Skopje, 23 February 2023 (MIA) – The Central Registry submitted an initiative for a review of the names of all 17,000 associations registered in the country to the newly-established Commission on the Use of Historical Names at the Ministry of Justice, says director Mairja Boshkovska-Jankovski.

“The full documentation has been sent, and generally the statutes and the programs of all associations are almost identical. They’ve all been taken from the Central Registry’s database, with the exception of the Bulgarian associations that include certain sentences stating they will protect the Bulgarian interests etc., but that is not enough to ban their registration,” Boshkovska-Jankovski told TV24.

She clarifies that the Central Registry is “only a records-keeping body and a database” and does not have the authority to determine if an association can or cannot be registered.

“If the legal entity submitted the full documentation and fulfils the conditions, we can’t determine if it can be registered or not. We proceed exclusively on the basis of the law. Now, with the amendments of the Law on Associations and Foundations, if an association requests to be registered, and it has a problematic name, we will seek approval from the Ministry of Justice for the registration of the legal entity,” adds Boshkovska-Jankovski.

Regarding the changing of the problematic names of the Bulgarian clubs, Boshkovska-Jankovski says that the “Tsar Boris III” association from Ohrid began a procedure to align their name with the amendments of the law, but the documentation they submitted to the Central Registry is not complete, while the Bitola association “Ivan Mihajlov” did not initiate a name change procedure within the legally stipulated period.

Boshkovska-Jankovski says that despite the fact the documentation submitted by the “Tsar Boris III” association is incomplete, a name change procedure has been started.

“The association has been informed that it should act in line with the law, i.e., submit an application and the rest of the documentation necessary for the procedure. Perhaps this might be buying time, but if they submit a proper application, the Ministry of Justice will be informed to wait before making a decision,” notes Boshkovska-Jankovski.

The amendments of the Law on Associations and Foundations added two new points to Article 8, Paragraph 3 of the law stating that “associations cannot use names that on any basis in the past have been associated and cause racial, religious, national, ethnic and other intolerance, hatred, genocide, extremism, spreading or supporting fascism, Nazism, National Socialism and the Third Reich. If such a name is included in the name of the association, approval is given by the Minister of Justice, upon the recommendation of a commission that will be set up by the Minister of Justice with representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Institute of National History, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Ministry of Justice.”

Furthermore, two new items are added to Article 18, Paragraph 2 which state “the goals of the associations must not cause racial, religious, national, ethnic and other intolerance, hatred, genocide, extermination, spread or support of fascism, Nazism, National Socialism and the Third Reich. The activities that achieve the goals must not cause the above-mentioned intolerances.”

The amendments also foresee a retroactive effect of the law and it applies to already registered associations and foundations, therefore, the final provisions of the law states that the associations and foundations that do not comply with the amendments, will be deleted from the Registry following a decision by the Minister of Justice.

The deadline for the associations to make sure they comply with the legal amendments expired on February 16, and those that failed to comply with the law will be deleted from the Central Registry based on a decision by the Minister of Justice no later than March 16, based on an opinion received from the newly-established Commission on the Use of Names. ad/ik/