Competence of the Governing Bodies of an Autonomous Non-Profit Organization during the Period of Voluntary Liquidation

Abstract

The paper analyzes the competence of the governing bodies of an autonomous non-profit organization in the stage of voluntary liquidation of the organization. Given the current legislation and judicial practice, the powers of the liquidation commission and other («pre-liquidation») management bodies of the organization are delineated. In practice, members of the collegiate supreme governing body of an autonomous non-profit organization had to face doubts about the legitimacy of making decisions on issues of the competence of this governing body provided for by the charter, with the exception of those issues, the adoption of decisions on which by the collegiate supreme governing body of an autonomous non-profit organization during the period of voluntary liquidation is expressly provided by law (for example, approval of the liquidation balance sheet). At the same time, as the basis for such doubts, the transfer of authority to manage the affairs of a legal entity to the liquidation commission from the moment of its appointment is indicated (clause 4, article 62 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The author concludes that the founders and the collegiate supreme governing body of an autonomous non-profit organization, in addition to the powers provided by law to liquidate the organization, retain a significant part of their competence, enshrined in law and the charter, taking into account the scope of the organization’s legal capacity during its liquidation. The conclusions are of practical importance not only for lawyers of non-profit organizations, but also for a wide range of lawyers of business entities in terms of approach to assessing the competence of the governing bodies of a legal entity during its liquidation.