Watchdog Committee

The Church of Scientology International (CSI) is a California 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Letter by the Internal Revenue Service to Flemming Paludan, Regional Director, Danish Tax-Office, Washington, D.C., December 22, 1993 Within the worldwide network of Scientology corporations and entities, CSI is officially referred to as the "mother church" of the Church of Scientology.

The Church of Scientology International coordinates church growth, and attempts to preserve the uniformity of the teachings of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Golden Era Productions, a division of CSI, prints Scientology material, such as books, audio recordings of Hubbard's lectures, training films, and similar. Golden Era Productions also oversees the manufacture of E-meters.

In a 1993 memorandum by CSI, the following information was provided to the Internal Revenue Service with regards to CSI's role and functions, its personnel and its income:

..CSI ..is the Mother Church of the Scientology religion, with ecclesiastical authority over the ministry of religious services to parishioners by all subordinate churches within the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This church has a staff of approximately 990 individuals and an annual budget of approximately $ 46.8 million, based on its annual disbursements for the most recent year for which financial statements are available. ..

Corporate information

Basic information

The Church of Scientology International (CSI) was incorporated on November 18, 1981, in Los Angeles, California by Richard Murray.

The official address of CSI is 6331 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles 90028, in the Hollywood Guarantee Building. CSI also has offices at the Scientology complex in Gilman Hot Springs, California called Gold Base. Here the official address is 19625 Highway 79, Gilman Hot Springs, CA 92383.

On September 21, 1993, the following individuals held corporate positions at CSI: The board of trustees was composed of Mark Rathbun, Ray Mithoff, Mark Ingber, Marc Yager and John Eastment. Jens Uhrskov, Michael Rinder and Guillaume Lesèvre formed the board of directors. At that time, the president of CSI was Heber Jentzsch, CSI's vice-president was Brian Anderson, its secretary Lynn Farny, its assistant secretary Leslie Browning and its treasurer Jonathan Epstein.

As of September 12, 1999 CSI's corporate officers were Heber Jentzsch as chief executive officer (president), Lynn Farny as secretary and Sarah Blythe as chief financial officer (treasurer).

As of March 24, 2008, CSI's official agent has been Jeanne M. Gavigan, 3055 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 900, Los Angeles 90010.

On August 18, 1993, CSI filed an application for tax exemption under section 501(c)3) of the Internal Revenue Code and on September 3, 1993, a request for "group exemption" for the affiliated "Scientology churches"/"Class V organizations". In the same year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) eventually granted CSI's request for exemption.

The granting of tax exemption to CSI and other Scientology corporations was preceded by years of continuous litigation between the IRS and the various entities of Scientology. According to former high-ranking executives, the Scientology organization had launched about 200 lawsuits against the IRS until 1991. During the same time, individual parishioners of Scientology had initiated 2,300 claims against the agency, challenging the denial of tax deduction for their services at Scientology organizations. In 1991, the dispute over Scientology's tax-exempt status began to resolve through high-level meetings between David Miscavige and the then Commissioner of the IRS, Fred Goldberg, who encouraged a final resolution of the legal battle.

Main corporate activities

Within the corporate structure of the Scientology network, the Religious Technology Center owns the right to license the Scientology trademarks and service marks through a so-called "assignment agreement" between RTC and the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard on May 16, 1982.

RTC and CSI entered a license agreement on May 18, 1982, granting CSI, the new "Mother Church of Scientology," the right to use and sub-license certain of the trademarks and service marks.

Additionally RTC and CSI signed on January 1, 1982, an "Organizational Covenant" granting CSI the right to deliver the "Advanced Technology" to its staff members.

CSI presents itself as the "mother church" of the "Scientology religion." In this function, it exercises through various agreements with its subordinate organizations worldwide ultimate corporative control over those organizations and their activities.

In particular, CSI has entered the following types of agreements with other organizations:
* License Agreements that regulate the use of the service marks and trademarks in a similar way as between RTC and the AOs. In its function as sub-licensor, CSI has entered such agreements for example with the Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., Scientology Missions International or the Church of Scientology Western United States (prior "Church of Scientology of San Diego");
* Service Agreements regulate the training of the organizations employees by CSI in its headquarters and the monetary compensation by the organizations;
* "Ecclesiastical