Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association

Dissolution and suspension of organizations11

Use made of the assets of organizations that are dissolved

General principles

1. The Committee has accepted the criterion that, when an organization is dissolved, its assets should be provisionally sequestered and eventually distributed among its former members or handed over to the organization that succeeds it, meaning the organization or organizations which pursue the aims for which the dissolved union was established, and which pursue them in the same spirit.

1. When a union ceases to exist, its assets could be handed over to the association that succeeds it or distributed in accordance with its own rules; but where there is no specific rule, the assets should be at the disposal of the workers concerned.

Transition to a situation of pluralism

1. With regard to the issue of the distribution of trade union assets among various trade union organizations following a change from a situation of trade union monopoly to a situation of trade union pluralism, the Committee has emphasized the importance it attaches to the principle according to which the devolution of trade union assets (including real estate) or, in the event that trade union premises are made available by the State, the redistribution of this property must aim to ensure that all the trade unions are guaranteed on an equal footing the possibility of effectively exercising their activities in a fully independent manner. It would be desirable for the government and all the trade union organizations concerned to make efforts to conclude as soon as possible a definitive agreement regulating the distribution of the assets of the former trade union organization.

1. When examining a case concerning the devolution of the assets of the trade union organizations in a former communist country undergoing democratization, the Committee invited the government and all the trade union organizations concerned to establish, as soon as possible, a formula to settle the question of the assignment of the funds in question so that the government could recover the assets that corresponded to the accomplishment of the social functions which it now exercised and all the trade union organizations were guaranteed on an equal footing the possibility of effectively exercising their activities in a fully independent manner.

1. The question of the devolution of the assets of a trade union from a former communist country is best solved by an agreement between the Government and the trade unions concerned.