Amendments to the Charter

Amending the charter of a public organization

Amendments to the founding documents of any organization are regulated by law.

The charter of a public organization is its founding document, which must contain information that clearly complies with legal requirements, namely:

• the name of the public organization (short name);
• the purpose and directions of activity;
• the procedure that determines how to become a member of the public organization or terminate such membership;
• reporting of the bodies of the public organization to the members (participants) of such organization;
• powers of the governing bodies, as well as of the head of the public organization;
• meetings of members (participants), and the adoption of decisions by the governing bodies at such meetings;
• appealing the actions and inactions of governing bodies, and the procedure by which such actions (inaction) are appealed;
• receipt and use of material assets (funds and other property);
• issues concerning separate subdivisions – if the public association that created a separate subdivision carries out activities with the status of a legal entity;
• amendments to the charter, and the procedure for their introduction.

All information entered into the charter relates to information about a legal entity, including a public organization. Some of such information is fully accessible and is contained in the register of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

Subsequently, the public organization undertakes the obligation to notify the authorized body of this. For this, the following documents are submitted to the state registrar:

• an application (drawn up in any form), the main thing is that it concerns the purpose of the public organization’s appeal to the authorized body;
• registration card form No.3; the form of this card in its latest edition can be obtained directly from the state registrar;
• the charter (two copies) with the appropriate changes;
• the original (notarized copy) of the decision of the supreme body of the public organization that amendments have been made to the charter;
• the original (certified copy) of the protocol that served as the basis for the meeting of the supreme governing body;
• the original charter, as well as the certificate of state registration (or their duplicates).

If all documents are submitted in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, and the meeting of the supreme governing body was lawful, the state registrar issues an extract, thereby confirming the amendments to the charter of the public organization.

How to amend the charter

The common point is that amendments to the charter of a non-profit organization (both in public associations and in charitable organizations) are confirmed by the appropriate actions of an authorized person.

When creating a legal entity, whether a public organization or a charitable foundation, it is necessary to provide in the founding documents a procedure that stipulates how to amend the charter.

For a charitable organization, it is envisaged that certain actions must be carried out in advance by the organization’s bodies. First of all, it is necessary to convene a meeting of the supreme governing body, at which the question of making amendments to the founding documents of the charitable organization is decided.

Thereafter, the sequence of actions and the deadline for submitting the package of documents are clearly defined by the legislation of Ukraine in the field of state registration. For this, it is necessary to submit:

• registration card form No.3, filled in correctly (this is important, since the state registrar pays attention to this first);
• the original or a copy of the decision of the authorized (supreme) body of the charitable organization on making amendments to the organization’s charter (a document confirming the validity of the adopted decision is attached);
• the original charter that is in force on the date of submission of the package of documents;
• two copies of the charter in the new edition, which include the corresponding changes.

When you submit the package of documents for registration, you must be sure that they meet all the requirements for such submission, since state registrars approach their verification very carefully. Not because they want to find a reason to refuse you, but because they bear responsibility for their actions. The registrar has the authority to refuse you registration based on the following:

• the information indicated on the card does not match the information stated in the charter;
• the procedure for creating the legal entity was violated;
• the charitable organization promotes a communist or nationalist regime and has corresponding symbols.

In other cases, the state registrar is not entitled to refuse acceptance of the documents, and the changes to the founding documents must be made.

Services for amending founding documents from the Law Firm “Nakaz”

Registration of amendments to founding documents by our specialists is carried out efficiently and promptly for all legal entities, including public associations and charitable organizations. We clearly know how the procedure goes and how the documents should be prepared, and we are always ready to help you.

Legislation:

Law of Ukraine “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs” dated 15.05.2003 No.755-IV;

Law of Ukraine “On Public Associations” dated 22.03.2012 No.4572-VI;

Law of Ukraine “On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations” No.5073-VI dated 05.07.2012.