability, which means that the association cannot be established for profit-making as a primary activity (such as the case with companies) and can perform economic activities only as a secondary activity in cases provided for in the constitutive act of the association or by law.

In NL, for instance, there is a more open policy regarding the type of economic activities authorized, which is the reason why associations in the Netherlands are active in most types of sectors, including business services, financial services and communications. Similarly, in IT, an association can carry out any kind of economic activities. However, if it pursues them on a “professional basis,” the association loses the qualification of “non-commerciality” and is considered, for tax purposes, a social enterprise. As regards SE, a similar open attitude regarding economic activities can be observed. The concept of economic association is well-established for those associations, whose purpose is to promote the financial interests of its members through economic activities as opposed to the concept of non-profit associations.

Despite all the examples described above, one of the main characteristics of associations in all Member States is that they are all considered “non-profit,” (unless explicitly stated otherwise) and, therefore, cannot make profit as their primary goal when conducting economic activities. This raises the issue of defining the primary goal of the association.

Since carrying out economic activities have to be in connection with the main objectives of the association, it is important to define clearly the association`s main purposes/areas of operation in the constitutive act. The main areas of activities carried out by associations are the following: sport; culture-art; health and social services; education, research, science, human rights. It can be generally observed in all Member States that social activities and economic activities relating to them are allowed in the pursuit of public interest if they do not go against the principles of ethics and public morality. They should not go against the law, undermine public order or put national interests or national security in danger.

To conclude, we note that associations are mainly present in the sports and social-cultural sectors. Economic activities pursued by the association must remain secondary and profits must be reinvested in the main objectives of the association. It is recognized that it is not possible to redistribute profits to members. Through this unanimous approach, it is a question of not distorting the associations and of dissociating them from for-profit companies. However, this distinction is more nuanced in Member States where the “social enterprise” concept exists.

11. Governance, operating rules and bodies 

The legislation on associations in all Member States defines minimum requirements for the governance system of associations. However, the members can define specific rules according to which the association they formed should operate. They can also decide what kind of governing bodies they wish to establish, unless establishing the body in question is specifically required.

As regards the structure of governance, it can be observed that associations have separate bodies for decision-making and management in all Member States. The decision-making body consists usually of all members of the association and is usually called the General Assembly, the General Meeting or the Member`s Meeting.

The decision-making body is to be distinguished from the other main body of the association: the executive body. The management duties of the association are carried out by an executive body, which also exists under various denominations, such as: Board, Managing Board, Executive Committee, College, Board of Directors, Board of Trustees, Office, Administrative Management, Administrative Board.

Besides the decision-making and the executive body, it can be observed that setting up a body for a financial control of the association is also required by many Member States (AT, CZ, DK, FI, HU, LT, LV, MT, RO, SE, SI, SK). This function is usually performed by one or more auditors whose mandate may include financial control and may also extend to verification of the performance of the association.

Depending of the size and resources of the association, it may employ an executive director, an auditor, secretariat or staff for day-to-day manager (s) and may set up other bodies as well, such as a Supervisory Board.

Decision-making body

Membership is at the core of the association’s governance system. Therefore associations are legally bound to have a decision-making body consisting of the association`s members, unless provided otherwise by its constitutive act.

The voting system during the meetings of the decision-making body is based on the “one person - one vote” rule. As regards the regularity of meetings, the decision-making body is usually convened at least once a year in ordinary sessions and may be convened for extraordinary sessions whenever it is deemed necessary in the light of the conditions specified in the constitutive act of the association.

The rules for convening, voting and decision-making must be specified in the constitutive act of the association. The proceedings should ensure access to the meetings and to the decisions made for any member, including those who are not present.

The most common competences of the decision-making body include the following: amending the constitutive act, electing, deciding upon the membership (e.g. receiving new members, level of membership fees, ending membership), appointing, revoking and setting the powers and duties of the executive body (and the internal controllers/ auditors in the cases when such a body exists), adopting the annual budget and approving the annual financial reports, deciding upon merger, division and termination of the association.

Executive body

The main functions of the executive body are to carry out the decisions of the decision-making body, to represent the association in its interaction with third parties (legal representation), and to manage the day-to-day operations of the association. The latter includes taking care of the financial affairs of the association in accordance with the legal and regulatory environment and the objectives defined in the constitutive act of the association. Moreover, the executive body is usually responsible for preparing the meetings of the decision-making body.

The executive body may consist of one person (EE, HU, IT, LT, LV, MT in case of associations established for the promotion of a private benefit), or several persons set up in a collegial structure. This can be formed by at least 2 natural persons (AT, DK), at least 3 persons (BE, BG, FI, ES, FR, MT), in case of public benefit associations (PT, RO, SK) or 5 persons (CY). There is no upper limit for the maximum number of members of the executive body. The decision-making body of the association can determine the maximum number of members in accordance with the specificities of the association.

12.State supervision

The first legality control of the associations is made during the registration procedure. Most jurisdictions impose administrative procedures under the authority of public bodies acting autonomously or under the remit of the central, regional or local government. Just a few jurisdictions (such as HU, PL and RO) entail judicial procedures conducted in court by the judges.

The State can initiate a procedure for involuntary termination of the association by the state prosecutor’s offices or by regulatory and control administrative bodies. This can happen in cases of violation of duties prescribed by the national laws. However, the administrative decision of termination has to be authorized by a judge.

The state supervision on associations’ operations is exercised in most jurisdictions by public bodies falling under the central, regional or local governmental authority. Most jurisdictions include regular (at least yearly) financial reporting to fiscal authorities and the obligation to notify the competent authority about changes in the constitutive act and the personal details of the beneficial owners. This is valid for persons entrusted to represent the association to third parties and in court. Separate reporting on expenditures and activities is submitted to the public contracting authority in case of grants awarded from public funds.

Public benefit associations (in other Member States, the denomination is public interest associations) are more thoroughly scrutinized by the state compared to other associations. The process of granting the public benefit status entails a longer and more complex procedure in comparison to the requirements for other associations. The functions of monitoring and control compliance with the public benefit status regulations are performed by the associations’ registries/ offices or by dedicated authorities in most of the jurisdictions and are accompanied or replaced by competent fiscal authorities in some cases (DE, AT).

13.Reporting and Transparency

Annual reporting is mandatory in all Member States. In the majority of cases,
the executive body reports to the members of the decision-making body about the activities and financial management of the association (AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, EE, ES, FI, FR, LT, LV, NL, PL). Reporting can take several forms and includes one or more of the following obligations:

Annual budget

As regards financial management, obligations regarding the annual budget is one of the most important. The budget must be prepared by the association’s executive body and approved by the shareholders (IT). The annual budget must indicate all incomes and expenses of the association (assets, membership fees, contributions, bequests, donations, sponsorships, various expenses, personnel costs, and so on). Additionally, the body of auditors reports to the executive body or to the supervisory board (AT).

Annual statements

Another important part of the financial management concerns annual statements. Annual statements are examined by an economic and financial activities audit institution or by a sworn auditor (LV). The decision-making body may call for an external review or audit (EE). If an association has an auditor or revision committee, the sworn auditor's report or the opinion of the revision committee must be attached to the report (EE, ES). The requirement for auditing is prescribed by national regulations (AT, BE, CH, FI, FR, GR, HU, LV, PL, SE, SI). In case the association does not have an auditor, it must have an operations inspector (e.g. FI). The operations inspector must submit a report in writing to the decision-making body deciding on the annual accounts (FI).

Keeping accounting records

All types of associations that have non-profit character and as long as they generate revenues from business activities are obligated to keep accounting records (AT, BE, BG, CH, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, GR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, RO, SK, PT). The related accounting items must be strictly separated from those that relate to the institutional activity of the entity, that is, the non-commercial activity carried out with the associates (IT). The record on the financial statements of the association which received the aid during the accounting year must also include information on the financial and non-financial support (LT).

Annual activity reports

Associations with a public benefit status are obliged to submit an annual activity report to the governmental agencies (AT, BE, BG, CZ, DK, EE, ES, HR, IE, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, RO, SK, PT).

Organizations benefiting from tax-exempt status, are obliged to file a report to the tax authorities on their accounts, the use of funds as well as the accumulation of reserves. Such reports must be submitted once a year (AT, BE, BG, CZ, DK, EE,,ES, HR, IE, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, RO, SK, PT).

The annual reports must contain the activities undertaken during the year concerned, their relevance with respect to the strategic priorities of the association, the amount of donations received, the breakdown of the rest of the income obtained, the overall balance of the association (AT, BE, BG, CZ, DK, EE, ES, HR, IE, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, RO, SK, PT). If at least one tenth of all members request it, the executive body is obliged to provide the members concerned with such information within four weeks, provided that they identify the reasons for their request (AT).

Report on payments

If an association has employees, it must deduct taxes and contributions just like other employers. The association is required to report payments to the tax agency, as well as to submit reports on its employees` salaries and fees they are required to pay (AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, HR, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, LV, NL, PL, RO, SE, SI, SK).

Communicating the annual reports

Mandatory communication of annual reports varies between Member States. In some Member States, there is no obligation for the reports to be published (DE, SE). Associations can submit a cash accounting scheme with an inventory, or a commercial annual financial statement with a balance sheet and profit and loss account (SE). In some other Member States, information about annual revenues and expenditures of the association needs to be available on the Ministry of Finance’s website where all legal persons’ annual balance sheets can be found (AT, BE, CZ, ES, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, PT, PL, RO, SE, SK).

It can be observed moreover, that annual reports of associations are public and can be viewed for a fee (EE) or any person may check them and obtain copies of them from the Register for free (MT).

Associations of public interest must submit the annual accounts for the previous year within six months (after the end of the year), and present a descriptive report on the activities carried out during the year to the body responsible for verifying their incorporation and registering them in the corresponding register, where they will be deposited. These annual accounts must give a true and fair view of the assets, results and financial situation, as well as the origin, amount, destination and application of the public income received (AT, BE, CZ, ES, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, PT, PL, RO, SE, SK)

Associations implementing programs and projects of interest for the common good funded by public sources should inform the donor about their work at least once a year. This information should be published on their website (AT, BE, CZ, ES, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, PT, PL, RO, SE, SK).

Associations can be obliged to submit a specific form on a state-owned platform, within 30 days of creation and any legal entity that fails to comply with this legal obligation should pay an administrative fine (PT).

Publishing

Associations are considered transparent if their members publish at least the following information (CZ): association’s purposes (reason of creation); its main activities; documents/information about its own organization; financial sources; information about its economy; list of its partners (CZ). In Belgium, every fundamental decision of the association must be registered, and such a decision is published in the Government gazette, or Moniteur belge (BE). Estonian associations have adopted a Code of Ethics. It deals with issues like democratic governance and management, civic courage and care, sustainable and responsible utilization of assets and resources, accountability and reporting, openness and transparency, independence and avoiding conflict (EE).

14.Resources and asset management

The main source of income for associations stems from membership fees (15 MS), non-profit activities (12 MS), donations (15 MS), economic activities (12 MS), public subsidies (9 MS), institutional funding (8 MS), project grants (6 MS). It is important to note that all these types of income may be present in more than one Member State. Please find below a detailed description of the sources of income per Member State.

Associations operate with the following main types of resources:

Other sources of income include:

In most Member States, there is no clear distinction between resources and asset management; they consider it a part of the same process (CY, DE, EE, ES, FI, GR, HR, HU, IE, IT, MT, NL, PL, RO). In those Member States, however, where the two are separated, the following can be observed: In most cases, the executive body (or the managers hired by the association) is in charge of managing the assets of the association during the period of its existence (ES). Rules are covered in the constitutive act (AT, BE, BG, CZ, CY, DE, DK, ES, GR, HU, SK). Apart from the executive body, the decision-making body may also be responsible for asset management (CY, EE, ES). In some Member States, it is in charge of collecting the contributions from members (AT, BE, BG, DK).

Specific regimes exist in some Member States for tax reduction for donors. In case a donation or a legacy given to an association exceeds a certain amount, it has to be authorized by the Ministry of Justice (e.g. LU, BE).

Specific requirements exist for the transfer of assets as well. At least 2/3 of the members of the decision-making body is required to support a decision on the transfer of assets if it is made to the following categories of people: members of the other governing bodies of the association, their spouses or relatives; former members of the governing bodies or former donors of the association (BG). In many Member States, associations are not allowed to distribute their property or assets to their members or other private persons (LT, LV, RO, SI, PT). In other Member States, assets can be distributed without restriction if this is allowed by the constitutive act of the association (BG, SZ, DK, HR, LV, SE, SK). Also, decision may be taken by the executive body (AT, BE, BG, CY, DE, DK, SE, SK), the decision-making body (EE, ES, GR) or by the combination of both (ES, GR).

As a rule, the founders of the association or their relatives are not allowed to benefit from the association`s assets after liquidation. The assets must be transferred to a non-profit entity, which carries out a similar activity or to local authorities. These entities are then obliged to utilize the assets for an activity that is very similar to those ones pursued originally by the association (BE, BG, CZ, DE, FR, GR, HU, IE, LT, LV, NL, SE).

Asset management is also key with respect to those associations, which have public benefit status. It can be observed in one of the Member States, for instance, that associations of public interest can own, manage and make profit out of those real estates that have been acquired for free e.g. by donation (FR). As regards other Member States, it is more common that the use of income of an association of public benefit is regulated more strictly when it stems from donations. If the total amount of donations received exceeds a minimum of 12 monthly salaries in a given calendar year, the association is required to use at least 75% of this amount for those same activities on the basis of which it was granted public benefit status (LV). 25% of the general donations in the relevant taxation period (calendar year) for administrative expenses may be used (LV).

15.Liquidation

Liquidation procedures are described thoroughly in many of the Member States’ national legal acts. Most commonly, a resolution needs to be adopted if over two-thirds of the members who are present at the session of the decision-making body vote in favour of a liquidation (provided that the constitutive act of the association does not prescribe a greater majority). In most Member States, liquidation procedures are very precisely regulated (CY, GR, PT, SE, SI, HU, IT, LT, LU, RO, BG, CH, DK, FR, SK).

In most Member States, the association ceases to exist on the day of its removal from the register (AT, HR, LV, LT, CZ, EE, ES, FI, FR, IT, SK, PL). Another possibility for termination is if the State Prosecutor`s Office or the National Agency for Preventing and Fighting Money Laundering ask for judicial dissolution of the association (RO). Additionally, the court can order the cancellation of the association from the register of legal persons after the closure of the liquidation procedure (IT). The association may be dissolved also by the decision of the decision-making body. In this case, the minutes from the meeting of the decision-making body must be submitted to the court and registered in the registry (RO). An association is regarded as dissolved when such an entry has been made in the Register of Associations (FI).

Decision on liquidation - when does the associations have to be liquidated? Liquidation may take place, either voluntarily or by court decision, in the following cases:

a) at any time following the decision-making body`s decision or that of other competent body`s, such as, for instance, the executive body`s decision (AT, BE, CY, NL, ES, DE, FR, GR, HR, EE, LU, LV, LT, RO, MT, SL, PT, SE, SI, FI, PT);

b) if the association has insufficient number of members or if its members are less than 20 and they decide to terminate the activities of the association (CY); or upon a decrease of the number of members of the association below the required number of members e.g. two (GR, HR, LT); or in case by the death or disappearance of all members (PT).

c) due to the merger of the association with another association or by its division into multiple associations (HR, SL, PT);

d) due to the failure to organise general meetings in due time (usually once a year), or in case the deadline for holding a regular session of the decision-making body was not respected on two occasions (HR);

e) by initiating a bankruptcy procedure (HR, SL);

f) by following the Court`s ruling; or upon request of the state or local administration, the majority of the association’s members or that of the supervisory authority, if the conditions set in the constitutive act are not met, or if the association has failed to achieve its purpose or has deviated from its original purpose of establishment and is now pursuing different or illegal purposes (CY, ES, HR, MT, LV, RO, SL, PT, GR, IT, LU).

 

Compulsory dissolution takes place in the following cases:

In one Member State (SI), it can also be observed that associations of public interest can be placed in insolvent procedure only if there is consent from the competent ministry. This consent can be given only if the bankruptcy of the association will not seriously jeopardize the performance of an activity that is of public interest.

The role of the liquidator

An essential part of the liquidation process is to appoint a liquidator. A legal guardian and a liquidator may be either an appointed third person or the executive body itself. If the association is dissolved by the Court, the Court orders the association`s liquidation and appoints a liquidator (PL). In other Member States, the responsible administrative authority appoints the liquidators (AT, BE, DE, DK).

Designation of a liquidator can also be done by a decision of the decision-making body, with a simple majority vote; or by the ruling of the Court on the request of a member, a third party or the ministère public (BE).

In many Member States, the State can also intervene in the liquidation process, e.g. by the Provincial Governor who has the right to intervene for the interest of asset management (CY, BE, RO, IT). It can be observed as well that the names of the liquidators must be announced to the Registrar within 30 days and registered in the Registry (CY). In most cases, the administration of the association takes the role of the liquidator. This procedure is exclusively conducted by the liquidator and only the Provincial Governor has the right to intervene for a better management of the assets (CY).

Liquidators may have the legal status of the executive body and may be responsible to administer and sell the association's assets as well. They can terminate the ongoing businesses, collect claims of the association and satisfy the association's creditors. It is also important to point out that there can be several liquidators acting as one body (AT, BE, DE).

As regards the role of the liquidator, the liquidator of the association must:

After the completion of the liquidation phase, the liquidators are responsible to inform the administrative authority of the termination of the liquidation (AT, ES).

Asset distribution after liquidation

Asset distribution after the liquidation of an association is regulated by almost all Member States. In many Member States, for instance, the founders of the association or their relatives are not allowed to benefit from the association`s assets after liquidation (BE, BG, IE, NL). Similarly, it is very common that the assets must be transferred to a non-profit entity carrying out a similar activity as the association or that the assets are transferred to a local authority, which is obliged to utilize them for an activity that is similar to the one pursued by the association (AT, BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, FR, GR, HU, IE, LT, LV, NL, SK).

In the event of the voluntary dissolution of an association, the remaining assets may be distributed to the members of the association on the basis of a corresponding provision in the association`s constitutive act, provided that the assets do not exceed the value of the contributions that was made by the members (AT, CY). It is also typical that any remaining assets are to be reported to a public body (e.g to the Council of National Cooperation Fund in HU). Subsequently, an open tender procedure is to be organized in a way that any artistic works or collections are transferred/designated to the State (HU).

In some particular cases, the remaining assets are taken over by the State through the Ministry of Finance, by the commune or by the city in whose territory the association has its headquarters (RO). In some other cases, any remaining assets are transferred to the State and must be disposed of for the same purpose the association was designated for (HU, CY, LV, NL, SK). In case the association does not appoint a successor in the decision that is made on liquidation, the property of the association will be transferred to the local community on the territory of which the association had its seat (SI).

Further restrictions can be observed with regards to the transfer of assets to natural persons. In case the association is dissolved, the remaining assets cannot be transferred to natural persons, as it can be observed in one Member State (RO). However, the opposite can also be noticed. In one of the Member States (DE), the entitled persons to whom the assets can be transferred to are specified by the decision-making body in case of a dissolution.

Taking into account the interests of the creditors is another important part of the liquidation process. The interests of the creditors are taken into account in CY, MT, SI, PT. To ensure that the claims of creditors are satisfied to the highest possible degree, liquidators have to convert the available assets into money. For this reason, liquidation has to be announced in a public notice so that all potential creditors will be able to pursue their claims against the association (DE, ES).

16. Fundamental decisions

In all Member States, the fundamental decisions of associations are taken by the decision-making body. Such decisions include, for instance:

Decisions that require a qualified majority vote depend on the specific type of the decision in question. A qualified majority of votes is necessary to decide on the following issues in ES:

a) Dissolution of the association;

b) Amendment of the constitutive act, including the change of the association`s registered office;

c) Disposition or disposal of fixed assets;

d) Remuneration of the members of the executive body;

A simple majority is required for the rest of the decisions made by the decision-making body:

a) To approve the decisions of the executive body;

b) To examine and approve the annual statements/accounts;

c) To elect the members of the executive body;

d) To fix the ordinary or extraordinary fees;

e) Any other decisions that do not fall within the competence of another governing body of the association.

Some Member States, such as PT even impose high quorums to deliberate. The decision-making body cannot deliberate without the presence of at least half of its members. Generally, decisions are considered to be adopted if an absolute majority of voters (50% + 1) exercise their right to vote.

17 Taxation regimes

It is common in all Member States (with the exception of CY) that associations are generally exempt from VAT. Nevertheless, there are many exceptions from this general rule depending on the type of the association or the context in which its income is generated. In BE, for example, associations must pay an annual tax or inheritance tax.

The main taxes of associations relate to VAT, when applied, and corporate tax. In general, it is possible to classify tax regimes into three broad categories (See: Table 5).

Table 6: Classification of the tax regimes of the 27 EU Member States
Tax benefits Bulgaria/ Czech Republic/ Denmark/ France/ Hungary/ Ireland/ Latvia/ Lithuania/ Malta/ Slovenia
Taxation identical to SMEs Estonia/ Cyprus/ Finland/ Netherlands/ Slovakia/ Sweden/ Spain
Derogatory tax regimes Croatia/ Austria/ Belgium/ Germany/Greece/ Italy/ Luxembourg/ Poland/ Portugal/ Romania

Table 7: Summary Taxation regimes in EU

Country Regimes
Austria

Generally, associations are subject to the same tax obligations as other legal persons, namely: corporate income tax, sales tax (VAT) etc.

On the other hand, membership fees, donations, grants and gifts of every form are tax-exempted.

For any other activity, there is corporate tax at a percentage of 25% on the profits generated from the activity concerned. Profits generated up to EUR 7,300 per year are tax free. As regards secondary activities, there is a threshold for a turnover of up to EUR 40,000 concerning secondary services. In case the limit is surpassed, it is required to get an exemption from the tax office as well.

Value added tax (VAT)

Associations are subject to VAT only if they carry out economic activities. It can also be observed that the rule of small business (Kleinunternehmerregelung) applies also in the case associations, provided that they generate maximum of EUR 30,000 gross amount of profits). If they generate more than EUR 30,000, a reduced tax rate of 10% applies to them.

However, if the association does not make profit on a regular basis (that is, its primary objective is not to make profit), its activity is classified as a "hobby" and is in principle not subject to VAT.
Belgium

If the association performs economic activities and has employees, the legal regime of tax law, commercial law and labor law, applies to it.

Those economic activities that are considered exceptional, irregular or are in support of the primary activities of the association, such as charity fairs (fundraising events) are tax-exempt. Similarly, services provided for free are also not subject to VAT.

However, associations must pay an annual tax or taxe patrimoniale. The tax base of these taxes is every asset of the association, including intangible goods, owned by the association, except those ones that are located abroad. Tax rate is 0,17% based on statement in tax return. If the value of the assets is under 25,000 EUR, the association is exempt from tax. If the amount of eligible tax is under 500 EUR, tax return must be filled every three years (instead of once a year).
Bulgaria

Social enterprises in Bulgaria are not supported by significant tax exemptions. However, the legislation does provide some fiscal advantages that are particularly relevant for social enterprises.

The taxation regime of associations follows the regime for companies.

Therefore, associations can only apply for tax exemptions if their primary purpose is to help people with disabilities.

As regards VAT, associations can be exempted from it on the basis of certain goods and services they provide.
Cyprus Not all types of associations are VAT-exempt on the basis of the activities they pursue, which is also true for the income that stems from their membership.
Croatia An association is only obliged to pay income tax for the profit generated from economic activities. Income tax is calculated and paid at a rate of 20% on the established tax base.
Czech Republic The following types of activities are exempted from taxation: non-business activities of the association, contributions received by the association as defined in its constitutive act, grants received by the association in accordance with international treaties.
Denmark

As a general rules, associations are exempted from VAT. However, if the association sells goods or generates income from holding events that are open to the public, the association may be subject to pay VAT if its annual income from such activities exceeds DKK 50,000.

An association is tax-exempt if its primary aim is exclusively non-profit or charitable, or if it has no income from business-related activities.
Estonia

While associations in Estonia do not enjoy automatic tax exemption, there are nevertheless a few exemptions from this general rule. It can be observed that associations do not have to pay any corporate income tax on any type of income, including donations. Moreover, non-refundable funds, received from foreign donors, in addition to membership and entrance fees are also tax-exempt.

As regards VAT, the rules applicable to companies are the same as the ones that apply to associations. Associations become subject to VAT if they generate more than €40,000 annually.
France Associations in France are exempted from corporate tax, if: 1) the primary aim of the association is of philanthropic nature; 2) the association does not compete with commercial businesses; 3) the non-profit activities carried out by the association are additional to its main objectives and the revenue from lucrative activities is under 73 432 EUR.
Finland

In Finland, an organization, such as an association or foundation, can only be a non-profit organization if defined as such by the Tax Act.

Non-profit organizations pay income tax on income generated from business activities and on income generated from a real estate unit, if the real estate unit has been used for purposes other than the primary activity of the organization or is not used for non-profit activities.
Germany

Corporations, associations and endowments working for public benefit or religious purposes are generally exempted from corporate income tax and trade tax. Moreover, associations of public benefit are exempt from inheritance tax and gift tax as well.

To those associations that are not pursuing public benefit objectives, different rules apply. Generally, the income of the association is exempt from corporate income tax and trade tax only if it does not generate a turnover of more than EUR 45,000. Similar rules apply to VAT.

In order to be subject to VAT, an association has to have an annual turnover of more than EUR 22 000 in the previous tax year. If this requirement is fulfilled, the general VAT rate of 19% applies.

Income generated from those business activities that are related to the primary objectives of the association (Zweckbetriebe) is tax-exempt only under specific conditions. This tax exemption, however, does not extend to ancillary and secondary activities of the association that can be considered commercial business activities. Therefore, income from those business activities that are not related to the primary objectives of the association (wirtschaftlicher Geschäftsbetrieb) is subject to taxation (15%).
Greece

Generally, not all business activities of an association are tax-exempt. If the income is generated from those activities that are not regarded as non-profit (that is, having profit-generating objectives), the association is subject to 29% of income tax.

As regards VAT, different rules apply. If the association holds a fundraising event, the income generated from the event is VAT-exempt, provided that such types of events are not held more than twice a year.
Hungary

In Hungary, in order for an activity to be exempted from VAT, it has to be carried out by an entity designated for public service. However, associations can also qualify for VAT-exemption if they have a public benefit organization status (POB), which entails many advantages. Donations made to associations with a PBO status are tax-deductible under certain conditions. Another peculiarity is that individuals are entitled to donate 1 % of their income tax to one of those associations that carry out activities of public benefit.

As regards corporate income tax, similar exemptions can be observed. If the association`s income is generated from pursuing public benefit objectives or other mission-related activities, it is exempt from corporate income tax. However, if the income is generated from any "entrepreneurial activities" of the association (such as income from the acquisition of property), it is subject to taxation.

It should also be mentioned that a special tax is levied to immigration-related activities that affect associations and their donors. The law stipulates that all individuals are required to pay a special tax if they contribute financially to any activities that support immigration in Hungary or when such a contribution is made to an organization with a seat in Hungary.
Ireland

The tax regime in Ireland includes several types of tax reductions for charities, such as reductions relating to: income tax, corporate tax (in case of companies), capital gains tax, Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT), capital acquisitions tax, stamp duty, and dividend withholding tax.

As regards VAT, the following can be observed: Organizations eligible for charitable status do not enjoy a general exemption from VAT. Nevertheless, many activities that are in connection with charitable activities are exempt.
Italy

Regarding the taxation of commercial activities, two different regimes can be distinguished:

The first one concerns those commercial activities that are carried out by the association on a marginal basis in order to complete and integrate the activity towards the members, which makes the association eligible for a favorable tax regime. This is applicable for entities only that do not generate an income of more than € 400,000 in a given tax period. Furthermore, associations must prepare and publish their financial statements to benefit of these tax advantages. This formality is essential because it is required by the tax law and various regulations on non-profit organizations.

The second tax regime concerns those commercial activities of the association that are carried out on a regular basis, if the income from these activities exceeds the one that is generated in the context of activities towards the shareholders. In this case, the association loses the requirement of non-commerciality and is considered, for tax purposes, a social enterprise in all respects. Therefore, all activities of the association are subject to the corporate tax regime, which also entails the obligation to keep the ordinary accounting records and prepare the formal financial statements.
Latvia

Associations in Latvia are exempt from income tax.

As regards VAT, the following can be observed: If the annual turnover of the association that is generated from economic activity amounts to less than 40,000 EUR (before 1 January 2018, 50,000 EUR), the association is not subject to VAT. Similar rules apply to foundations and enterprises as well.
Lithuania Associations in Lithuania enjoy several tax exemptions: associations with an income from commercial economic activities that does not exceed 300,000 EUR, benefit from a zero tax rate for the first 7,250 EUR of their profit; associations are VAT- exempt in connection with those revenues that are generated by providing services of public-benefit; companies donating to associations can consider such donations as expenses and reduce their taxable income; individuals can donate 2% of the personal income tax to charities, religious institutions, NPOs or public organizations.
Luxembourg

Associations are subject to an annual tax on the basis of the value of their buildings owned in the Grand Duchy and their movable property, provided that this value exceeds 100,000 EUR.

An association can carry out taxable activities or VAT-exempt activities.
Malta Associations are exempt from tax if their turnover for a given year does not exceed EUR 50,000.
Netherlands Filing a corporate tax return is mandatory when the association conducts a business-related activity and no exemption applies. As regards VAT, what matters is whether the association is regarded as an ‘entrepreneur’ according to the tax authorities. If the association employs wage earning persons, it must withhold taxes on the wages it pays. Exemptions apply when the association employs volunteers. 
Poland The entities that are exempted from income tax are associations whose statutory objectives are in the field of science; technological science; education (including higher education); culture; physical culture and sport; environmental protection; supporting social initiatives for the construction of roads and telecommunications networks in rural areas and water supply to rural areas; charity, and others. Moreover, the association’s membership fees are also exempted from income tax.
Portugal

Associations whose primary objectives are not commercial, industrial, or agricultural in nature are taxed according to their “global income” (which correspondsto the sum of the net incomes of those categories that are considered for tax purposes, including asset increments obtained gratuitously).

It is not the association that is exempt from VAT, but rather the activity it performs. If an association performs an activity, which the VAT Code does not exempt from VAT, it is required to pay VAT and submit it to the Treasury.
Romania

According to the Romanian Fiscal Code, associations are exempted from paying profit tax for several categories of income.

A separate fiscal regime applies to those associations that carry out direct economic activities. Associations are not required to pay profit tax if their income is generated from economic activities up to the equivalent of 15,000 euros per year. The maximum rate of payable tax cannot exceed 10% of the total income of the association generated from all those sources that are exempted from taxation. The profit tax rate is 16% for associations as well as for companies.
Slovakia

The taxation regime of associations follows the regime applicable to companies. In general, the State is encouraged to support associations working for public benefit by the means of tax deductions or exemptions.

The activities listed in the constitutive act determine the areas in which the association needs to pay taxes.

All associations are obliged to keep their accounts. However, they have to submit tax return only if they operate in an area for which they have to pay taxes.

Since 1st of January 2022, all non-profit legal entities are obliged to conduct accounting procedures only electronically.
Slovenia Associations are exempted from VAT only if their income does not exceed 50,000 EUR in a given financial year. In this case, they do not have to pay VAT. The law on profit tax stipulates that all associations carrying out for-profit activities are obliged to pay profit tax. On the other hand, income collected from membership fees is not subject to taxation.
Sweden The tax rules applicable to legal persons in the Swedish Income Tax Act generally also apply to associations. Therefore, associations are subject to tax on income and capital gains in the same way as other legal entities. Associations can, however, qualify for tax exemptions and thus, are only required to pay tax on those types of incomes that are generated from real estate or commercial business.
Spain

In Spain, the same tax regime applies to all legal entities, therefore, to associations as well. Nevertheless, what can be observed is that a framework of benefits is established for associations by way of exemptions, especially when their main objectives are of general interest and they do not distribute profits among their members.

Some economic activities carried out by associations are VAT-exempt due to their nature.

LANDSCAPE OF ASSOCIATIONS

1.Number of associations

There is no systematic comparable statistics regarding the number of associations in the EU. Therefore, we aggregated the latest available data for each country in order to estimate the total number of associations in the EU. It is 3 190 407. Almost half of them are concentrated in one Member State FR (1 300 000).

Table 8: Number of associations

Member State Number of associations
AT 124 627 (year: 2018)
BE 110 000 (year: 2020)
 BG 12 873 (year: 2021)
CY 3 306 (year: 2022)
CZ The registered non-profit legal entities in the Czech Republic is 142 664 (2018), out of which 10 436 are Corporates13. The number of Corporates decreased to 9 666 in 2021.
DE 603 886 (year: 2017)
DK 100 000 (year: 2020)
EE

23 337 (year: 2021)

It should be noted that there are around 6 000 associations that are not operating, but have still not been deleted from the Register.
ES 150 000 (year: 2019)
FI 107 733 associations, including chambers of commerce (year: 2021)
FR 1,3 million active associations (year: 2018)
GR The estimated number of social and solidarity enterprises in Greece (based on the official MoL registry) was between 573 and 673 in 2017, out of which 243 were social cooperatives, limited liability cooperatives and 27 were civil cooperatives and associations
HR 50,634 (year: 2021)
HU 31 596 (year: 2020)
IE 114 26 charities (year: 2020)
IT 286 942 (year: 2015)
LT 19 318 (year: 2021)
LU 8 281 (year: 2021)
LV 22 904 (year: 2021)
MT 1 854 voluntary organisations (out of which associations have an essential share) (year: 2021)
NL Number of associations and foundations: 42 765 (at the 1st quarter of 2022)
PL 66 800 (year: 2020)
PT 71 885 (year: 2016)
RO 46 430 (year: 2020)
SE 159 298 non-profit organizations (Year: 2019) (only an aggregated data of non-profit associations is available, according to which the majority of the registered entities consist mainly of associations).
SI 23 634 (year: 2022)
SK 50 575 (year: 2020)

2.Number of members

Similar to the data on the number of associations, there is no systematic statistics on the number of members of associations across the EU Member States. Therefore, we estimated the total number of members of associations based on the latest data available for each country. They are 91 018 622 in total.

Table 9: Number of members

Member State Number of members
AT Associations in Austria typically have relatively huge number of members. Some of the biggest ones are particularly the following: ÖAMTC (2 225 132 members), Rotes Kreuz (1.035.054 members), Alpenverein Österreich (545 541 members).
BE 220 000 members (year: 2020)
 BG The members of associations and foundations amounted to 2 241 182 in December 2022. As regards the classification of members, 176 521 were legal persons and 2 064 661 were natural persons.
CY 9 000 members (year: 2020) – estimated minimum
CZ 30 000 members (year: 2021)
DE

Over 50 million members (year: 2013)

One German out of two is a member of at least one association (2019)
DK 200 000 (year: 2022) – estimated minimum
EE

There is no data on the number of associations.

In 2019, 88% of the associations were founded by private individuals and 12% by non-governmental organizations.The share of founders are the following:private companies (3%), local governments (2%), public institutions (1%).
ES

14 million members (year: 2022)

30% of the Spanish population are members of associations, .
FI

2 million members (Year: 2017)

In 2017, 54% of the population aged 10 and over participated in the activities of associations
FR 2,6 million members (year: 2022) – estimated minimum
GR over 500 members (year: 2022) – estimated minimum
HR 150 000 members (year 2021)
HU 3 512 916 members (year 2020)
IE 74 124 charity trustees (year: 2020)
IT 1,8 million members (year: 2022)
LT 57 900 members (year: 2021) – estimated minimum
LU 430 000 members (year: 2021)
LV 46 000 members (year: 2021)
MT 3 000 members (estimation) (year: 2014)
NL In the period of 2012-2013, about 78% of the Dutch population was a member of at least one association.
PL 6,7 million members (2020)
PT 140 000 members (year: 2022) – estimated minimum
RO 300 000 members (year: 2021)
SE Between 2018 and 2019, a total of 6 284 000 (75,3%) Swedish people over the age of 16 were members of at least one association.
SI 70 000 members (year: 2022) – estimated minimum
SK 150 000 members (year: 2020) – estimated minimum

3.Activities covered

The most important types of activities covered by the associations in each member state are presented below.

Table 10 : Activities covered

Member State Activities covered
AT

The most important activities covered in Austria by non-profit organizations are indicatively the following (year: 2006):

  • sports associations (24368)

  • savings clubs (16001)

  • charity associations (6649)

  • profession associations (5841)

  • gardening and animal elevation associations (5425)

  • conviviality associations (5655)

  • parents associations (4024)

  • associations of formal military staff (1958)

  • student associations (1322)

  • religious associations (1123)

  • colleague associations (418)

  • rotary clubs, Lions Club, Schlaraffia (414)

  • others (18 276)
BE

In 2014, the biggest added value was created by associations operating in the field of

  • social and medical actions (23%),

  • arts (16%),

  • services (12%).
 BG

Data from the year of 2017 indicates that the following activities were carries out most commonly by associations:

  • education (34 %)

  • social services (29 %)

  • regional development (24 %)

  • youth (16 %).
CY

Predominant areas of activity:

  • personal care services

  • education and training

  • environment

  • animal protection

  • waste management.
CZ

The Czech National Institute of Statistics lists the following activities as the main activities covered within Non-Profit Sector in 2020 :

  • culture, advertisement, recreation (41 281 associations)

  • education - 36 321 associations)

  • health and social services - 29 112 associations)
DE

In 2018, the main areas of activities are:

  • care services

  • education

  • culture

  • housing

  • integration.
DK

In 2013, the main areas of activities were the following:

  • health and social services (40%)

  • research (6%)

  • education (5%)

  • retail (4.6%)

  • culture (2.8%).
EE

NPAs can be classified according to their types as follows:

  • local government associations (with their own law and regulations)

  • housing associations (with their own law)

  • industry associations (e.g. food association, machinery association, tourism association, etc.)

  • professional associations (union of dentists, union of kindergarten teachers etc)

  • religious organizations (congregations, rehabilitation centers)

  • associations uniting companies ( union of HR companies etc.)

  • international NPAs (Mondo, Save the Children, Doctors without Borders, Women in International security).
ES

  • Ideological, cultural, educational and communication: 38,10%;

  • Women, equal treatment and non-discrimination: 1,70%;
    Children, youth, seniors, family and well-being: 3,50%;
    Environment and health: 9,80%;
    Disability and dependency: 2,20%;
    Victims, affected and injured parties:1,70%;
    Solidarity: 10,70%;
    Economic, technological, professional and interest groups: 18,10%;
    Sport and recreation: 9,70%;
    Others: 4,60%
FI Not classified: 29,2%;
Culture: 17,8%;
Sports and exercise: 13,6%;
Profession and trade: 10,1%;
Leisure: 9,6%;
Social and Health: 6,2%;
Other: 6,0%;
Political: 4,3%;
National defense: 1,9%;
Religion : 1,3%
FR In 2018,Sports:24%
Leisure, entertainment, social life: 19%
Causes, rights, interests: 15%
Show and artistics performances:14%
Teaching, training and research: 7%
Social assitance, humanitarian aid, charity (excluding accomodation):7%
Culture (excluding show, protection and promotion of heritage): 6%
Health: 3%
Management of business services and local development: 3%
Social or medical accomodation:1%
GR In 2009 culture sector (37%), followed by social solidarity (18%), health and social protection (12%) and environment (12%). A small number of associations are operating in the child protection sector.
HR Sport 17,7%
Culture and art 12,9%
Sports nomenclature 12,8%
Eduation, science and research 8,5%
Social activity 7,4%
Economy 6,4%
Human rights 5,7%
International Cooperation 5,6%
Democratic political culture 5,5%
Environmental and nature protection 5,2%
Health care 3,7%
Sustainable development 3,2%
Defenders and victims 2,1%
Spirituality 1,5%
Hobby activity 1,2%
Other 0,7%
HU

In 2020

Leisure (22%);

sports associations (22%);

as well as cultural organisations (17%) .
IE Advancement of education: 33%;
Advancement of religion: 6,60%;
Other purpose of benefit to the community: 53,90%;
Relief of poverty or economic hardship: 7,50%;
IT Culture, sport and recreation 70%;
Social assistance and civil protection 6.6%;
Trade union relations and interest representation 6%
Education and research 3.8%;
Healthcare 3.3%;
Protection of rights and political activity 2.4%;
Environment 2.1
Others (philanthropy, religion, economic development) 5.8%
LT Child care and youth (32.2%). Social problems and health (25.4%)
LU 60% collective social and personal service activities, around 20% in health and social work, less than 5% in each of the following areas: education, agriculture, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water, retail
LV Management of real estate: 1976 associations;
Sports clubs 1854: associations;
Religious organizations: 1319 associations;
Other Sport Activities: 1155 associations;
Renting and operating of own or leased real estate: 674 associations;
Hunting and related service activities: 671 associations;
Other amusement and recreation activities: 593 associations;
Activities of professional membership organizations: 565 associations;
Education: 573 associations;
MT Philantropy 17.83%
Education and Sport 41.20%
Religion 5.04%
Health 14.08%
Social and Community 45.68%
Culture, Arts and National Heritage 38.68%
Environment and Animal Welfare 10.66
Promotion of Human Rights 9.93%
NL Association can be found in most types of sectors including business services, financial services and communications. However, associations seem to be most common in the sports/culture/recreation sector and the health/care sector
PL sport, tourism, recreation, hobbies (26.9%), followed by rescue services (15.3%). A large group of organizations indicated culture and arts as their main field (12.4%), education and upbringing, scientific research (10.5%) and social and humanitarian aid (8,3%)
PT In 2016, the biggest share of associations were operating in the field of culture (33 772), education (2594), human health services (2386), social services (6978)
RO The most significant sector of activity is the social field followed by the sports & leisure and education
SE the distribution of the shares of employees in the voluntary sector in 2002 was as follows: Culture and recreation (27%), Social welfare (20%) Education and research (16% ), Religion (14%), Employment (8%), Politics, identity and interest (5%)
SI

In 2020

Sports and recreational associations 35,3%
Help people 13,0%
Cultural and artistics 17,0%
Scientific research, educational and profesional 9,3%
Environmental protection, aninal and plant breeding 7,1%
Housing 5,9%
Local development 6,4%
National and political 1,2%
Spiritual life 2,6%
Other 2,1%
SK In 2015 1. Culture, sport;
2. Education and Research;
3. Health service;
4. Social service;
5. Environment;
6. Human Rights
1.Clubs (12,40%),
2. Regional and municipal services and Tourism (8,34%),
3.Sport (5,30%),
4. Others cultural activities (5,24%)

4.Revenue

There is no systematic data about the revenue of the associations in the EU. We estimated an indicative figure based on the last data available for each country. It amounts to EUR 243 billion. Similar to the number of associations, FR plays an important role. It generates almost 50% of all revenue of the associations in the EU EUR 111 billion (2018).

Table 11: Revenue

COUNTRY Revenue
AT EUR 5.9 billion gross value added (year 2010)
BE In 2014, the total added value of the associations in Belgium was EUR 37 billion.
 BG The total amount of the revenues for 2020 for both associations and foundations is EUR 665.7 million.
CY No data available
CZ In 2018, the total economic value of the non-profit organization's activities  is EUR 365.7 million.13
DE Public grants and subsidies (29%), regulated service fees (38%), donations, sponsoring (13%), own revenues (sales, membership fees, return on capital market) – (19%) (2018).
DK In 2011 the average income of an association in Denmark was EUR 2 299,497. The total income of all associations can be estimated at EUR 230 million.
EE

Estonian non-profit associations  are funded from a variety of sources, including membership fees, public sector appropriations, public grants, project grants (financed by local and international foundations), payments for products and services, and donations from private persons and businesses. Indirect assistance is received in the form of tax allowances, in-kind contributions and voluntary work. 

No data on the amount of revenues.
ES No data available
FI EUR 5.4 billion (year 2019)
FR Associations with at least one employee have a total revenue of EUR 111 billion in 2018.
GR In 2017 grants (21%), donations related to general objectives of the organization (15%), in-kind resources (17%)
HR EUR 1 billion in 2019
HU EUR 1.5 billion (2020).
IE Total turnover of the charity sector in 2021 is EUR 13.9 billion.
IT Total revenue in 2016 EUR 5.7 billion.
LT The total revenue of the associations for 2020 is EUR 415 million.
LU No data available
LV The turnover of the associations in 2019 is EUR 462 million.
MT EUR 17.4 million in 2014
NL

For one specific type of association, sports clubs, numbers are available. Data for 2020 indicate a total of 26.130 sports clubs with a combined total revenue of EUR 1.1 billion.

 
PL In 2020, the total amount of revenue generated by non-profit organizations in Poland is EUR 7.3 billion
PT In 2016, the total turnover of all type of associations is EUR 4.8 billion.
RO The total revenue of associations and foundations in 2015 is EUR 2.5 billion. 
SE In Sweden, the whole civil society, that non-profit associations are part of, generated a total of EUR 26 billion in 2019.
SI The total amount of revenue of the associations in Slovenia in 2020 is EUR 557 million.
SK In 2020, the association's revenue is EUR 200.8 million.

5.Economic weight

The average economic weight of the associations in the EU (based on the latest data available for each country) is 2.01% of GDP.

Table 12: Economic weight

COUNTRY Economic weight
AT The economic weight of the entire non-profit sector is 8% of the GDP (including associations, no data on associations only) (year 2010)
BE Associations represent 2,52% of total registered economic businesses in Belgium in 2020
 BG 0.40% (total assets as % of nominal GDP as of 2020).
CY No data available
CZ The economic weight  is 6 % of the total GDP (2018).
DE In 2007, non-profit organizations contributed 4.1 %.
DK The economic weight of the associations in Denmark in 2011 can be estimated to 0,12% of the GDP.
EE 4-5% of the Estonian workforce is employed in the non-profit sector (2020)
ES No data available
FI 3 - 7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Finland (estimated for 2019)
FR 4,7 % of GDP in 2018
GR No data available
HR No data available
HU 3.7% of GDP in 2020
IE No data available
IT EUR 1.3% of GDP in 2016
LT In 2020, the economic weigh of the associations in Lithuania is 0.08% of the GDP. 
LU No data available
LV 1,5% of GDP in 2019
MT 0,16% of the GDP in 2014
NL In 2020, the economic weight of the associations representing sports clubs is 0.08% of GDP of Netherlands.  
PL 1,12% of GDP in 2020
PT 2.6% of GDP in 2016
RO 0,6% of GDP in 2016
SE Civil society’s contribution to Sweden’s gross domestic product /GDP) was 3.1% in 2019.
SI No data available
SK 0.2% of GDP in 2020

6. Share between voluntary and paid work

Table 13: Share between voluntary and paid work

Member State Share between Voluntary and Paid Work
AT

The share between paid and unpaid work in some of the biggest associations in Austria is as follows: Caritas 40 000 (paid workers) and 13 882 (unpaid); Diakonie 1600 (paid) and 7500 (unpaid), Hilswerk 20000 (paid) and 9894 (unpaid).16 

 
BE In 2017, a total of 497 400 people were employed by associations, either full time or part time. They weigh 12,6% of total employment, but 9,8% in terms of salaries. The total number of volunteers working for a non-profit organization in 2015 is estimated to 185 00010. 
 BG

According to the National Statistical Institute data (2013), in total 5,985 people were employed by associations and foundations. For the same year, the estimated share of people employed in associations and foundations was 0.13% of the total workforce. In addition, there is a concentration of organizations/jobs in the capital Sofia or the rest of the big cities.

In 2020, the number of volunteers in the associations and foundations was 46 451 people. They worked a total of 1 064 411 hours.

According to the study "Active NGOs in Bulgaria in 2017", prepared by the Open Society Institute – Sofia, in almost 60% of the active NGOs, the majority of the employees work on a voluntary basis. Low quality of jobs is another characteristic of the sector highlighted by the report. Among those engaged on a paid contract, those engaged in a short-term contract predominate. The salaries of the majority of non-governmental organizations, according to representatives of the organizations themselves, are lower than the average for the public sector. Nearly half of the surveyed organizations (45%) express the opinion that they are at risk of an outflow of qualified experts in the next 3 years.
CY

The number of people employed in social economy (including associationssocieties, foundations, cooperatives) is relatively low. The estimated share is less than 2% of the total workforce of Cyprus. 15 

Less than 20 % of the population in Cyprus declares to be included in recent volunteering activities. A survey by the Volunteer Network Project of 369 citizens identified 69 citizens who had volunteered in the previous 12 months (the research was conducted in 2018) 1.  This is equal to 19% of the sample16. On this basis, we can estimate that there are around  147,500 volunteers in Cyprus. 
CZ According to the Regional Volunteering Center of Liberec“ , there were a total of 117 000 employees and 37 455 volunteers engaged in non-profit organizations in 2018.  Compared to the previous years, the total number of volunteers has decreased. In 2015, there were 57 426 volunteers aged between 15 and 26 years, who contributed to Czech non - profit organisations.“42    
DE It is difficult for scholars to encounter the personnel structures of non-profit association. A study conducted in 2012 indicated that only 53% of the registered Associations occupy have employed paid personnel and only 36% of the foundations (Stiftungen) and these is employment rates are majorly mostly supported with part-time employment or mini-jobs.66 On the oether hand, volunteering is quite common in Germany. 
DK A report prepared by the Danish Institute for Voluntary Effort DIVE in 2019, highlighted  that 39% of the Danish population had performed voluntary work within the previous 12 months. This is equal  to 2.264 million people between the ages of 16 and 859.
EE

According to the survey carried out in 2019 (TLÜ, 2019) 44% are small organisations with less than 10 members, only 18%-20%  have about 50 members. 23% of NPAs have paid employees and 53% involve volunteers from outside the organization. 13% of associations have full-time employees and 15% of NGOs have part-time employees. The median number of employees of NPAs is 2. The share of NPAs with employees is higher than average among older associations. One third of the NPAs established before 2000 have employees, but only 15% of the associations have paid employees established during the last four years. Thus, the use of paid labor is quite rare in the case of start-up NPAs. 

In 2018  49% of the population participated in voluntary activities. At the same time, the 2018  survey showed that only a fifth of volunteers contributed to a community or citizens' initiative, and only a quarter volunteered regularly. Although a relatively large number of people therefore have experience of volunteering.  NPAs with employees are more active in involving volunteers, of whom 70% involved voluntary workforce. Involvement of volunteers, including frequent involvement, is generally more common among NPAs with a high turnover or operating at an international level. The share of those associations that operate only locally, 39% involve volunteers, 51% of NPAs that operate in Estonia more widely (but have not expanded their activities abroad) and 67% of associations operating abroad involve volunteers. All this confirms that the involvement of volunteers is one of the indicators of the growing capacity of NPAs (TLÜ, 2019). 

 
ES

The table below shows the percentage of volunteering in Spain based on the survey carried out by the Observatorio del Voluntariado en España in 2020. As can be seen, the percentage is low, only 6.5%, with hardly any differences between men and women, and the age group between 25 and 44 years old being the one with the highest percentage (7.2%).  

Percentage of volunteering in Spain 2020 

  2020 
% Total del voluntariado  6,5% 
Women  6,4 
Men  6,5 
Population age 14 - 24  6,2 
Population age 25 - 44 7,2 
Population age 45 - 64  5,9 
Over age over  7,0 

Source: Observatorio del Voluntariado 
FI

According to the latest statistical data available from 2017, 28% of the population aged 10 and more had volunteered for an association, club or group in the last 12 months.101  

 

According to the latest statistical data available from 2020, employees in of associations amounted to 41 000 full-time equivalent;102 that is, all paid hours of an association  are divided by the average paid hours of full-time wage and salary earners in of the association concerned. 
FR

Associations employ 2,2 million persons as of end of 2018. 53% hold a part time job. This paid work is equivalent to 1,5 million full time jobs. 

 

There are 21 million voluntary “participations”, knowing that one person can take part in more than on association. This work is equivalent to 580 000 full time jobs: 230 000 for associations with employees and 350 000 for association without. 

 

Therefore, total equivalent full time jobs in associations is 2,08 million, 72,1% for paid work and 27,9% for voluntary work. 
GR According to the British Council Report 20178  most social enterprises employ very few people and a considerable number operate with just members, without any paid employees. 
HR

According to the study Simunkovic Antonija, Simunkovic Mario, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WITH NON - PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA, Zagreb 2019 46, 11.1% of the surveyed associations do not have employees, 44.4% have from 1 to 5 employees, and the same number have from 6 to 10 employees. None of the surveyed associations has more than 10 employees. 

 

The main reason for doing business is the following: 

  • no income from non-profit activity (41.67%); 

  • to cover salary expenses (38.89%); 

  • for material costs (2.77%); 

  • for overhead costs (2.77%); 

  • and for withdrawal of funds from EU funds (13.90%). 
HU In 2020, non-profit organizations had 127 681 full-time employees and 311 357 volunteers..47
IE No data available
IT

 

The most updated data on voluntary and paid workers in Italian associations are about from 201566. According to such data, in 2015 the 336,275 NPOs had 788,126 employees and 5,528,760 volunteers, while the 286,942 associations had 154,489 employees and 5,020,810 volunteers. Therefore, associations are the 85.3% of the total number of NPOs, but they have only the 19.6% of the total number of employees. Indeed, most non-profit sector employees work in social cooperatives that are the main Italian social enterprise type. However, the 90,8% of the total amount of volunteers belong the associations. 
LT
Number of employees in associations34 
 
  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022 
Association  Total by number of employees  7445  7197  7168  7185  7087 
0–4 employees  7158  6917  6905  6868  6778 
5–9 employees  221  218  200  232  222 
10–19 employees  44  42  39  58  60 
20–49 employees  16  15  18  21  21 
50–99 employees  4  3  4  4  4 
100–149 employees  1  1          
150–249 employees     1  2  1  1 
250–499 employees  1        1  1 
500–999 employees                
1 000 and more employees                
             

 
LU

In 2017, the associations had a total of 17, 851 paid employees33. In total 56 % of the associations work with volunteers only, 23% have both paid employees and volunteers,  and 8 % work with paid workers only34.  

In 2009, 79% of the associations in Luxembourg were supported by volunteers, who were working 490 hours per year.35 
LV According to the report Social Enterprises and their Ecosystem in Europe: Latvia (2018): “The proportion of paid and unpaid workers within these organisations varies. For instance, the Samaritan Association of Latvia engages approximately 300 volunteers while Nearby (Tuvu) engages 28.  The number of volunteers varies according to the project and so does the nature of the work required, e.g. Wings of Hope involves volunteers for implementing different projects (e.g. the design of the interior of the charity shop). However, for managerial tasks paid workers are preferred over volunteers.”64 
MT The total number of registered employees with voluntary organisations (of which an important part are public benefit associations) was 1198 as of 20157. 
NL For one specific type of association, sports clubs, more numbers are available. Preliminary numbers for 2020 indicate a total of 26.130 sports clubs. These clubs have a total of 10.160 paid staff members. The clubs can count on 1.869.000 hours of volunteer work per week. 25 
PL

The overwhelming majority of non-profit organizations operated in 2020 solely on the basis of community service (voluntary work). No use of paid staff was declared by 61.6% of them. In non-profit organizations using paid labour, employment was much more frequent exclusively under civil law contracts (mandate contracts, contracts for specific work etc.) - 24.1%, than full-time employment - 14.2%. 

The use of community service in 2020 was declared by 89.4% of organizations. Social work was most frequently used among associations and similar social organizations (90.2%). A total of 2.6 million people (both members and non-members of non-profit organizations) were volunteering in 2020. 
PT

In 2016, the total number of paid employees working for associations is 234,886, which is 6% of the total workforce83.  

According to Survey on Volunteer Work 2018:“In 2018, the volunteer rate, which corresponds to the percentage of the resident population, aged 15 or more, who participated in, at least, one formal and / or informal volunteer work activity was 7.8%, the equivalent to around 695 thousand volunteers. The formal volunteer rate was 6.4%, while the informal volunteer rate was 1.5%. The female volunteer rate was higher than the male volunteer rate (8.1% vs. 7.6%). The age group with the highest volunteer rate was the group of 1524 years (11.3%), followed by the 25-44 years group (8.6%), 45-64 years (8.3%) and over 64 years (4.6%). Participation in volunteer work increases progressively with the level of education, and the volunteer rate among individuals with tertiary education was 15.1%”84 
RO No data available
SE In 2019, there were a total of 75 921 persons gainfully employed in non-profit organizations93, and 68,2% of them were full-time employees94.  
SI

In their annual reports, the associations in the Republic of Slovenia are obliged to report on the number, ie the expenses they have towards their employees 97 98 99 100 101 102 103. 

 

 

 

 

If an associations plans to start volunteer activities should be registered in the Register of voluntary organizations and organizations with a volunteer program104 105. 

 

 

 Table2 : Number of volunteers, number of legal entities employing volunteers and number of completed volunteer hours 2016-2019, based on reports prepared by the Ministry of Public Administration. 

 

  2019  2018  2017  2016 
Number of volunteer organizations  1,986  1,986  1,650  1,378 
Number of volunteers  284,131  244,304  291,214  307,262 
Number of volunteer hours  11,612,792  9,903,798  9,466,281  10,729,514 

 
SK

According to the database Data cube statistics, in 2020 there were totally 37 951 workers and 109 006 volunteers engaged in associations.53 In comparison with the previous years, the number of paid workers is increasing:  25 214  (2008), 27 410  (2013), 40 085 (2017). 

 

At the same time, the number of volunteers declines every year since 2016 when their number was 343 566 volunteers.  Their number during the three previous years was as follows: 240 341 (2017), 176 530 (2018), 181 769 (2019). 

7. Data on cross-border activities

Because of the limited integration of the associations in the EU, data for cross-border activities is not available for all EU Member States. Only the countries where recent data is available are listed in the table below.

Table 14: Data on cross-border activities

Member State Data on cross-border activities
BE In 2018, 2000 associations conduct cross-border activities as AISBL, according to the Fédération des associations internationales en Belgique.11 
 BG The number of international associations operating in Bulgaria is relatively low.  According to the Registry of non-profit legal entities, in 2021, 67 branches of foreign non-profit legal entities were registered in Bulgaria. Among them less than 10 declare themselves as a branch of an association.
DE Receipt of funding of foreign non-profit organizations is allowed by German tax law. In addition, it authorizes a donation deduction even if the recipient of the grant is located in another European country. Despite this, a requirement  is that the foreign recipient of the grant meets the requirements of §§ 51 et seq. AO  (in the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung, or AO) for tax privileges for non-profit organizations if he were resident in Germany (Federal Fiscal Court ruling of May 27, 2009 - XR 46/05, BeckRS 2009, 25015373).§§ 51 et seq. AO therefore also have a significant cross-border influence: Although they are not directly applicable to foreign non-profit corporations, they will often ensure compliance with these requirements in their own interest in order to benefit from indirect support through the donation deduction.67 
EE

 According to the survey of  NPAs (TLÜ, 2019)  the majority of NPAs (82%) operate at the local level. Fewer are those whose activities are nationwide or extend to foreign countries. However, the total number of associations whose activities are limited to the local level is only 15%. 23% operate more broadly in Estonia (but not all-Estonian),  22% are all-Estonian 

and 36% of NPAs (also) operate abroad.  

The share of NPAs whose activities are limited to the local level is the highest (outside Tallinn) in Harju County (30%). A large proportion of those associations that have identified the promotion of the quality of life in the neighborhood or region as their area of ​​activity have limited their activities to the local level only (48%). As this field of activity is more often than average represented among the associations established in 2005-2009 (which may result from the implementation of the LEADER measure), this group also has more local actors than the average (22% of the NPAs established in 2005-2009). 

the number of NPAs that do not operate at all at local level is the highest among associations registered in Tallinn (27% do not operate at local level). At the same time, it must be taken into account that in the case of Tallinn, the local level was limited to the level of one district, and a large part of Tallinn NPAs stated that they operate in more than one district in Tallinn. Taking into account also those NGPAs of the capital that operate in Tallinn at the level of several districts or covering the entire city, there are significantly fewer associations that do not operate in Tallinn at all - a total of 16%. 

NPAs with a high turnover or a large membership and staff have expanded their activities abroad. The share of associations operating abroad is the highest among associations registered in Tallinn (54%). the most common activities abroad are in the following fields: development / humanitarian aid (100%), national defense (62%), societal development (60%), religion (58%), communication / information technology (55 %) and health care (54%). Operating at the international level is more common than average among NPAs belonging to umbrella organizations (50% of associations belonging to umbrella organizations, 28% of other associations). 
HR According to the data of the Register of Foreign Associations, a total of 207 foreign associations are currently registered, of which 149 are active. 
IT

The number of international associations operating in Italy is deficient, and there is no specific Registry of branches of foreign non-profit legal entities. However, from the website of the Italian Ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation67 is possible to present the following four federations that group the Italian NGOs that aim to play at the international level: 

  • Link 200768 brings together 9 international NGOs; 

  • CINI69 (Italian Coordination of International Networks) brings together 5 NGOs belonging to other international networks; 

  • Concord Italia70 is the Italian Federation of 45 NGOs that operate in Europe for development cooperation, humanitarian aid, global education, and public awareness; 

  • Alliance 201571 is a network of 7 Italian and foreign NGOs engaged in humanitarian and development action. 
SI

According to the laws of the Republic of Slovenia, the associations are not obliged to submit information about their cross-border activities and cooperation. For this reason, there is no place, review or report where the total cross-border activity of the associations in Slovenia could be seen and reported. 

 
SK

According to the national Register of non-profit organizations, the total number of actual registered organisations with an international participation is 171. 

 

  1. Introduced by the Civil Code at the beginning of XX century

  2. In Czech Republic, the Civil Association Act stipulates that the members of an association shall be liable together to respect and accomplish all the obligations that they have in relation to a third party.

  3. Failure to ensure the payment of the association’s fiscal duties is explicitly sanctioned with joint and several liability for the board members (PL, SE).

  4. There are reported cases when the liability for an obligation caused by an act made on behalf of an unregistered association rests with the persons who took part in the act or decided on it personally. In these cases, the other members of the association shall not be personally liable for such obligation (FI).

  5. Non-for-profit purpose implies that the association does not earn profit for its owners (i.e. members and board) and may be allowed to use economic/ commercial means for obtaining profit that will further be used for pursuing its statutory aim.

  6. Most Member States refer to public benefit organisations.

  7. FR: Access to membership for minors is allowed without any condition; however, they need their legal representatives’ written permission to conduct any operation, excluding those related to ownership (property management, etc.).

    HR: For minors to be able to be members of associations, a statement/consent from their legal representatives is required.

    HU: The association can by statute define different categories of membership (including minors and persons deprived of legal capacity), where only one or some categories can include full members, there may be honorary members and similar categories.

    LT: Persons under 18 years of age may be members of associations whose activities are related to needs of children and youth. Parents or guardians of persons who are under 14 years of age have to be present to the management body laid down in the statutes of the association the applications to become members of an association. Persons who are under 18 years of age may acquire the rights and duties in the association in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code.

    RO: As a general rule, minors aged between 14 – 18 have a limited form of legal capacity and they can only become members of an association with the consent of their parents (however they cannot be part of the governing bodies). Exceptionally, emancipated minors (minors who get the full legal capacity before turning 18 either thorough marriage or following a court procedure) may benefit from all rights and duties of a member.

    SE: If a minor up to 7 years old or a person with deprived legal capacity wants to join the association, in that case, the statement for joining the association is signed by his / her legal representative. On the other hand, for a person aged 7 to 15, written consent must be submitted by the legal representative, before the person joins the association.

  8. In some jurisdictions (NL, PL) the law stipules that the general rule applies unless stipulated otherwise in the statute. In case of MT, the nontransferable character is mentioned only in case of public benefit organisations.

  9. ES: The statute may provide that, in the event of a member's voluntary withdrawal, the member may receive the initial equity participation or other financial contributions made, not including the membership fees paid by the member, subject to the conditions, scope and limits laid down in the statute. This shall be understood as long as the reduction of assets does not involve prejudice to third parties

  10. LU: Special provisions exist with regards to the management of the list of members. A list in alphabetical order including the surnames, first names, residences and nationalities of the members of the association must be submitted to the Registry of the civil court of the registered office of the association within one month of the publication of the statutes. It must be updated once a year. It is free and available for the public.

  11. FI: A list of members of the association with their full name and domicile must be kept by the executive committee.

    LT: The list of all members of the association must be kept in the registered office of the association, as well as in the registered offices of the branches and representative offices. Each member of the association shall have the right to get access to this list.

    LV: Every association must keep its own membership register containing the name, surname, personal identity number (if none - date of birth, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document, the state and authority that has issued the document) and the place of residence of each member (name and address of a legal person).

  12. FR: Access to membership for minors is allowed without any condition; however, they need their legal representatives’ written permission to conduct any operation, excluding those related to ownership (property management, etc.).

    HR: For minors to be able to be members of associations, a statement/consent from their legal representatives is required.

    HU: The association can by statute define different categories of membership (including minors and persons deprived of legal capacity), where only one or some categories can include full members, there may be honorary members and similar categories.

    LT: Persons under 18 years of age may be members of associations whose activities are related to needs of children and youth. Parents or guardians of persons who are under 14 years of age have to be present to the management body laid down in the statutes of the association the applications to become members of an association. Persons who are under 18 years of age may acquire the rights and duties in the association in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Civil Code.

    RO: As a general rule, minors aged between 14 – 18 have a limited form of legal capacity and they can only become members of an association with the consent of their parents (however they cannot be part of the governing bodies). Exceptionally, emancipated minors (minors who get the full legal capacity before turning 18 either thorough marriage or following a court procedure) may benefit from all rights and duties of a member.

    SE: If a minor up to 7 years old or a person with deprived legal capacity wants to join the association, in that case, the statement for joining the association is signed by his / her legal representative. On the other hand, for a person aged 7 to 15, written consent must be submitted by the legal representative, before the person joins the association.

  13. Corporates is the legal form which is closest to the tedm association in most EU Memner States.