Event Summary
On 26 August 2025, the National Assembly approved the draft Organic Law on Social Transparency (previously called the Organic Law for the Control of Irregular Capital Flows). Although some changes were made to the proposal, the law retains the main provisions that raised concerns within civil society at the time of its introduction: oversight by a government entity of an economic-productive nature, mandatory compliance with information transparency mechanisms that are disproportionate to the law’s purported objective (the control of money laundering), and the dissolution of organisations justified on grounds of ambiguous interpretation. In addition, a mechanism was introduced that seeks to categorise CSOs according to their assessed level of risk based on criteria such as annual budget and declared assets, the organisation’s purpose, the origin of its funds, number of beneficiaries, and achieved results, among others. Organisations considered “high-risk” will be subject to greater scrutiny by the regulatory authorities. President Noboa has 60 days to issue the general regulations, which will provide further details regarding the law’s implementation.
As previously expressed by civil society actors and the United Nations system, this law represents a potential risk to freedom of expression and association, and its rationale attempts—without evidence—to link civil society to criminal activities and political destabilisation. While all CSOs are at risk, it is expected that the law will have the most negative impact on local, environmental, and indigenous peoples’ rights organisations.
Civil society organisations have not yet commented on the version of the law that was ultimately approved.