NGO status in Lithuania: when it applies and what the NGO mark gives

Whether an organisation is a non-governmental organisation (NGO, nevyriausybinė organizacija) does not depend on a mark at the Centre of Registers (Registrų centras). It depends on whether the organisation meets the definition in the Law on the Development of Non-Governmental Organisations. The head of the organisation enters the mark in the Register of Legal Entities (Juridinių asmenų registras) after assessing whether the organisation meets that definition. Even so, some rights and duties in the statutes are tied to the mark itself: recognition as a public-benefit NGO and a volunteering agreement with the head of a VšĮ. So it is worth knowing when meeting the definition is enough and when you also need the mark.

What an NGO is under the law

Article 2(3) of the Law on the Development of Non-Governmental Organisations of the Republic of Lithuania (NVOPĮ) defines an NGO as a public legal entity that is independent of the management of state or municipal institutions and bodies, is set up on a voluntary basis, acts for the benefit of the public or a group of it, and whose aim is not to seek political power or to pursue purely religious aims.

The definition tells you several things. First, only a public legal entity can be an NGO. Public legal entities are legal entities set up by persons who do not seek benefit for themselves, and whose aim is to serve the public interest (Article 2.34(2) of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania (CK)). A public institution (Article 2 of the Law on Public Institutions of the Republic of Lithuania (VšĮĮ)), an association (Article 2(1) of the Law on Associations of the Republic of Lithuania (AĮ)) and a charity and support fund (Article 2(1) of the Law on Charity and Support Funds of the Republic of Lithuania (LPFĮ)) are public legal entities. Private legal entities, whose aim is to serve private interests (CK Article 2.34(3)), do not meet the NGO definition. So a private limited company (UAB) cannot be an NGO either: it is a private legal entity (Article 2(2) of the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania (ABĮ)).

Second, an NGO may act for the public at large or only for its own members. The law distinguishes a group-benefit NGO, whose activity benefits only its members (NVOPĮ Article 2(1)), and a public-benefit NGO, whose activity also benefits the public and which has been recognised as meeting the statutory requirements (NVOPĮ Article 2(6)).

Third, this law does not govern how NGOs are set up, managed, reorganised, converted or liquidated (NVOPĮ Article 1(3)). That is settled by the law of the specific legal form. How a VšĮ is set up is explained in Setting up a public institution (VšĮ): members, articles, registration, and how an association or a fund is set up in Setting up an association or charity and support fund in Lithuania.

When an organisation is not an NGO

NVOPĮ Article 2(3) lists legal entities that are not NGOs even if they are public:

• legal entities more than 1/3 of whose participants are legal entities that are neither NGOs nor religious communities or societies (NVOPĮ Article 2(3)(1));
• legal entities whose participants that are such legal entities hold more than 1/3 of the votes at the general meeting of participants (NVOPĮ Article 2(3)(2));
• political parties, trade unions, employers’ organisations and their federations, and organisations in which membership is compulsory for members of a profession (NVOPĮ Article 2(3)(3)–(5));
• gardeners’ associations, associations of owners of apartment blocks and other buildings, other legal entities set up to manage real estate jointly, family-type foster homes (šeimynos) and permanent arbitration institutions (NVOPĮ Article 2(3)(6)–(8)).

The first two grounds are tested separately: by the number of participants and by votes. In a VšĮ, votes at the general meeting of members are allocated in proportion to the size of the contributions, unless the articles provide otherwise (VšĮĮ Article 12(6)). So a VšĮ in which a company makes up less than a third of the members can still fall outside the NGO definition if the company’s contribution gives it more than a third of the votes. When members or contributions change, it is worth repeating this assessment.

A community organisation is a narrower concept

A community organisation (bendruomeninė organizacija) is an association whose founders and members are residents (or their representatives) of a local community and whose purpose is to pursue, through initiatives, public interests linked to living as neighbours (Article 2(1) of the Law on the Development of Community Organisations of the Republic of Lithuania (BOPĮ)).

This concept is narrower than an NGO. First, only an association can be a community organisation, so a VšĮ or a fund is not one, even if it carries the NGO mark. Second, the founders and members must be residents of the locality, and the purpose must be linked to living as neighbours. An association whose members are not residents of the locality, or whose purpose is not linked to living as neighbours (for example, one uniting a profession nationwide), does not meet this concept. If a funding call requires the applicant to be a community organisation, the NGO mark is not enough.

How the NGO mark is registered and removed

Information on NGOs is kept in the Register of Legal Entities and made public (NVOPĮ Article 12(1)). The head of the legal entity assesses whether it meets the NGO definition and marks in the register that the legal entity is an NGO (NVOPĮ Article 12(2)). An application to register the mark is filed with the register keeper (point 148² of the Regulations of the Register of Legal Entities (JAR nuostatai)). The register keeper registers or removes the mark no later than within three working days (JAR nuostatai point 148³).

The mark can be removed in three ways:

• on the legal entity’s own initiative (NVOPĮ Article 12(6));
• at the request of an appropriations manager (asignavimų valdytojas) that has data showing the legal entity does not meet the NGO definition (NVOPĮ Article 12(4)). In that case the register keeper removes the mark no later than the next working day (JAR nuostatai point 148³);
• on the register keeper’s own initiative, when liquidation initiated by the register keeper or the status of a legal entity in liquidation, in bankruptcy or bankrupt is registered, or when a conversion ends (NVOPĮ Article 12(5)).

If the mark was removed at the request of an appropriations manager, it can be entered again only after at least one year (NVOPĮ Article 12(7); JAR nuostatai point 148⁴). Where there is reasonable doubt, the appropriations manager may check the information confirming NGO features in the register and in the Information System of Participants of Legal Entities (JADIS), or ask the organisation to provide it (NVOPĮ Article 12(3)).

When the definition is enough and when you need the mark

Where the definition decides. Funding from the state or municipal budgets may be granted to legal entities that meet the NGO definition (NVOPĮ Article 7(5)). NGOs as defined in the Law on the Development of Non-Governmental Organisations may receive up to 1.2 per cent of personal income tax, and trade unions and their federations up to 0.6 per cent (Article 7(1¹) of the Law on Charity and Sponsorship of the Republic of Lithuania (LPĮ); LPĮ Article 4(2)(2)). Here the law relies on the definition, not on the mark. From 1 January 2027, this list of recipients is extended to religious communities, societies and religious centres, state and municipal schools, and associations of building owners and of gardeners; the change applies to support allocated for 2026 and later years. But being an NGO does not by itself give the status of a support recipient (paramos gavėjas): the register keeper grants it on a separate application (LPĮ Article 13(1)).

The terms of a funding call can be stricter. Appropriations managers approve the rules of funding calls (NVOPĮ Article 7(3)), and funds are not granted to a legal entity that does not meet the requirements of those rules (NVOPĮ Article 10(1)(5)). If the rules require a registered mark, register it before you file the application. Funds are also refused where the activity report and the set of annual financial statements, or the annual report, for the last financial year for which the filing deadline has passed have not been filed with the register (NVOPĮ Article 10(1)(6)).

The statutes also tie some duties to being an NGO, not to the mark. Data on the members of a charity and support fund are filed with JADIS where the fund is an NGO (LPFĮ Article 6¹(1); JADIS nuostatai point 5.1). The JADIS Regulations tie only the move to the archive to the mark: once the fund’s mark is removed, the data on its members are moved to the JADIS archive (JADIS nuostatai point 66). An association that is an NGO must state in its activity report the number, names, legal form and codes of the legal entities it unites (AĮ Article 10(4)(2)).

Where you need the mark. The statutes tie the mark to these cases:

• recognition as a public-benefit NGO. One of the conditions is a registered NGO mark in the Register of Legal Entities (NVOPĮ Article 8(2)(2));
• a volunteering agreement with the head of a VšĮ instead of an employment contract. It is possible where the VšĮ is not classed as a public-sector entity and is registered as an NGO in the Register of Legal Entities (VšĮĮ Article 20(3)).

Public-benefit NGOs

Appropriations managers may give public-benefit NGOs priority when distributing funding. NGOs are recognised as public-benefit NGOs under the procedure set by the institution authorised by the Government (NVOPĮ Article 8(1)). Besides the mark, the NGO must meet the other conditions of NVOPĮ Article 8(2): most of its activity must benefit the public or part of it in the fields the law lists (NVOPĮ Article 8(2)(1)); it must have filed with the register its activity reports and financial statements, or annual reports, for the last 2 financial years for which the filing deadline has passed, and published them on its website, if it has one (NVOPĮ Article 8(2)(3)); and it must meet the minimum criteria of a reliable taxpayer (NVOPĮ Article 8(2)(4)). The social-impact measurement requirement applies only to NGOs whose main aim is to provide public services (NVOPĮ Article 8(2)(5)).

More on NGOs and public legal entities

• NGOs, public institutions, associations and charity and support funds
• Leaving a VšĮ: transfer of member rights, JADIS and contributions
• Head of a VšĮ: who appoints, employment contract and pay
• Dormant VšĮ, association or foundation: reports and suspension

How to start

Send us the organisation’s articles of association, an extract from the Centre of Registers and the list of members with their votes. If you are preparing an application, add the rules of the funding call.

Phone +370 5 212 1506, email info@linden.lt

More about this service: NGOs, public institutions, associations and charity and support funds.