At the thirty-sixth sitting, the Finance Committee members discussed the Report on the control of the political parties’ 2008 financial reports.

The sitting was chaired by Zoran Krasic, Committee Chairman, who briefed the Committee members on the Report Proposal drafted by the Working Group created by Committee Decision on 30 April 2009. The Chairman said that the form of the 2008 Report is the same as last year, but that it still suffers from the same problem concerning the Finance Committee’s competence, and that the Committee had, under law, allowed public insight into all received reports of the political parties.

Following a short discussion, the Finance Committee members adopted the Report on the control of the political parties’ 2008 financial reports, by a majority of votes.

The Committee adopted the following conclusions:

1. The Report of the Working group for the control of the political parties’ 2008 financial reports is adopted.

2. The creation of a National Assembly electronic database of political parties newly-registered in 2008 is decreed, containing data stipulated by Law (name, date of foundation, TIN, registry number, mark and date of submission of political party report etc.), as well as an update the registered political parties’ data.

3. The Finance Committee obligates the National Assembly Secretary General to publish the Finance Committee’s Report on the control of the political parties’ 2008 financial reports and supplements on the National Assembly’s website.

4. Forward information to the state authority in charge of political party registration with the report on political parties that had submitted financial reports and political parties that had not submitted financial reports for 2008 to the Finance Committee.

5. It is necessary to clarify the provisions of article 5, paragraph 4 of the Law on Financing of Political Parties, regarding the limit of total contributions that legal and physical entities can give to political parties.

6. The Law on Financing of Political Parties must set the deadline for the submission of political parties’ financial reports, specifying when a political party is obligated to submit such reports to the competent authority.

7. The Finance Committee obligates the National Assembly Secretary General to form a commission from the ranks of the members of the Working group for the control of the political parties’ financial reports and National Assembly Support Service staff employed at the National Assembly’s clerk’s office, tasking it to hand over the to the Anti-Corruption Agency the original documents that the Finance Committee had received in the period between 2004-2009 in the process of control of the political parties’ financial reports, by 30 October 2009 (deadline specified by the Law amending and modifying the Law on Financing of Political Parties). Before the original documents are handed over they should be scanned and, along with the Records of the proceedings and census lists, be permanently stored at the Archives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.