“It is impossible to liquidate activities”: legal validity of the concept of “activities” for NGOs

Abstract

In the article the author considers the problem of the lack of legislative definition of the activities of non-profit organizations (hereinafter — NPO), and also compares the signs of entrepreneurial activity and activities of non-profit organizations, coming to the conclusion that the activities of commercial and non-profit legal entities differ in their content. The article analyzes judicial practice in terms of the grounds for liquidation of non-profit organizations in carrying out their statutory activities, namely, it reveals the problem associated with the restriction of activities on the territorial principle of certain organizational-legal forms of NPOs, which subsequently leads to a violation of the constitutional right of citizens to their association. 

In the article the author argues that the lack of legislative fixation of the concept of activity leads to the fact that the law enforcer represented by state bodies can give a different assessment of the activities of non-profit organizations. On two examples of public organizations (sports federation and public organization uniting representatives of creative activity) it was shown that one and the same activity can be considered by law enforcer differently, in the first case as permissible activity, in the second case, as a gross violation of the current legislation.

References

1. Stepanov, D.I. (2003). Forms of reorganization of non-commercial organizations. Appendix to the journal Khozyaistvo i pravo, 10, pp. 6–7. (in Russ.).
2. Gutnikov, O. V. (2019). Corporate responsibility in civil law: a monograph. IZiSP, CONTRACT, SPS “Consultant Plus”. (in Russ.).
3. Tikhonov, V. V. (2022). Systematicity as a sign of entrepreneurial activity. Khozyaistvo i parvo, 7, pp. 12–20. (in Russ.).