Overview:

• State privilege is granted to the Catholic Church.

• Recognition and registration are amalgamated for all non-Catholic groups rather than ideally differentiated; there is a focus on legal registration centring on achieving tax exempt status; there exists very few if any provisions for existential recognition.

• Partial recognition exists.

• Discrimination against non-Catholic groups exists in the system.

• Informational requirements seem appropriate but will require continued to monitoring to ensure they are not misused or extended further.

Positive elements:

• A system of legal registration exists despite its minor issues which highlights the country’s receptive status.

Recommendations:

• Disestablish partial recognition by equalising and streamlining all recognition statuses including that of the Catholic Church.

• Continue to ensure that politicisation of the recognition system does not take place.

• Re-evaluate the rules surrounding mandatory registration for activities other than worship and proselytism.

• Remove any instances of unstructure by clarifying in legislation areas that remain ambiguous or unaddressed.

• To become dynamic, establish provisions for both existential recognition and legal registration; also, establish a recognition agency to manage the system independent of government.