NPO Act proclaimed despite AG promises

THE EDITOR: On June 14, sections of the Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) Act, 2019 were proclaimed by the President, and have therefore come into operation as law. This is despite promises to the contrary made by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.

The act creates new obligations for all existing non-profit organisations, whether unincorporated or established under the Companies Act (Chapter 81:01).

The Civil Society Alliance/Laws for Us is alerting the non-profit community based on the proclamation “Every person in a leadership role in a non-profit group is liable for compliance.”

The alliance is the grouping of civil society actors which rapidly mobilised in response to the March 22 introduction and swift passage of the historic NPO legislation. They succeeded in the Senate amending the most controversial provisions in the original bill, with support from the Independent bench.

Brianna Pierre, alliance co-ordinator, pointed out that the Attorney General had repeatedly given the Parliament and non-profit leaders assurances that before bringing the law into force, he would engage in public education and additional consultation with stakeholders. Pierre expressed the group’s disappointment that Al-Rawi had not given the alliance advance notice of the proclamation date.

However, she stressed that an important commitment the group won from the AG is still in place: a legislative reference group is working with the Attorney General’s Office and other government units on improving the legislation and working on regulations, forms and processes required for implementation.

She noted that the reference group still intends to propose new legislation to the AG that would strengthen and facilitate the work of non-profits, and invited new leaders in the non-profit sector to join that effort “to collaborate towards ensuring the passage of better legislation, and to help shape public education about the NPO Act and TT’s international obligations that led to its passage.”

The alliance is also acknowledging that the following specific provisions in the NPO Act were not presented to the President for proclamation and are therefore not law:

• Jail and $50,000 penalties for non-compliance.

• Prohibition on people diagnosed as mentally ill serving in non-profit leadership – something the AG promised Parliament to revisit.

• A strict ban on soliciting charitable funds before applying to be registered as a non-profit.

The alliance is highlighting that the following are now law which NPOs should pay attention to:

• Non-profits with budgets over $500,000 now fall under the supervision of the Financial Intelligence Unit for money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

• It is illegal to operate any kind of existing organisation that raises or disburses money for a non-profit purpose without paying a fee to register it and supplying the Government with several types of information (including your photograph), keeping all such information current, and renewing registration every five years.

• Existing non-profit companies (ie those registered under the Companies Act) are automatically registered but must comply with the other requirements. But groups registered with ministries are not. Groups have 18 months to register, and can apply for extensions (the Miscellaneous Provisions Act passed this week removes statutory caps on this extension period).

• Government can deny registration on specific grounds. Registration can be cancelled if an organisation fails to keep required financial records. Non-profits with income over $10 million must submit their annual audits to the Government. All non-profits are also required to keep specific records.

The Parliament website shows the gazetted proclamation made by Legal Notice No 115, dated June 12 (http://ttparliament.org/legislations/ln2019-115.pdf).

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