The paper outlines key attributes of volunteering based on the definition of volunteering by the International Labor Organization (ILO). According to ILO,
volunteering is unpaid non-compulsory work; that is, time individuals give without pay to activities performed either through an organization or directly for others outside their own household.
Among the reasons for regulation of volunteering is necessity to define volunteering in contrast to employment, need to provide rights and benefits to the volunteers, taxation of reimbursable expenses, liability of the hosting organization and international volunteering.
Based on European examples, the paper provides an overview of possible models for regulation of volunteering, such as customs or self-regulation, regulation through a series of laws, regulation through a separate volunteering law.
The paper highlights importance of the process of drafting the new legal provisions on volunteering and provides recommendations to regulators on whether to develop a new law on volunteering, how to organize the drafting process and further implementation of regulation.
The paper is also available in Russian.