5/14/13 France Returns Funds Collected Illegally From Jehovah’s Witnesses

www.jw.org/en/news/by-region/europe/france/france-returns-funds-collected-illegally/ 1/1

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Copyright © 2013 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.

DECEMBER 12, 2012 | FRANCE

France Returns Funds Collected Illegally FromJehovah’s Witnesses

After a 15-year legal battle, on December 11, 2012, the government of France repaid to Jehovah’s

Witnesses funds totaling 6,373,987.31 euros ($8,294,320).

In 1998, the government asserted that religious donations made by Jehovah’s Witnesses were

subject to a crushing retroactive 60 percent tax and, in 2003, demanded partial payment. The

European Court of Human Rights found that France was guilty of violating the religious freedom of

Jehovah’s Witnesses through the illegal tax, which, if enforced, could have resulted in the liquidation

of the Witnesses’ national offices and obstructed their Bible education work. Since the Court ruled

that the tax was illegal, the French government is now starting to implement the Court’s decision by

returning the funds collected, with interest, and paying the Witnesses’ legal expenses.

Media Contacts:

J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5000

France: Guy Canonici, tel. +33 2 32 25 55 55