Overview:

• Recognition and registration are amalgamated rather than ideally differentiated; a focus is placed on the latter as legal registration.

• There exists three categories of legal registration: “church”, “religious community” and “religious group”; the law claims to treat these three categories equally which means that a system of horizontal recognition is in effect but continued monitoring of the situation is needed in order to ensure that vertical recognition is not applied.

• The Macedonian Orthodox Church is the only religious denomination to be directly mentioned in the constitution.

Positive elements:

• Horizontal recognition is in effect (subject to continued monitoring of the situation).

• There are procedures in place for appeal of registration denial both nationally at the Constitutional Court and if necessary, internationally at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Recommendations:

• Establish a recognition system that is able to provide existential recognition and legal registration to entities simultaneously and at different levels of activity.

• Establish a recognition agency to manage and deal with this recognition system in a way that is autonomous from state control in order to avoid corruption and politicisation of the recognition and registration procedures.