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UK charities face battle in Europe

Finance | Ian Allsop | 1 Oct 2005

The four national UK umbrella bodies representing the voluntary sector have met EU leaders in Brussels. The meeting follows the European Commission's recent consultation on a new draft code of conduct for the sector, which caused grave concern due to its focus on the risks faced by the sector from infiltration by organised crime and terrorism.

The Commission only allowed five weeks, including August, extended to eight weeks following requests from the voluntary sector, for consultation. As a result NCVO, SCVO, NICVA and WCVA have raised the issue of a European Compact style agreement. This would set standards for consultation with the sector, acknowledge the vital role voluntary organisations play in European society and safeguard independence and their right to campaign irrespective of whether organisations are in receipt of EU funding.

The code of conduct is the Commission's proposal to protect the sector, strengthen donor integrity and confidence and apply higher standards of transparency and accountability. It has expressed concerns that the nonprofit sector has been exploited for the financing of terrorism and criminal abuse. However, NCVO says that the focus on terrorism is particularly disproportionate as the misuse of voluntary and community organisations (VCO) for this purpose has happened only on very rare occasions and has been effectively dealt with.

It welcomes measures to improve transparency and accountability, but claims there has been a fundamental misunderstanding by the Commission over what the sector does which has lead to draft guidelines that would cause significant restrictions to the work of many, particularly smaller, VCOs.

Of particular concern are recommendations regarding the establishment of risk factors which would indicate if an organisation was behaving suspiciously, including the sharing of office facilities, the use of multiple bank accounts which are often a requirement of government and EU funded projects, and being on the board of more than one organisation -  a practice very common in the sector including across many of the large national charities.

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Directory: National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) | SCVO