On December 6, 2005, ECNL and the National Foundation for Civil Society Development conducted a workshop on the public benefit status of CSOs in Zagreb, Croatia. Mr Mladen Ivanovic from UNDP Croatia set the stage by presenting the results of his research analysis of the Croatian legal framework and outlining the legal issues that would require reform. Mr Ivanovic stressed that while the current framework does not directly recognize public benefit status, it does provide more fiscal benefits to organizations involved in certain fields of activities. Due to the lack of a comprehensive policy, however, the legal framework refers only to limited categories of public benefit activities (e.g., education, humanitarian) and fails to include other, equally important activities (e.g., social care, human rights, children rights). The analysis concludes that there is a need for adopting a more coherent policy on the issue.
The workshop provided opportunities for Croatians to compare regional lessons learnt and discuss solutions appropriate to Croatia. Ms Ewa Kulik from the Batory Foundation in Poland presented the Polish experience of implementing the law, Ms Nilda Bullain from ECNL discussed the impact and challenges of the Hungarian legal framework for public benefit organizations, and Mr David Moore of ECNL presented the tax-based regulatory approach of the Netherlands (based on the expertise of Professor Wino van Veen of Vrije University).
At the workshop, ECNL and National Foundation also promoted the Brochure on Public Benefit Status, which includes an analysis developed by Mr Ivanovic and a comparative overview of European regulatory approaches developed by Mr Moore. To receive a hard copy of the publication please contact the National Foundation in Croatia.
ECNL is grateful to the Academy for Educational Development (AED/Croatia) and to USAID/Croatia for its support of this event and the publication, and for its support of ECNL's activities in Croatia.