How to register a Public Union in Ukraine in 2023?

A public union is a separate type of a public association in Ukraine. Its peculiarity is that only legal entities can be founders and both legal entities and individuals can be members.

There are cases when large non-governmental organizations want to switch to a public union. In such a situation reorganization of a non-governmental organization is practically impossible due to the specific structure of founders in both types of associations. The attempt can be justified only by the presence of significant property officially recorded in an organization’s financial records. It would be much easier to simply register a new public union, a member of which can be an already existing NGO.

Today we’ll elaborate on the subtle aspects of the procedure of starting a public union in Ukraine and tell you how to make the process easier. If you are ready to register your Union - please contact our specialists for personal consultation and professional assistance.

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Who can be a founder and member in a Public Union?

The minimum number of founders in the Public Union is two legal entities. The founders can be non-governmental organizations with the status of a legal entity.

The founders of a Public Union cannot be:

• political parties;

• legal entities undergoing liquidation, or for which a decision on liquidation has been made;

• legal entities where the sole founder is the same person;

• Legal entities, the owner of which is included in the list of persons associated with the conduct of terrorist activities.

In addition to the persons mentioned in the list, it is important to pay attention to the wording of who can be a founder of a Union - legal entities of private law. It means that state institutions, despite the fact that they are not in the list above, also cannot be the members of Unions. 

There was a case in our practice, when an already existing non-governmental organization, which was engaged in protection of doctors’ rights, wanted to create a Public Professional Union. But since most of the members and founders were individual entrepreneurs, it was decided to register an additional LLC for them - the main thing was to observe the rule about the same founders in an LLC, which we took care of.

Members of the Public Union can be legal entities and individuals over 18 years of age.

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Documents and registration procedure for a Public Union

To prepare for the registration of a Public Union, the following information will be needed:

• Codes of the founders in the Register. The United State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations of Ukraine;

• Data on the head and the address of the place of registration of the Public Union;

• Name of the Public Union.

It is important to carefully choose the name of the Union, as well as in case of any non-governmental organization. Often founders want to use a big name or an unusual name — the Ministry of Justice may not allow such a name. Our lawyers will help coordinate the name in advance, and provide advice if the name is not appropriate.

Based on the information above, the following documents must be prepared:

• the Charter of a Public Union;

• Minutes of the Union’s founding meeting;

• Minutes of all founding legal entities.

Particular attention should be paid to the Charter of the Public Union — its personalized development will help you to organize the structure of the Union at your own discretion (taking into account the requirements of the law), to designate the management bodies and give them special powers, to determine the order of joining and withdrawing from membership, determine the very conditions of membership, etc.

A meeting of the management body of the Public Union must be held to make a decision on its creation, and to elect a person who will represent the interests of the Union.

It is important to correctly organize not only the development of documents, but also their signing, and the procedure of the general meeting of founders. In our practice there were cases when it suddenly turned out that the head of one of the founding companies resigned, or that the other founder refused to sign the documents. How these problems were solved you can read here.

After that, you need to prepare an application for state registration of a Public Union and, if necessary, an application for a non-profit status for the Union.

The registration of a Public Union takes about a week. The law sets the period of 3 business days, but in practice it can take up to 5-7 business days, depending on the schedule of state authorities.

Our lawyers offer you complex support of the Public Union registration procedure in Ukraine:

• Legal consultation on the possibility and procedure of registration of a Public Union for the Client;

• Development of constituent documents of a Public Union;

• Submission of documents for registration of a Public Union to the State Registrar and communication with the state authority;

• Legal address services for a Public Union;

• Obtaining all-Ukrainian status for a Public Union;

• Obtaining a non-profit status for a Public Union.

You can find the cost of the Public Union registration here, or check it with our specialists.

Do you want to register a Public Union? Don’t hesitate to contact us! We can help you find the best solution to any legal issues you face.

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Everything about registration of non-profit organizations in Ukraine here.