Nonprofit Organizations & Social and Solidarity Economy

The new Greek Law 4430/2016 on Social and Solidarity Economy which was passed on 31st October 2016 offers new opportunities to NPOs.

Who is affected? Social Cooperative Enteprises, Social Cooperative of Limited Ability and a new form called Workers’ Cooperatives as well as other legal forms of Nonprofit Organizations. According to this law, it is possible for all the members of civil society to have economic activities. The Social Economy General Registry checks the prerequisites of eligibility of an entity for recognition as a Social and Solidarity Economy Organization. The prerequisites of eligibility of an entity are the following:

• It employs activities of collective and social benefit, as provided in §2.
• It employs a democratic system of decision-making, according to the principle ‘one member, one vote’, irrespectively of the contribution of each member.
• Its Articles of Association foresee restriction in distribution as follows:
  i. a minimum 5% for reserve formation,
  ii. a maximum of 35% is distributed to the employees, unless the 2/3 of the General Assembly members decide for its allocation to activities of iii below,
  iii. the remaining percentage is allocated for the creation of new employment positions and the expansion of its productive activity.

The complete article is available in Greek. Should you need any further information, please contact us at [email protected].