The Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic will consider a complaint against the decisions of the courts of first and appellate instances on the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic (on foreign representatives)

A hearing has been scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on 18 June 2025, at the Supreme Court of the KR to consider the complaint filed by the PA “Bir Duino – Kyrgyzstan” against the rulings of the trial and appellate courts regarding the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic (on foreign representatives).

On 14 January 2025, the court of first instance refused to recognize as illegal the Resolution No. 518 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the KR dated 27 August, 2024 (hereinafter referred to as the Resolution), which approved the Regulation on the Procedure for Maintaining the Register of Non-Profit Organizations Performing the Functions of a Foreign Representative and Conducting an Audit of Their Activities (hereinafter referred to as the Regulation) in accordance with the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Non-Profit Organizations (hereinafter referred to as the Law on NPOs).

On 20 March 2025, by a ruling of the Bishkek City Court, the decision of the Bishkek Administrative Court dd 14 January, 2025 was left unchanged, and the appeal of the PA "Bir Duino - Kyrgyzstan" was dismissed.

The appealed Regulation establishes the procedure for the inclusion of non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the Register of NPOs-Foreign Representatives (NPOs-FRs), requirements for mandatory financial audits and the procedure for conducting state audit of NPOs-FRs and other requirements. Having studied the Resolution, the organization's experts came to the conclusion that when it was issued by the Cabinet of Ministers, the following regulatory legal acts were violated and not complied with:

• The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic;
• OSCE/ODIHR Guidelines on Freedom of Association and other international obligations of the KR
• The Law on Regulatory Legal Acts of the Kyrgyz Republic;
• The Law on Non-Profit Organizations.

Firstly, the Regulation has established new rules of law (legal norms) that go beyond the Law on NPOs.

Secondly, the draft Regulation has not been published for public discussion on the Unified Portal (http://www.koomtalkuu.gov.kg). At the same time, no discussions or consultations were held with representatives of NPOs and civil society. This is a violation of the rule-making process.

Thirdly, the Regulation approved by the Resolution expanded the list of authorized state bodies conducting inspections of NPOs-FRs. The Law on NPOs (Article 17-1) grants the only authorized state body (in this case, the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic) the right to "conduct inspections" of the activities of NPOs.

Forth, the Regulation (paragraph 36) permits inspections of NPOs on the basis of statements made by state bodies, local governments or the media, even verbally, about an alleged violation by an NPO of the Law on NPOs or inconsistency of the activities of an NPO with its statutory goals. However, it lacks clear mechanisms to protect NPOs from unfounded or arbitrary statements.  

Fifth, the Regulation also does not contain any clear and specific procedures regarding the process of inspections of NPOs-FRs. First of all, there are no instructions regarding the duration, timing and frequency of inspections, as well as the ways and criteria by which the authorities will monitor and evaluate the involvement of NPOs in political activities and other issues provided for by the Regulation.

Sixth, according to paragraph 22 of the OSCE/ODIHR Guidelines on Freedom of Association, "... legal provisions concerning associations should be well developed. They must be clear, precise and indisputable. In addition, in order to ensure that the content of the law is supported by all stakeholders, the process of adopting such provisions should be open, accessible to all and based on the participation of all stakeholders.

It is important to note the issues and problems identified during previous court proceedings when considering the application of the PA "Bir Duino - Kyrgyzstan":

1) the respondent's representative acknowledged that the information requested under the Regulation has already been provided to the relevant authorities (the Ministry of Justice, tax authorities and Statistical Committee), and therefore, the next submission of information is a duplication and a double obligation of NPOs;

2) the representative of the Ministry of Justice could not clarify whether sufficient measures are being taken to ensure the safety of the collected data (as per article 21 of the Law on Personal Information);

3) even an oral statement can serve as a basis for starting an audit of an NPO, since the Regulation does not require a written statement;

4) according to the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers, the number of inspections (including simultaneous ones) can be unlimited;

5) it remains unclear whether an NPO is required to translate documents requested during verification that are in foreign languages into Kyrgyz and Russian.

It should be noted that the courts of first and appellate instances also did not draw conclusions or comment on the Venice Commission's Opinion, which was translated into Russian and submitted by the plaintiff's side for inclusion in the case file.  When asked by the director of the public association, T.  Ismailova, the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers of the KR Mr. Nishanbaev admitted that he was not familiarized with the Conclusion, although he, as a party to the case, was given a copy of the Conclusion in the court of first instance.  According to him, “it was in English, and the Opinion does not analyze or evaluate the Cabinet of Ministers' Resolution directly." However, this is not true and was an attempt to mislead the judicial board.  Thus, as the director of the organization clarified, in the Conclusion, at least paragraphs 45-47 are attributed to the contested normative legal act, which states that "...The Cabinet's Resolution goes beyond explaining the procedural details of the Law's application... It strengthens control and intrusion into NPOs, expands the powers of the executive branch and the prosecutor's office... it makes the relevant procedures

very cumbersome and time-consuming.”

We request all interested parties, as well as concerned citizens, activists, and journalists to take part in the meeting of the Supreme Court of the KR on 18 June, 2025 at 11:30 a.m. at the address: 205 Abdumomunov St., Bishkek. Should you have any questions, please, contact our lawyer via mobile: 0770 341 720 or email: birduinokyrgyzstan@gmail.com.