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IV. Analysys and recommendations


E. Donations and membership fees


It is welcome that the draft amendments propose that pecuniary donations may only be effected from current accounts (Article 9 on donations). In another useful change, the draft amendments also envision specifying that contributions received through means other than the donor’s current account (Article 9 para 5 in the amended version) should be returned within 15 days (Article 15 para 3 on remittance of unlawfully acquired funds). At the same time, although Article 10 sets a maximum value for donations, it does not set any maximum value for membership fees, which are not included in the definition of donations in Article 9. This would allow political parties to circumvent the Law by asking for very high membership fees.[1] It is therefore recommended, as suggested in the OSCE/ODIHR-Venice Commission Guidelines on Political Party Regulation,[2] to treat membership fees as donations.


[1] Cf. OSCE/ODIHR-Venice Commission Guidelines on Political Party Regulation, para 163.


[2] Ibid.