Controversial Slovakian NGO Bill Declared Unconstitutional
The Constitutional Court of Slovakia ruled at the end of 2025 that the “June amendment” to the law on non-profit organisations is incompatible with the Slovak Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The June amendment had requested NGOs to prepare a statement containing information on their donors, as well as the amount of their contribution and established an obligation to file the statement in the public part of the register of financial statements. The June amendment was challenged by a group of opposition MPs and by the Public Ombudsman, Róbert Dobrovodský. According to the Constitutional Court, the June amendment violates constitutional provisions on fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as political rights. The Ombudsman argued that parts of the law violated the principle of freedom, restricted civil society participation in public life and allowed excessive state intervention.
The Venice Commission in its opinion published on 13 October 2025 also considered the June amendment incompatible with international human rights standards, in particular the extensive donor disclosure and transparency requirements, coupled with broad supervision powers and severe sanctions was considered interfering with the freedom of association and privacy under Articles 11 and 8 of the ECHR and Articles 22 and 17 of ICCPR.
Philea welcomes this decision since we call on governments to provide for enabling environments for philanthropy in Europe and the June act had implied clear barriers to philanthropy and potential conflicts with EU law, in our European philanthropy manifesto. With this intervention things are evolving positively for civil society and philanthropy in Slovakia considering that a 2024 proposal to label NGOs receiving more than 5000 EUR as “organisations with foreign support” is equally not moving ahead.
Philea is monitoring national and European developments that have an impact on philanthropy space and is doing more research in 2026 how EU law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights can protect philanthropy days.
Contact
