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Malta’s Voluntary Sector Submits Proposals For Controversial Fundraising Laws

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The Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector has submitted proposals to amend controversial laws that it claims impinge on fundraising activities of voluntary organisations and charity shops.

The regulations, which will be operational by summer, introduced the need for organisations to apply with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations (VOs) every time they wished to collect funds. 

They would also have obliged VOs to do so using containers obtained from the Commissioner’s office while also introducing any funds collected to be counted by a public officer within the Office of the Commissioner. 

In its 27-page document, the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector called for a major overhaul of these laws. Among its proposals, it called for the removal of a €20 per donor daily cap, the removal of age limits for volunteers and making fundraising permits valid for a year rather than on a case-by-case basis.

The council added that while it supports improved transparency and accountability, these laws would impose great administrative burdens on some VOs and stifle them.

The new regulations were described as a hindrance to people’s right to associate with any group they liked. Civil society group Repubblika was the first to sound the alarm about the regulations, which have been publicly opposed by over 79 voluntary organisations and 90 band clubs.

More than 140 voluntary organisations provided input for the MCVS report.

You can read the full document here.

Do you think the new regulations should be scrapped?

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Sam is a journalist, artist and writer based in Malta. Send her pictures of hands or need-to-know stories on politics or art on [email protected].

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