The Department of Civil Affairs has announced that its practices in relation to foundations will be made public in future. The initiative is intended to enhance transparency and help foundations, advisers and other stakeholders navigate the Department’s interpretation and administration of the rules in this area.
For boards of trustees, the initiative notably enables previous decisions and declarations of practices to be incorporated into the basis for decisions. This may contribute to identifying issues requiring special attention before a measure is implemented or submitted to the authority.
This summer, the Department of Civil Affairs already published five decisions reflecting the most recent practices. The decisions pertain to, for example, authorisations to dissolve non-commercial foundations and exemptions from the capital requirements when establishing non-commercial foundations. The decisions have been published in Retsinformation, the official Danish online legal portal.
The update by the Department of Civil Affairs is available here: Decisions and practices relating to foundations will now be made public.
The Danish Business Authority has also recently launched a portal offering access to the Authority’s decisions relating to commercial foundations. We have previously published a news article on this topic, which may be accessed here (in Danish only): Danish Business Authority launches new portal with access to foundation practices.
The publication of decisions made by the foundation supervisory authorities represents a positive development for the boards of trustees of foundations. The available decisions and practices may give trustees a stronger basis for assessing specific courses of action and organising their decision-making processes and communications with the supervisory authority.
We closely monitor developments in the foundation sector and provide ongoing advice to foundations and their trustees on matters including foundation charters, governance, grant-making practices and engagement with the authorities.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
[View Source]
