According to the statement of the Ministry of Environment, the Minister of the Environment, Michał Woś, in cooperation with the Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, took the initiative of the act, which provides for the creation of a public register of non-governmental organizations financed from abroad.
The project provides for the introduction of a public list of non-governmental organizations financed by foreign entities. Such a register, available to everyone on the Internet, will be kept by the Ministry of Justice. It is to contain information on the source of funding, amount, purpose and place of spending. The NGO will be required to apply to the ministry for inclusion in the list within 14 days from the date of receiving the first support from abroad. Only after submitting such an application will the organization be able to use the funds received. Organizations that receive support from abroad will also be required to post a message on their website.
If the activity of a non-profit organization is more than 30 percent financed from foreign funds, information about the receipt of such support should also be placed on documents distributed by it and made known before the public speech of the representative of this organization. Moreover, an organization financed to such a degree from foreign funds will not be able to provide support to political parties, election committees and committees of citizens’ legislative initiatives.
The provisions of the draft law will apply to NGOs whose annual income is not less than PLN 156,000. PLN, of which at least 10 percent. comes from foreign entities. The provisions of the Act will not apply to funds from the European Union budget or from an international organization of which Poland is a member, as well as from a citizen of a foreign country (if they were not higher than 6 times the minimum gross remuneration for work, i.e. currently 15 thousand 600 PLN), as well as money transferred by foreign entities controlled by Polish citizens or Polish companies.