11.5.1 Civil law rules for the legal form of rslis

Rsl communities enjoy institutional autonomy on the grounds of freedom of religion and belief and on the grounds of freedom of association. This also gives them the right to legal personality, allowing them to choose the legal form which best suits their basis or objective.

Apart from the legal form of a church society, the legal forms of foundations and associations are available to religious communities. Other – non-religious – communities on a spiritual basis are not allowed to use the legal form of a church society and use the foundation and association as legal forms.

Due to traceability to religious beliefs as a special privacy-sensitive item of information, the names of the board members of a church society are not registered in the Trade Register on the grounds of the privacy basic right. However, this does not apply to the directors of rsl communities with the legal form of an association or foundation.