On October 25, 2012, the Serbian Ombudsman sent an official letter to the Minister of Finance, lending his Office support to the amendments which ECNL prepared in collaboration with local partners, Civic Initiatives and Balkan Community Initiative Funds, and urging the Minister to take them into considerations.
The amendments, which have also been endorsed by the Government Office for Collaboration with Civil Society and numerous local CSOs call among others for simplified accounting rules for CSOs and for putting churches religious organizations on equal footing with CSOs with regard to the accounting obligations. Currently, the draft Law exempts churches and religious organization from any accounting rules, even if they are the recipients of public funds, which gives rise to the potential violation of the Serbian Constitution.