A/HRC/22/28 37. In Estonia, the Public Meetings Act states that an organized public meeting has to be registered at least four working days prior to the meeting at the rural municipality or city government, when it is necessary to redirect traffic, erect a tent, stage, bleacher or any other large-scale construction, or use sound or lighting equipment. All other public meetings have to be registered with the police at least two hours prior to the meeting. Public meetings cannot be held in certain places, including, inter alia, at border checkpoints or closer than 300 metres to the border, on Estonian defence forces territory or closer than 50 metres to defence forces territory, on bridges, the railroad, in a mine, under high-voltage power lines, an area where infectious disease is spreading or that is dangerous to persons. 38. The Democratic Republic of the Congo indicated that all public demonstrations must obtain prior authorization from the competent administrative authorities, as State authorities have the obligation to ensure security for protestors and maintain public order. The Democratic Republic of the Congo further indicated that although spontaneous demonstrations are illegal, they are nevertheless subject to the protection of State authorities in order to maintain public order. 39. The Republic of Moldova indicated that, further to legislative amendments in 2008, it now has a notification procedure for assemblies, rather than an authorization system. According to the Law on Assemblies, any assembly with fewer than 50 participants can take place without prior notification. In the event that the assembly involves more than 50 people, the organizers must notify the local authorities five days prior to the event in order to ensure that no other assemblies have been organized in the same place at the same time. The Republic of Moldova indicated that the change from an authorization to a notification system has led to an increase in the number of assemblies held and the number of individuals exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly. 40. In Qatar, Law No. 18/2004 on public meetings and demonstrations stipulates that organizers of meetings or peaceful assemblies must obtain a licence from the Director General of Public Security by submitting a written request seven days prior to the proposed date of the event. The application is considered rejected if approval is not given three days prior to the proposed date of the event. The organizers can request a review of the refusal by the Ministry of Interior within 24 hours. If the Ministry does not respond to the review request, it should be considered a rejection. The National Human Rights Commission of Qatar stated, however, that it has observed spontaneous peaceful protests by labourers protesting against delays in payment of their salaries by companies. The Ministry of Interior placed no restrictions on the protests, and only posted officers at the site of the protests to ensure they were peaceful. In Oman, an administrative coordination unit between relevant public authorities has been mandated to receive requests for authorization to hold peaceful protests and provides technical advice on these requests to the unit chief. 41. In Serbia, the Law on the Assembly of Citizens requires the organizer to submit an application to hold a public assembly to the Ministry of the Interior at least 48 hours prior to said assembly, and five days, in the case of movement, for example, a march by participants. 42. Spain stated that according to its Constitution, the holding of a peaceful assembly does not require any prior authorization.17 Organic Law 9/1983 regulates assemblies and demonstrations held in places where there is public transit. Organizers must inform the competent public authorities in writing a minimum of 10 days in advance, except for urgent reasons, in which case the authorities may be informed in writing a minimum of 24 hours in advance. The competent public authorities may prohibit a demonstration or propose 17 10 Spain, Constitution (1978), art. 21.