REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW

ON CHARITY AND SPONSORSHIP

4 June 1993 No I-172

Vilnius

(As last amended on 19 July 2022 – No XIV-1389)

Article 1. Purpose of the Law

1. This Law establishes the framework for providing and receiving charity and sponsorship, the purposes of providing and receiving charity and sponsorship as well as providers and recipients of charity and sponsorship; it also regulates charity and sponsorship accounting and control where providers and/or recipients of charity and/or sponsorship are entitled to relief from taxes and customs duties prescribed by law. The provisions of this Law on control and accounting of the provision and receipt of sponsorship shall also apply in the cases when sponsorship is provided and/or received in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Lotteries.

2. Where the legal norms provided for by international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania are other than provided for in this and other national laws, the legal norms laid down in the international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania shall apply.

Article 2. Definitions

1. ‘Charity’ means a voluntary and gratuitous provision of charity items by the providers of charity to the recipients of charity as specified in this Law for the purposes and in the manner prescribed by this Law.

2. ‘Sponsorship’ means a voluntary and gratuitous provision of sponsorship items, except where recipients undertake the obligations referred to in Article 8 of this Law, by the providers of sponsorship to the recipients of sponsorship items for the purposes and in the manner specified by this Law, including cases where sponsorship items are transferred anonymously or in any other manner not allowing to identify a specific provider of sponsorship.

3. Other concepts used in this Law shall be interpreted as they are defined in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Personal Income Tax and the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists.

Article 3. Purposes of charity and sponsorship

1. The purpose of charity shall be to satisfy the minimum socially acceptable needs of charity recipients as set forth in this Law, to ensure health care, to assist in the liquidation of the consequences of war, natural disasters, fires, ecological disasters, outbreaks of contagious diseases and epidemics.

2. The purpose of sponsorship shall be to provide sponsorship items to sponsorship recipients indicated in this Law for the purposes of public benefit indicated in paragraph 3 of this Article and in their articles of association or regulations or in the canons, statutes and other rules pertaining to religious communities, associations and centres.

3. Within the meaning of this Law, the following purposes shall be considered to be for the public benefit: activities for the purpose of international cooperation, protection of human rights, integration of minorities, promotion of cultural, religious and ethical values, educational, scientific and professional development, non-formal and civic education, sports, social security and labour, health care, national security and defence, law and order, crime prevention, adjustment of living environment and development of housing, protection of copyright and related rights, environmental protection as well as any activities in other fields recognised as selfless and beneficial to society.

Article 4. Items of charity and sponsorship

1. Charity items shall be as follows:

1) monetary funds;

2) any other assets, including manufactured or purchased goods, and

3) services rendered.

2. Sponsorship items provided to recipients being legal persons shall be as follows:

1) monetary funds;

2) monetary funds comprising a portion of income tax up to 1.2 per cent (up to 0.6 per cent for trade unions or trade union associations) of the amount of personal income tax payable under an annual income tax return, and where a permanent resident of Lithuania does not file an annual income tax return by allocating up to 1.2 per cent (up to 0.6 per cent for trade unions or trade union associations) of the amount of income tax withheld by a withholding agent;

3) any other assets, including manufactured or purchased goods, and

4) services rendered.

3. Sponsorship items provided to recipients being natural persons:

1) to those who have been granted the status of an artist in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists, sponsorship items are monetary funds comprising a portion of income tax up to 1.2 per cent of the amount of income tax payable under an annual income tax return, and where a permanent resident of Lithuania does not file an annual income tax return by allocating up to 1.2 per cent of the amount of income tax withheld by a withholding agent;

2) to those who, in accordance with the procedure and in the cases laid down by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it, directly participate in emergency response and mitigation of its consequences, sponsorship items are monetary funds, services rendered and any other assets, including manufactured or purchased goods.

4. Charity and sponsorship items shall not include funds from state and municipal budgets of the Republic of Lithuania, the budgets of the State Social Insurance Fund Board, the National Health Insurance Fund or other state monetary funds, the monetary funds of the Bank of Lithuania and other state and municipal monetary funds, tobacco and tobacco products, ethyl alcohol and alcoholic beverages as well as items of limited circulation, also monetary funds allocated by a permanent resident of Lithuania to oneself, comprising a portion of income tax up to 1.2 per cent of the amount of income tax payable under an annual income tax return, and where a permanent resident of Lithuania does not file an annual income tax return by allocating up to 1.2 per cent of the amount of income tax withheld by a withholding agent.

Article 5. Providers of charity and sponsorship

1. In accordance with this Law, charity shall be recognised as such where it is provided by those charity and sponsorship funds, associations, public establishments, religious communities, associations and centres, divisions/units of international public organisations which are registered in the Republic of Lithuania if the provision of charity is stipulated in their articles of association or in the canons, statutes and other rules pertaining to religious communities, associations and centres as well as in the legal acts regulating their activities and if they are entitled to receive sponsorship subject to the provisions of this Law. Monetary funds, assets (including manufactured or purchased goods) and services transferred or supplied by associations or other organisations operating on a membership basis for the benefit of their own members shall not be recognised as charity.

2. In accordance with this Law, sponsorship shall be recognised as such where provided by:

1) legal and natural persons of the Republic of Lithuania, except for political organisations and analysis centres, state-owned and municipal enterprises, budgetary institutions, state and municipal institutions, and the Bank of Lithuania. Sponsorship provided by enterprises in which the shares held by the State and/or a municipality by the right of ownership grant over 50 per cent of votes at a general meeting of shareholders, subsidiary public limited liability companies and private limited liability companies within the meaning of Article 5(1) of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Companies, as well as any other downstream subsidiaries, within the meaning of Article 5(3) of the Law on Companies, related to state and/or municipal companies via their subsidiaries (hereinafter: ‘state and/or municipal companies’) shall be recognised under this Law if they do not have any tax arrears to the state budget, municipal budgets or Funds administered by the State Tax Inspectorate, arrears with delayed payment deadlines to the State Social Insurance Fund Board budget, liabilities under loan contracts and other instruments of debt signed with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania or under contracts covered by a state guarantee;

2) foreign states, foreign legal and natural persons, and international organisations.

3. Sponsorship shall not be recognised under this Law where it is provided to a participant of a state and/or municipal company, other legal persons in which the participant of this state and/or municipal company holds a proportion of the equity capital and/or voting rights granting the right to control activities of a legal person or to legal persons related to the participant of this state and/or municipal company, except for all cases where sponsorship is provided to legal persons involved in libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities, in education, sports, provision of social services to residents or public health care.

4. The following shall be considered legal persons related to the participant of a state and/or municipal company as indicated in paragraph 3 of this Article:

1) legal persons in which the same participant holds 1/3 or more of the equity capital or holds 1/3 or more of all the voting rights carried by the shares;

2) legal persons which are jointly managed with the participant or have a joint administrative subdivision or whose management or supervisory bodies have half or more of the same members as in the management or supervisory bodies of the participant;

3) legal persons with whom the participant has undertaken to coordinate its operational decisions or has undertaken the responsibility for the fulfilment of obligations to third parties or who have undertaken to transfer all or part of the profit or have granted the right to use 1/3 or more of their assets to the participant.

Article 6. Recipients of charity

1. The following persons may be the recipients of charity:

1) persons with disabilities;

2) patients;

3) orphans and children deprived of parental care;

4) non-working pensioners whose income comprises only pensions and other social benefits;

5) unemployed persons;

6) persons who have been recognised as having the legal status of victims in accordance with the procedure laid down in the laws of the Republic of Lithuania;

7) families/persons whose income fails to meet their minimal socially acceptable needs the extent of which is established by local authorities;

8) persons recognised as victims of war, natural disasters, fires, ecological catastrophes, epidemics, and outbreaks of contagious diseases in accordance with the procedure established by local authorities.

2. Persons referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be recognised as such in accordance with separate laws and other legal acts.

Article 7. Recipients of sponsorship

1. The following entities registered in the Republic of Lithuania may be the recipients of sponsorship:

1) charity and sponsorship funds;

2) budgetary institutions;

3) associations;

4) public establishments;

5) religious communities, associations and religious centres;

6) divisions/units of international public organisations;

7) other legal persons (except for political parties and analysis centres) whose activities are regulated by special laws and who participate in not-for-profit activity, while the profit received may not be allocated to their participants.

2. Natural persons who have been granted the status of an artist in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists may be the recipients of the item of sponsorship as laid down in Article 4(3)(1) of this Law.

21. Natural persons who, in accordance with the procedure and in the cases specified by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it, directly participate in the emergency response and mitigation of its consequences may be the recipients of items of sponsorship as laid down in Article 4(3)(2) of this Law. Natural persons who, in accordance with the procedure and in the cases specified by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it, directly participate in the emergency response and mitigation of its consequences shall have the status of a recipient of sponsorship and the provisions of Article 13 of this Law shall not apply to them.

3. The persons referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall become sponsorship recipients and shall obtain the right to receive sponsorship only after having been granted the status of a recipient of sponsorship in accordance with the procedure laid down in this Law. The persons referred to in paragraph 21 of this Article shall become recipients of sponsorship and acquire the right to receive sponsorship when they directly participate in the emergency response and mitigation of its consequences in accordance with the procedure and in the cases specified by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it.

4. The recipients of sponsorship may be Lithuanian communities and other Lithuanian agencies or organisations established abroad and indicated in the list approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Government’) or an institution authorised by it.

5. Sponsorship under this Law shall also be recognised when it is provided in the European Economic Area countries and in democratic and law-abiding states included in the list of the Government, that are victims of crimes within the meaning of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, ratified by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and its amendments, ratified by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Ratification of Amendments on the Crime of Aggression to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Amendment to Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the repercussions of these crimes to the established legal persons or other organisations that are not profit-seeking and which may not share their profit with their participants and when the sponsorship is provided to the state institutions of these democratic and law-abiding states for the purposes of public benefit. A provider of sponsorship shall submit to the State Tax Inspectorate the documents specified by an institution authorised by the Government and evidencing that the sponsorship is provided for the purposes of public benefit, which are set out in the activity documents of these legal persons or other organisations and which are referred to in Article 3(3) of this Law. An institution authorised by the Government shall lay down the procedure for submitting these documents to the State Tax Inspectorate. The provisions of this paragraph shall not be apply to the legal persons or organisations referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article.

Article 8. Obligations of the recipient of sponsorship

1. Where sponsorship is provided, the recipient of sponsorship may undertake the following obligations in respect of the provider of sponsorship:

1) to make the information about the provider of sponsorship available to the public;

2) to submit reports to the provider of sponsorship on the use of the sponsorship received and the activities of the recipient of sponsorship;

3) to use the item of sponsorship in accordance with the procedure laid down by the provider of sponsorship.

2. The amount of expenditure incurred by a recipient of sponsorship when making public the information about a provider of sponsorship shall not exceed 10 per cent of the value of sponsorship provided by this provider of sponsorship. Where, in the course of making the information public, the recipient of sponsorship incurs expenditure exceeding the threshold, laid down in this paragraph, the amount exceeding that threshold shall be considered as sponsorship not used for the purposes of the sponsorship.

3. Where the recipient of sponsorship makes public the information about the provider of sponsorship, the provisions of legal acts regulating advertising shall apply mutatis mutandis.

4. The obligation to use the item of sponsorship in accordance with the procedure laid down by the provider of sponsorship shall be without prejudice to the provisions of this Law on the use of sponsorship.

5. The obligations assumed by a recipient of sponsorship in respect of a provider of sponsorship must be specified in an agreement documenting the provision of sponsorship.

6. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to natural persons who have been granted the status of an artist in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists, and to the natural persons specified in Article 7(2) of this Law.

Article 9. Ways of providing charity and sponsorship

1. Sponsorship shall be provided to legal persons in the following ways:

1) by transferring monetary funds or any other assets (including manufactured or purchased goods) and by rendering services free of charge;

2) by allocating up to 1.2 per cent (up to 0.6 per cent for trade unions or trade union associations) of the amount of personal income tax payable under an annual income tax return, and where a permanent resident of Lithuania does not file an annual income tax return by allocating up to 1.2 per cent (up to 0.6 per cent for trade unions or trade union associations) of the amount of income tax withheld by a withholding agent;

3) by providing assets as loan for use;

4) by bequeathing any assets by will;

5) in any other manner in compliance with the laws and international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania.

2. Sponsorship shall be provided to natural persons in the following ways:

1) to those who have been granted the status of an artist in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists, by allocating up to 1.2 per cent of the amount of income tax payable under an annual income tax return, and where a permanent resident of Lithuania does not file an annual income tax return by allocating up to 1.2 per cent of the amount of income tax withheld by a withholding agent;

2) to those who in accordance with the procedure and in the cases laid down by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it, directly participate in the emergency response and mitigation of its consequences, in the ways specified in points 1, 3, 4 and 5 of paragraph 1 of this Article.

3. Charity shall be provided in the following ways:

1) by transferring monetary funds or any other assets (including manufactured or purchased goods) and by rendering services free of charge;

2) by providing assets as loan for use;

3) by bequeathing any assets by will;

4) in any other manner in compliance with laws and international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 91 . Principles and restrictions of provision of sponsorship by state and/or municipal companies

1. When providing sponsorship, state and/or municipal companies shall, in addition to the principles of public benefit, efficiency and rationality defined in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Management, Use and Disposal of State and Municipal Assets, adhere to the following principles:

1) compliance with the purposes of activities of the state and/or municipal company. This principle means that, when assessing applications and taking decisions on providing sponsorship, it must be sought that the sponsorship is received by the applicants whose indicated and duly substantiated purposes of the use of sponsorship are most in line with the purposes of activities of a state and/or municipal company, social responsibility policy directions and declared values of the state and/or municipal company;

2) expediency. This principle means that applicants whose activities, projects and initiatives create value in areas where state and/or municipal companies operate at regional or national level may receive sponsorship;

3) transparency. This principle means that all applications must be subject to uniform, clear and comprehensible criteria for the evaluation and provision of sponsorship;

4) impartiality. This principle means that in cases where the assessment of the application may give rise to a conflict of interest when assessing the application and taking a decision, the assessor(s) must withdraw from the assessment of the application and taking of the decision.

2. When providing sponsorship, state and/or municipal companies shall act in compliance with the rules for the management of sponsorship of a state and/or municipal company which conform to the provisions of this Law. Where sponsorship is provided through sponsorship Funds set up for that purpose by a state and/or municipal company (hereinafter: the ‘sponsorship Fund’), the rules for the management of sponsorship of a specific sponsorship Fund in compliance with the provisions of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Charity and Sponsorship Funds shall apply.

3. Before providing sponsorship, state and/or municipal companies must evaluate the compliance of the sponsorship provided with the state aid criteria referred to in Article 107(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter: the ‘state aid criteria’). Where sponsorship provided by state and/or municipal companies meets the criteria for state aid, it may be provided only in compliance with the EU state aid rules.

4. The share of net profit of a state and/or municipal company allocated for sponsorship during the reporting financial year may not exceed the following:

1) 10 per cent of the net profit of the state and/or municipal company for the reporting financial year, provided that it did not exceed EUR 500 000;

2) 5 per cent of the net profit of the state and/or municipal company for the reporting financial year, if it exceeded EUR 500 000, but was lower than EUR 2 000 000;

3) 3 per cent of the net profit of the state and/or municipal company for the reporting financial year and may not exceed EUR 500 000 if the net profit for the reporting financial year exceeded EUR 2 000 000.

5. The amount of sponsorship provided by one state and/or municipal company to one recipient of sponsorship may not exceed EUR 200 000 per year.

6. State and/or municipal companies may not conclude agreements on the provision of sponsorship which oblige the company to provide sponsorship from the income (funds) of the company for the next financial year. A decision to provide sponsorship may be taken not later than by the end of the current year in which the set of financial statements for the preceding financial year is approved.

7. State and/or municipal companies may not provide sponsorship to the Funds and bodies set up by civil servants of political/personal confidence, members of the Seimas, the Government, municipal councils of the Republic of Lithuania, members of sole and collegial management bodies of political organisations and analysis centres, their close relatives, spouses, cohabitation partners, where partnership is registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by law. The persons referred to in this paragraph may not participate in the assessment of applications or decision-making on the provision of sponsorship.

8. Sponsorship agreements may not establish confidentiality clauses restricting the provision of information to the public about sponsorship provided by state and/or municipal companies and the use of sponsorship.

9. State and/or municipal companies may not provide sponsorship in the following cases:

1) when the amount of net profit of the state and/or municipal company for the reporting financial year is negative (losses have been incurred);

2) when in the last three years, the recipient of sponsorship, while fulfilling the earlier agreement on sponsorship, grossly breached the terms and conditions of the agreement related to providing sponsorship concluded with the state and/or municipal company.

Article 92. Content of sponsorship management rules and the provision of sponsorship by a state and/or municipal company

1. The sponsorship management rules by a state and/or municipal company must establish the following:

1) policy guidelines of social responsibility and the areas to be sponsored as well as the purposes of sponsorship;

2) requirements applicable to the recipients of sponsorship, purposes of the use of sponsorship;

3) procedure for submitting sponsorship applications;

4) criteria for assessing sponsorship applications;

5) procedure for evaluating the compliance with the state aid criteria;

6) procedure for taking decisions on the provision of sponsorship;

7) procedure for concluding sponsorship agreements;

8) procedure for justifying the use of the provided sponsorship according to its purpose;

9) procedure for making public the information related to the provision of sponsorship;

10) procedure for liability for breaching the sponsorship management rules by the state and/or municipal company or the concluded sponsorship agreement;

11) other provisions important to the company and related to the provision of sponsorship.

2. The sponsorship agreement of a state and/or municipal company shall establish the following:

1) parties to the agreement, their contact details;

2) purpose of sponsorship and the procedure for using it;

3) obligation of the recipient of sponsorship to use the sponsorship for the purpose intended and under the terms and conditions laid down in the agreement, to provide documents substantiating the use of the sponsorship for its purpose;

4) obligation of the recipient of sponsorship to make information about the sponsorship received public and the consent to make such information public by the provider of sponsorship;

5) substantial breaches of the terms and conditions of the agreement and liability of the recipient of sponsorship for the substantial breach of the terms and conditions of the agreement and/or misuse of the sponsorship;

6) terms and conditions for unilateral termination of the agreement;

7) other important and sponsorship related provisions.

Article 10. Use of sponsorship

1. Recipients of sponsorship who receive the sponsorship according to this Law may use it in the following ways:

1) natural persons who have been granted the status of an artist in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists may use the sponsorship for creation of art as laid down in Article 2(3) of the Law on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists;

2) legal persons may use the sponsorship for public benefit purposes as well as for charitable purposes (where they have the right to provide charity under this Law) referred to in Article 3(3) of this Law and provided for in their articles of association or regulations or in the canons, statutes and other rules pertaining to religious communities, associations and centres.

2. Under the Law, charity and sponsorship items referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 4 of this Law and received as sponsorship may not be used to finance political organisations and analysis centres, state politicians, political advertising or political campaigning or to cover liabilities of political campaign participants arising during political campaigns or related to political campaigns.

3. Funds and other assets received as sponsorship under this Law may not be transferred as a contribution to a legal person whose participant is a recipient of sponsorship.

4. Transfer of funds to a charity and sponsorship Fund for the formation of the inviolable capital, management of the inviolable capital and the use of amounts earned on investments of the inviolable capital in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Charity and Sponsorship Funds for the public benefit purposes specified in Article 3(3) of this Law shall be considered use of sponsorship according to the purpose of sponsorship specified in this Law.

Article 11. Accounting for charity and sponsorship and making it public

1. Providers of sponsorship, excluding natural persons and persons referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, must keep accounting for the sponsorship as set out in this Law by indicating details of the specific recipients of sponsorship, the item of sponsorship provided and its value. Providers of sponsorship shall submit monthly and annual reports on the sponsorship provided to the State Tax Inspectorate in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it. The monthly report shall be submitted where the amount of the sponsorship provided since the beginning of a calendar year to a single recipient of sponsorship exceeds EUR 15 000.

2. Legal persons entitled to receive sponsorship subject to the provisions of this Law, except for foster families, must keep separate accounting for the sponsorship received under this Law (indicating the providers of sponsorship if it was not received anonymously as well as the value and use of sponsorship, i.e. indicating specific recipients where the funds or assets received as sponsorship have been transferred to another person) and for the sponsorship and/or charity provided by themselves (indicating the data concerning specific recipients of sponsorship and/or charity, items of sponsorship and/or charity, and their value), and must submit monthly and annual reports on the sponsorship received and its use, sponsorship/charity provided by themselves as well as their activities for the purposes of public benefit indicated in Article 3(3) of this Law to the State Tax Inspectorate in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it. Legal persons shall submit a monthly report where the amount of the sponsorship received since the beginning of a calendar year from a single provider of sponsorship or the sponsorship and/or charity provided by these legal persons to a single recipient of sponsorship and/or charity exceeds EUR 15 000. The Government or an institution authorised by it shall also establish the procedure for accounting for the sponsorship received anonymously.

3. Natural persons who have been granted the status of an artist in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Status of an Artist and the Status of an Organisation of Artists and who are entitled to receive sponsorship under this Law shall keep separate accounting for sponsorship received under this Law (indicate therein the value of sponsorship received and how the sponsorship was used) and submit an annual report on the sponsorship received and its use to the State Tax Inspectorate in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it.

31. Natural persons who, in accordance with the procedure and in the cases laid down by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it, directly participate in the emergency response and mitigation of its consequences shall have the right not to keep accounting for sponsorship received and used under this Law, shall not be obliged to account for the sponsorship received and/or its use and the provisions of this Article shall not apply to them.

4. The State Tax Inspectorate shall submit the information presented in the reports referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article to the Statistics Lithuania in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits laid down by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it.

5. Religious communities, associations and centres shall keep accounting for sponsorship received and for sponsorship and/or charity provided by themselves under this Law as indicated in their canons, statutes and other rules. Traditional religious communities, associations and centres in Lithuania shall have the right, when submitting reports, not to account for the sponsorship received anonymously and for its use; in the event that only such sponsorship was received and used during the reporting period, they shall have the right not to submit a report for the said period. Traditional religious communities, associations and centres in Lithuania which received only anonymous sponsorship during the calendar year shall be exempt from the requirements laid down in paragraph 4 of this Article regarding annual reports.

6. State and/or municipal companies providing sponsorship under this Law must publish on their websites the following information:

1) the sponsorship management rules of the state and/or municipal company or the sponsorship management rules of the sponsorship Fund;

2) not later than within one month from the provision of sponsorship, information about the sponsorship provided (the recipient(s) of the sponsorship, the purpose of the sponsorship, the amount of the sponsorship and the period of the provision of the sponsorship). Information about the sponsorship provided during the current year and at least the last three financial years must be published on the website.

61. The websites of enterprises in which the shares held by the State and/or a municipality by the right of ownership grant over 50 per cent of votes at a general meeting of shareholders shall also make public the information referred to in paragraph 6 of this Article about the sponsorship provided by their subsidiaries as well as downstream subsidiaries related via the subsidiaries.

7. The State Tax Inspectorate shall, in accordance with the procedure and within the time limits laid down by the Government or an institution authorised by it, publish on its website the recipients of the items of sponsorship specified in Article 4(2)(2) of this Law and the amounts of funds transferred to them each year as well as the adjusted data on the funds transferred in the last year.

Article 12. Charity and sponsorship control

1. The State Tax Inspectorate shall exercise control over the provision, receipt and use of charity and sponsorship.

2. Other state and municipal institutions and agencies shall exercise control over the provision, receipt and use of charity and sponsorship within their remit where prescribed by law.

3. Where controlling authorities (State Tax Inspectorate and/or customs authority) establish violation in respect of the provision, receipt and use of charity and sponsorship, they shall end tax relief and impose statutory sanctions.

Article 13. Status of a sponsorship recipient

1. Persons indicated in Article 7(1) of this Law may apply to the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities for the acquisition of the status of a recipient of sponsorship. The status of a recipient of sponsorship must be granted in the following cases:

1) the articles of association/regulations of such persons provide for public benefit activities as specified in Article 3(3) of this Law and

2) there are no circumstances referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 of this Article, and

3) the head of the person is not or was not the head of another person who was deprived of the status of a recipient of sponsorship not earlier than one year ago for at least one of the breaches referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 of this Article or because of the failure to meet the minimum criteria of a reliable taxpayer at the time of committing the infringement.

2. The procedure for granting the status of a recipient of sponsorship to legal persons, including the repeated granting of such status and its withdrawal, shall be laid down in the Regulations of the Register of Legal Entities approved by the Government.

3. Persons indicated in Article 7(2) of this Law may apply to the manager of the computerised information system of artists and organisations of artists for granting the status of a recipient of sponsorship. The status of a recipient of sponsorship shall be granted upon entering the name of a person into the computerised information system of artists and organisations of artists, approved by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Ministry of Culture’).

4. The procedure for granting the status of a recipient of sponsorship to natural persons as referred to in Article 7(2) of this Law, including the repeated granting of this status, and the withdrawal of the status shall be laid down in the regulations of the computerised information system of artists and organisations of artists approved by the Minister of Culture.

5. The data processor of the Register of Legal Entities or the Ministry of Culture shall withdraw the status of a recipient of sponsorship on the proposal of the controlling authority or at the request of the recipient. An institution shall apply to the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities regarding the status of a recipient of sponsorship granted to a legal person or to the Ministry of Culture regarding the status of a recipient of sponsorship granted to a natural person in order to withdraw the status of a recipient of sponsorship after having established, within its remit, the following:

1) the person has failed to prepare a report referred to in Article 11(2) of this Law in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it within a period of two months following the notice of breach of this requirement;

2) the person provided, received or used the amount of charity or sponsorship funds exceeding the amount of over 250 base social benefits during one calendar year or over 500 base social benefits during three successive calendar years in breach of requirements of this Law;

3) the person fails to pay the total amount of arrears in payments and/or overdue liabilities to the state budget, municipal budgets and/or Funds in respect of which the State Tax Inspectorate administers the taxes paid exceeds EUR 10 000 within two months of the notice of the breach. Where the payment of these arrears and/or overdue liabilities is deferred in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania or a dispute is being settled at the dispute settlement institution, the person shall be considered not to have arrears in payments;

4) the person does not use or improperly uses the sponsorship received in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law within three years from the receipt of the sponsorship, violating the provisions of this Law regarding the purpose of sponsorship or of other laws regulating restrictions on the activities of the recipients of sponsorship related to the use of the sponsorship received;

5) the person does not meet the minimum criteria of a reliable taxpayer;

6) different legal person headed by the same managing director has been deprived of the status of a recipient of sponsorship due to the violations committed during the management of the said managing director, but not earlier than one year ago.

6. The data processor of the Register of Legal Entities shall, on his own initiative, withdraw the status of a recipient of sponsorship registered in the Register of Legal Entities in the following cases:

1) where the recipient of sponsorship has failed, within the time limit specified in Article 2.66(4) of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, to submit to the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities a set of annual financial statements and an annual notification, activity report or annual report within two months of the notification of this breach;

2) when the liquidation initiated by the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities is registered with respect to the legal person having this status or when its status as a legal person in liquidation, in bankruptcy or having gone bankrupt is registered as well as when the restructuring procedures of the legal person are completed.

7. A legal person or a natural person whose status of a recipient of sponsorship has been withdrawn for committing at least one of the breaches specified in paragraphs 5 and 6 of this Article or for failing to meet the minimum criteria of a reliable taxpayer may reapply for the said status to the data processor of the Register of Legal Entities or the Ministry of Culture not earlier than one year after the withdrawal of the status.

8. Traditional religious communities, associations and centres in Lithuania shall enjoy the status of a recipient of sponsorship. Provisions of paragraphs 1-7 of this Article shall not apply to the said entities.

Article 14. Settlement of disputes

Any dispute relating to charity and sponsorship shall be settled in accordance with the procedure laid down in laws of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 15. Application of the Law in respect of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

For two years from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union, the provisions of Article 7(5) of this Law shall apply to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the same extent as to the Member States of the European Union.

I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC	ALGIRDAS BRAZAUSKAS