Development of the Charter for the Association (Union) in 2023

I'm sure many of you have heard about the Charter of NGOs and how difficult it is to register it with the Ministry of Justice. Let's figure out what the charter of an Association or Union is. As a general rule, the Charter is a set of rules that regulates the organization and procedure of activities in a certain sphere of relations or any state body, organization, enterprise, institution.
In our case, it is a set of rules that regulates the activities of the Association or Union. The Charter is the most important constituent document. The Charter is a kind of small "constitution" for the Association.

Let's take a closer look at the rules for drafting, approving and passing a legal review of the charter in the Ministry of Justice. If you plan to form a charter on your own, you can download a sample charter.

Sample of the Charter of the Association (Union)

If you plan to create a Union, replace the word "Association" with "Union" in the charter, this is enough.

Importantly! An example of the simplest charter of the association is provided. Depending on the type of activity, goals and ways to achieve them, the provisions of the charter may need to be amended. Before drawing up the charter, be sure to carefully read our sections about the name, territorial scope of activities, legal address and management structure of the association.

Download a sample of the Charter of the Association (Union)

Charter of the Association (Union) sample example

You can save time, effort and nerves if you entrust registration to our specialists. Especially if you have little experience or create a complex association with a complex structure.

Legal expertise in the Ministry of Justice lasts 3 weeks. Each error will require a re-submission and an additional three weeks. If you apply through a notary, then you will have to pay the notary again and the fees. Unfortunately, in practice, the Ministry of Justice stops reading the charter after 2-3 mistakes, waits for the end of the full 21 days and only then writes a refusal. Alas.

Approval of the Charter of the Association or Union

The Charter is approved by the founders at the time of the establishment of the Association or Union and is sent for registration to the Ministry of Justice along with other documents. Beforehand, the Charter must be developed, while it is necessary to take into account the goals of the creation of the Association or Union, the desired structure of the governing bodies. The development of the charter is a very complex and painstaking work. At first glance, you may think that there is nothing complicated about it. I copied the charter from the Internet and applied for registration. But in reality, it's not like that at all.
In the Ministry of Justice, the charter undergoes a thorough legal examination for compliance with the current legislation. If a specialist finds any errors or inconsistencies in the Charter of the Association or Union with the legislation and internal regulations of the Ministry of Justice, the state registration will be refused. If the charter and other documents undergo a legal examination, then information about the Association or Union is entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. It is from the moment of making an entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities that the Association or Union is considered to be established as legal entities. On the basis of the Charter, the Association or the Union will continue to carry out its activities.

Reasons for refusal of registration

There can be many reasons for refusal under the charter of an Association or Union, and often these are not gross violations in the preparation of the document, but the subjective opinion of each specialist of the Ministry of Justice regarding certain provisions of the charter. This is because the legislation on non-profit organizations is not perfect and has many gaps and imprecise wording, and often conflicts. 
This article specifies the governing bodies that must be formed in the Association or Union: "In an association (union), a sole executive body (chairman, president, etc.) is formed. and permanent collegial executive bodies (council, board, presidium, etc.) may be formed."

So, the legislation puts forward a number of requirements for the charter of an association or union.

Contents of the articles of association or union

1. The name of the Association or Union, which must contain an indication of the nature of its activities and organizational and legal form, namely:

2. Address (location of the Association or Union). The charter must contain the address of the legal entity.

3. The subject and objectives of the activities of the Association or Union.
This is a very important section of the charter.
In practice, we encounter situations when the founders want to specify only one purpose in the charter. For example, the development of dentistry. But it is impossible not to take into account the requirements of the above article, therefore, in order to create an Association, the following points must be present:

• representation and protection of common, including professional interests of members of the Association or Union;
• coordination of the activities of the members of the Association or Union.

4. Information on branches and representative offices of the Association or Union

The charter of the Association or Union should provide for the basic provisions on branches and representative offices.
Branches and representative offices are not legal entities, they are endowed with the property of the Association or Union, and act on the basis of approved regulations. The property of branches and representative offices is accounted for on their separate balance sheet and on the balance sheet of the Association or Union. Heads of branches and representative offices are appointed by the supreme governing body of the Association and act on the basis of a power of attorney issued by the Association or the Union.
Branches and representative offices carry out activities on behalf of the Association or Union. Responsibility for the activities of branches and representative offices is borne by the Association or Union.  

5. Rights and obligations of members, conditions and procedure for admission to and withdrawal from the Association. As mentioned earlier, Associations and Unions are corporate organizations, which means that they are based on membership and the supreme body is formed from members. Since there is membership and membership fees, the charter should provide for the procedure and conditions for admission to membership in the Association, as well as the rights and obligations of members.
The General Meeting of Members of the Association or Union shall determine the procedure for admission of members of the Association, as well as the procedure for the exclusion of members from the Association or Union. However, the competence to admit new members, expel members and maintain a register of members can also be attributed to other governing bodies. For example, to a collegial executive body (if any) or to a sole executive body – the head. The Charter of the Association or Union shall stipulate the competence of which governing body will include the admission and expulsion of members.
If we talk about the rights of members, then they must be contained in the charter of the Association. It is in the charter, not in the membership regulations. Here are some of the rights of members in the Association:

1. the right to participate in the management of the affairs of the Association (Union), including the right to elect the governing bodies of the Association (Union) and to be elected to the management bodies of the Association (Union);
2. the right to receive information about the activities of the Association (Union), to get acquainted with its accounting and other documentation by sending a written request to the Head of the Association (Union);
3. the right to receive a document confirming membership in the Association (Union);
4. the right to appeal against the decisions of the bodies of the Association (Union)
5. demand, acting on behalf of the Association (Union), compensation for losses caused to the Association.

Here are some examples of members' responsibilities:

1. comply with the Charter of the Association, rules and requirements established by the Association for its members;
2. contribute to the achievement of the statutory goals of the Association, including through the implementation of priority areas for the development of the Association;
3. implement the decisions of the Association's governing bodies;
4. timely and in full make entrance (one-time), membership (regular), targeted and additional contributions to the property of the Association in the amount determined by the General Meeting of Members, and in the manner determined by this Charter;
5. participate in decision-making, without which the Association cannot continue its activities;
6. not to commit actions that may harm the legitimate interests of the Association or its members;
7. not to commit actions knowingly aimed at causing harm to the Association.

The above rights and obligations of members are not an exhaustive list of rights and obligations provided for by the current legislation.
6. Sources of formation of the property of the Association or the Union The sources of formation of the property of the
Association (union) include:

1. entrance (one-time) fees in the amount approved by the decision of the General Meeting of Members;
2. membership (regular) fees paid by members annually in the amount approved by the General Meeting of Members;
3. additional contributions – funds contributed by members necessary to achieve the statutory goals, determined in accordance with the decision of the General Meeting of the Association members, including funds for payment of unforeseen expenses of the Association.