In a meeting between Civil Society Bahamas (CSB) and the Attorney General, The Honorable Carl Bethel, QC on 15 December 2018, the Attorney General stated that it was his intention for the Non-Profit Organisations Bill, 2018 to be revised and rescaled to more moderate regulation of the sector, in order to comply with the FATF.
The Attorney General also expressed his intention to continue to review the Bill for opportunities to minimise damage to the capacity of this important sector. To allow for further drafting, the Bill is now expected to be debated in The Senate in January 2019.
Whilst mindful of the many clauses suggested by CSB, including clauses from the 2015 CSO Bill, The Attorney General advised that wide scale changes that would require the Bill to go back to The Lower House, or otherwise significantly delay the objective of developing regulatory standards in the sector would not be considered. However, The Government was prepared to move on the following key points:
1. To consider using the St. Kitts and Nevis model of the formation of an Advisory Council to help with the forming of protocols and regulations to make sure that the sector is strengthened and invigorated.
2. To simplify the Registration process by requiring only organisational information and removing the requirement to provide financial requirements as previously indicated. The timescale for Registration will still remain at 90 days.
3. To review the language relating to Know Your Customer (KYC) to lessen the non-profit organisation’s compliance burden, and bring it in line with other non-financial sectors.
4. To waive fees for existing Non-Profit Organisations who wish to register.
5. To exempt Individuals exercising personal charity from the Act, so that they can continue their work without fear of a fine or imprisonment. They will not be considered a non-profit organisation under the act.
6. To raise the level of Reportable donations and disbursements from their current level.
7. To retain the Power of the Registrar to impose fines, although the level of those fines civilsocietybahamas@gmail.com 242-465-6763 www.civilsocietybahamas.org P.O. Box N-1353 www.facebook.com/civilsocietybs/will be reduced, and jail time would remain a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year. There will now also be no fine for failure to pay Registration fees.
8. The cost of conducting on-site inspections will now also be met by the Registrar.
9. To review the Right to Appeal to make it less onerous on non-profits to challenge the decision of The Registrar.
Subsequent to this constructive meeting, CSB is cautiously optimistic that the drafting language of the Bill will be improved to remove ambiguities that could cause problems to the sector. Once the Bill is redrafted and circulated by The Attorney General, CSB will report again.
CSB is grateful for the good faith shown by the Government to revise the Bill. However, we remain concerned that political parties will be excluded from the provision of the act.
Says Dr. Anthony Hamilton, Vice President of Civil Society Bahamas “We congratulate the Attorney General and the Government for the good faith that it has shown in the consultation process, and we believe the Act will be much better for it.
We are however concerned that political parties appear to be outside the scope of the Act. This is surprising given that there is no legislation in the pipeline to address issues of regulation within that segment and we urge the Government to give this area their utmost attention.”
Another area of disappointment is the lack of limitations on administrative action as found in Section 12 (4) of the BVI Non-Profit Organisations Act, 2012, which the Government used as its benchmark legislation.
Continues Dr. Anthony Hamilton,“The BVI Act, which the Government apparently benchmarked, provides that within 30 working days of receiving a registration application from an NPO, the Registrar must consider it and if satisfied that the applicant complies with the requirements for registration, approve the application.
This provides a level of accountability that currently does not exist within our Registrar. It often takes two years or more to register as a new nonprofit. While we commend the Government’s commitment to significantly simplify the registration requirements within the Non-Profit Organisations Bill, without this important safeguard we fear non-profit registration will continue to be a daunting task.”
CSB is encouraged by the Government’s intention to use the St. Kitts and Nevis model of the formation of an Advisory Council to assist with the future policies and regulations of the sector. Says Marilyn Zonicle, Director of Civil Society Bahamas, “We are encouraged by the demonstrated responsiveness of Government through the Attorney General.
Civil Society is at the heart of efforts representing Participatory Democracy, which are working hard to solve the societal issues that plague our country. It is essential that the Government consults with this important sector; and setting up this Advisory Council will be an important start to establishing a model of consultation, that will only benefit the country.”
One of CSB’s three Program Areas is a commitment to National Development.
Says Mark Palmer, Secretary of Civil Society Bahamas, “CSB is committed to national development planning and the achievement of sustainable development goals.
By connecting CSOs to the SDGs, we seek to assist the Government in its development and environmental goals. It is important that we as a sector establish a trusted working relationship with Government for the purpose of National Development.
We see this current consultative process as an essential element of restoring that trust and establishing Civil Society as a trusted and valuable partner in the Tripartite process.”
