Wide world

General Provisions

Name

The official name of the association is "Pirate Parties International", abbreviated to "PPI". Both the full and the abbreviated name may be used indistinguishably.

Seat

The seat of Pirate Parties International is situated at 47A Rue Gérard, 1040 Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium.

Language

English shall be the working language of the Association. Any initiatives and proposals can only be adopted, if they have been translated into English prior to the start of the decision-making process on the level of the Association.

Principles

The Association shall work as transparent as possible, regarding the protection of personal data and the right to privacy of the people involved.

The Association shall take into account the opinions of the individual Pirates who are members of any of the member parties. Important decisions shall be based on democratic principles for the inner workings of the Association.

The members of the Association shall adopt a International Pirate Manifesto (Annex A) which shall reflect the principles and policies of the International Pirate movement.

The Association may carry out all operations and conduct all activities (including real estate transactions), both in Belgium and abroad, which directly or indirectly increase or promote its objectives under the condition that these activities adhere to the principles of this organisation stated in this article. The Association does not undertake industrial or commercial transactions and does not seek to procure a profit to its members.

Objectives

Purpose of the organisation is to spread awareness of the Pirate core values as described in our International Pirate Manifesto (Annex A), to represent the Global Pirate movement towards international institutions, to support and help expand the pirate movement and strengthen its bonds internally and externally and to promote and support Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Members

Membership

The number of members is unlimited, but may not be less than three Ordinary Members. All Members, shall be legal entities constituted according to the laws and customs of their country of origin. If a member does not possess legal personality according to the laws and customs of its country of origin, it must appoint a natural person to act in the name and on behalf of its organisation and its members as a common attorney-in-fact. In case of a change of representation, the Board of the association is immediately informed in writing.

There are two categories of members: Ordinary Members and Observer Members.

A register of all the members will be kept at the registered office of the Association. This register lists the name, legal form, address of the registered office, identity of the representative and, where applicable, the registration number in accordance with existing legislation and/or regulations. The list shall be updated every year by recording membership changes by name in alphabetical order. Any member of the association may consult the list of members at the association’s registered office free of charge.

Within one month of General Assembly, a list must be deposited with the registry of the civil court for the place where the association is established, recording the name, legal form, address of the registered office, identity of the representative and, where applicable, the registration number in accordance with existing legislation and/or regulations of all the Ordinary members of the association in alphabetical order. The list shall be updated every year by recording membership changes by name in alphabetical order.

Ordinary Members

Eligible as Ordinary Members are all parties which

• are established as a political party or in another form, if their country or state does not allow them to become a party (or makes it very difficult for them),
• are not subordinate to any other party in this country or state,
• intend to participate in elections,
• maintain a democratic political base and a democratic internal structure,
• are politically active,
• accept and comply with the regulations of these Statutes and orders of its organs and
• accept the Pirate Manifesto.

They have the following obligations:

• to comply with all the regulations of the Statutes of the Association and all orders of the organs of the Association,
• to cease and desist any actions which may harm the Association or are contrary to the objectives and principles of the Association or go against the policies laid down in the Pirate Manifesto or damage the Association in any other way,
• to regularly attend General Assemblies of the Association,
• to participate in the political discussion and decisions of the Association,
• to stay politically active and participate in elections,
• to send their yearly accounts and election results to the Association or a link to them, if they are published accessible for everyone online,
• to conduct their financial organisation in a transparent and accountable manner,
• to pay their designated fee as Ordinary Members in a timely manner and
• to report every year to the Association on party and policy developments.

They have the following rights:

• to vote in the General Assembly on every matter,
• to participate in the political discussions and to speak at General Assemblies,
• to participate in the development of the political agenda,
• to participate in the decision making process,
• to have access to all non-confidential documents of the Association,
• to table resolutions and amendments as well as contribute other items to the agenda of General Assemblies,
• to participate in common campaigns,
• to appoint delegates and propose candidates for the Board
• to have access to use of the Associations logo and other representational devices.

Observer Members

Eligible as Observer Members are

All organisations which

• accept and intend to comply with the regulations of these Statutes and orders of its organs and
• either accept the Pirate Manifesto or strive for similar goals as the Association.

They have the following obligations:

• to comply with all the regulations of the Statutes of the Association and all orders of the organs of the Association,
• to cease and desist any actions which may harm the Association or are contrary to the objectives and principles of the Association or go against the policies laid down in the Pirate Manifesto or damage the Association in any other way,
• to conduct their financial organisation in a transparent and accountable manner and
• to pay their designated fee as Observer Members in a timely manner.

They have the following rights:

• to participate in the political discussions and to speak at the General Assembly,
• to participate in the development of the political agenda,
• to participate in the decision making process,
• to have access to all non-confidential documents of the Association,
• to participate in common campaigns and events and
• to have access to use of the Associations logo and other representational devices.

A party which is eligible to become an Ordinary Member may decide to apply only for the status of an Observer Member. It may at any time apply for Ordinary Member status, if it fulfils the necessary conditions. The procedure is detailed under Art. 10 (Procedure for admitting new Members) and needs to be repeated to change the membership status.

Procedure for admitting new Members

To be eligible to become a Member of the Association, any aspiring party, organisation needs to send an application to the Board of the Association to the address of the official seat. An email will suffice.

The membership is granted, if the General Assembly decides on it with a two-third majority. The General Assembly shall give reasons for accepting or rejecting applications. As soon as the decision of the General Assembly is valid and the new member has paid its membership fee, it may exercise all its rights and is bound to all obligations of its membership.

Organs

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the highest decision making body of the Association. Each Ordinary Member has one vote and is represented by one or two delegates.

General Assembly meetings are normally open to the public unless the General Assembly itself decides otherwise for all or part of its proceedings. This shall be the exception and may only be decided for reasons of protecting the data of an individual or for similar concerns.

The General Assembly shall consist of delegates representing Ordinary Members. Non-voting representatives of Observer members and Non-Voting-Delegates from Ordinary Members, and Officers of PPI may participate as well.

The General Assembly:

• co-ordinates initiatives and activities consistent with the Association's Manifesto and agreed common policy and the Statutes of the Association;
• is responsible for the political agenda of the Association and adopts policy papers and resolutions;
• elects and recalls the Officers and other representatives of the Association, if stated in these statutes;
• decides on the admittance, suspension and exclusion of Ordinary and Observer Members;
• supports and evaluates the Board's activities;
• approves the budget, reports and accounts;
• adopts and changes the Statutes of the Association;
• adopts Rules of Procedure
• decides on all other topics assigned to the General Assembly in the Statutes
• approves all other fundamental decisions of the Association

The General Assembly may validly decide to dissolve the association or amend the statutes only in accordance with the provisions of Belgian law of 27 June 1921 on non-profit associations (ASBL), international non-profit associations (AISBL) and foundations, as amended by the Act of 2 May 2002.

On the proposal of one-third of the Ordinary Members any member of the Board may be suspended or dismissed by the General Assembly by a two thirds majority of the votes cast after debate in Council where the member is given adequate opportunity to present her/his case.

The General Assembly will meet at least once in a calendar year, no later then the end of the fourth month of that year. Extra meetings of the General Assembly can be requested by at least 1/4 of the Ordinary Members or by the Board. Meetings may be in person or online. If the General Assembly meeting is in person, remote participation of non-attending members shall be possible. The Board will prepare the meetings and invite all members by email at least one month before the date of the General Assembly. In urgent cases this time may be shortened to an appropriate length. The invitation to the General Assembly has to specify date, time, place and the draft agenda of the meeting. A link to a website with the agenda in the invitation shall be sufficient and necessary.

Save in the cases provided for in Articles 8, 12 and 20 of the Belgian law of 27 June 1921 on non-profit associations (ASBL), international non-profit associations (AISBL) and foundations, as amended by the Act of 2 May 2002, the meeting may legitimately consider items not announced on the agenda, provided that all members of the Council are present and/or represented and so agree at the meeting by a simple majority vote. of all the voting Ordinary Members.

Counter-proposals directly related to items on the agenda shall be published on the website containing the agenda and send by email to all Members preferably one week in advance of the meeting, but the meeting may also adopt proposals handed in until the voting by a simple majority vote of all the voting Ordinary members. If they have been handed in a week in advance of the meeting, they are automatically admitted.

Minutes of all General Assembly will be published on an appropriate website of the Association at the latest six weeks after a General Assembly.The minutes shall entail all decisions of the General Assembly and the votes of each Ordinary member.

Board

Composition and Powers of the Board

The Board consist of two co-chairpersons, one Chief of Administration, one Treasurer, and three Board members. To ensure continuaty of the organisation there will also be four Alternate Board members elected.

The Board is responsible for the execution of the GA's decisions and the representing Pirate Parties International towards international institutions, it's members and the media.

The Board is responsible for the management of the Pirate Parties International within the budget and the guidelines approved by the GA. It reports annually to the GA on the activities of the Board and its members. This report shall also contain all organisational developments of Pirate Parties International. It shall ensure communication and coordination between its Members and the other Partners and promote cooperation on the global level as well as inter-party cooperation.

The Board is responsible for the organisation and convening of Board and GA meetings and the making and publishing of the minutes of those meetings. The Board shall meet regularly and not less than once a month. The form of the meeting is free. The Board meetings are public unless at least one third of the Members of the Board vote in favour of a non-public meeting. The decision to hold a non-public meeting must be justified. Minutes of public meetings have to be published not less than two weeks after the meeting. The Board has to inform the General Assembly on its next meeting on the fact of non-public meetings.

The Board may table resolutions and amendments as well as contribute other items to the agenda of GA. Internal Regulations may be adopted by the Board to regulate its procedure and the tasks of its members. If Internal Regulations are adopted, they shall be sent to all the members. If Internal Regulations of the Board conflict with the Statutes, the Statutes shall prevail.

For the purposes of certain actions and duties or everyday management functions, the Board may transfer its powers to one or more members of the Board or even another person, who may or may not be a member of the Association. The Board will have the faculty of special delegate. The powers of the said person(s) shall be defined precisely by the Board; the Board may at any time revoke these powers with immediate effect.

A Board member may resign at any moment. After resignation, death, long term disease or if a Member of the Board does not execute its functions for more than two months, his seat becomes vacant. If the seat has neither become vacant by resignation nor death of the Board Member the remaining Board Members have to declare the seat as vacant by 2/3 majority vote. The concerned Board Member may appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration within the period of a month. The Court of Arbitration shall pass judgement not later than a month after the appeal was filed. Pending the decision of the Court of Arbitration or until the decision of the Board cannot be appealed any more the seat shall not be taken by an Alternate Board Member, but all rights of the concerned Board Member will be suspended.

In case an Alternate Board Member is needed to fill a position in the Board this will be done according to the votes cast during the GA were the were elected.

If more then 1/3 of the original Board members have left the Board by resignation or dismissal an Extraordinary General Assembly will be held within four weeks where an entirely new board must been elected.

Co-chairpersons

The Co-chairpersons represent the association to the public. One of the Co-chairpersons convenes, opens, suspends, and closes the sessions and meetings and presides over them to ensure the observance of procedure, communicates the points of concern, and informs the Board about absences. In the absence of both of the Co-chairpersons another Member of the Board may be appointed to perform all these functions.

Chief of Administration

The Chief of Administration is responsible for the day to day administration of the organisation. The Chief of Administration will send invitations for the board meetings, makes sure the minutes and recordings are published on the wiki.

Treasurer

The main focus of this function is to supervise the budget and the accounts and to exercise financial control. All payments are made by the Treasurer or the person authorized to make payments.

The Treasurer will initiate legal ways to enlarge the financial means of the Association.

The Treasurer, and in his absence one of the Co-chairpersons shall be empowered to accept, either provisionally or definitively, the gifts made to the Association and to complete all formalities necessary in order to acquire them.

The Treasurer will initiate, monitor and publish financial protocols to ensure openness and transparency. The Treasurer shall prepare a report at least once every three months. After approval by the board this report will be submitted to the General Assembly and the Lay Auditors.

The Treasurer shall be responsible for accounting requirements and control of donations, as described in Articles 6 - 10 of Regulation (EC) No 2004/2003 and other relevant legislation.

Representation

The Board represents the Association in all judicial and extra judicial acts. Represented by the Chairperson or the person substituting for them, it acts as plaintiff or defendant in all the judicial actions and decides whether or not to use recourse. The Board may appoint an attorney-in-fact, and is legally bound by acts of such a person within the limits of their power of attorney.

The Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson, the Treasurer, and any person so appointed by the Board are individually authorised to legally represent the association and to sign contracts on behalf of the association.

Court of Arbitration

The Court of Arbitration shall be constituted by three individuals elected during the General Assembly and a deciding Jury composed 7 randomly picked delegates from the Ordinary Members. The elected members of the Court of Arbitration are responsible for the operation of the CoA. They receive the complaints and decide whether they are admissible. When an admissible they will investigate the matter and try to mediate. If mediation fails they will randomly pick delegates until 7 are selected from different Ordinary Members and with whom there is no conflict of interest.

The Court of Arbitration has the following powers:

• The exclusive power to resolve internal disputes. All other organs and officers are required to cooperate with the Court of Arbitration to the extend needed for the proper exercise of its functions.
• Complaints may be sent by the organs and officers of the PPI, by the Members and by other involved parties. A complaint may be regulated with a fee to be returned if the complaint is reasonable. The complainant may participate in the investigation.
• In particular, the Court of Arbitration has the exclusive power to

1. issue a preliminary ruling in an urgent matter of its competence,
2. declare matters of fact when necessary for the functioning of the PPI,
3. decide the disputes between the officers and the organs of the PPI,
4. decide on the restrictions on persons who breach the Statutes and the internal regulations and in these cases degrade an official or declare his further incapability to be elected,
5. decide on the restrictions on members who breach the Statutes and the internal regulations and in these cases degrade it's membership status suspend or exclude it,
6. decide on the validity of legal acts of the organs of the PPI,

• The Court of Arbitration keeps a Register of Mediators. This register lists the name, contact address, and Party affiliation of the people from the Ordinary Members who are willing to help solve the disputes between the Members. All Members may consult this register and choose a Mediator who can help them solve the dispute.

• If the mediation fails, each of the Members or applicants who are in a dispute may present an agreement to the Court of Arbitration, which contains their description of the dispute, their solution and their consent to abide by the decision of the Court of Arbitration. The Council of the Court of Arbitration will present an independent solution within the limits of opposing views. Other solutions may also be presented to the Court of Arbitration by independent third parties. The Jury of the Court of Arbitration will decide the dispute by casting a preferential vote using an appropriate single-method election system that ensures a condorcet criterion.

• The members of the Court of Arbitration may answer the preliminary questions of the organs and individuals about the interpretation of the Statutes and the internal regulations; such answers act through their persuasiveness only.
• The Court of Arbitration keeps a Register of Investigators. This register lists the name, contact address, and Party affiliation of the people from the Ordinary Members who are willing to help investigate on any matter the Court of Arbitration has authority on. All Members and PPI officers may consult this register and ask, anonymously or not, an Investigator to constitute a file. Any Investigator can ask the Court of Arbitration to rule on a case. Members of the Court of Arbitration or of the Board cannot be Investigators.

Lay Auditors

Three lay auditors shall be appointed by the General Assembly. They will inspect all accounts and assets of Pirate Parties International on a yearly basis. They will review and provide feedback on the reports produced by the Treasurer. They will prepare a report to be presented at the General Assembly prior to discussions about and approval of the annual accounts and the budget. They will verify that the board and the treasurer have fulfilled all their legal obligations concerning taxes and financial reporting towards the Belgian government.

Election of Officers of PPI

Each candidate must be nominated by at least one Ordinary Member. Each Ordinary Member may nominate and support a maximum of two candidates.

All nominations must specify the particular post for which the candidate is being proposed (i.e. Chairperson, Chief of Administration, Treasurer or a Board Member without a special function, Alternate Board Member, Lay Auditor, Members of the Court of Arbitration). Each individual can be nominated for several positions, but one can never fill more than one position at a time.

All nominations shall be done at least a month prior to the meeting at which the election takes place.

All posts will be voted on separately, but if more than one person shall be elected for a certain position (e.g. two Chairpersons and the Board members without a special function), the election may be done in one round of voting.

If only one candidate is to be elected, the candidate who gains more than 50% of the votes cast and most of the votes in the first round, is the person elected. Should no candidate gain more than 50% of the first round voting, a second round will be run between the two highest scoring candidates. The candidate who receives more than 50% of the votes cast and most of the votes in the second round is elected.

If several candidates are to be elected, the candidates who gain more than 50% of the votes cast in order of the highest result to the lowest are elected, until all positions are filled. If not enough candidates have reached 50% of the votes cast, a second round of voting will be held. In the second round only those candidates who got the highest number of votes will be eligible. The number of candidates shall be double the number of positions still needing to be filled. The candidates who gain more than 50% of the votes cast in order of the highest result to the lowest are elected in the second round, until all positions are filled.

The Council may decide on additional rounds of voting and the admission of new candidates, if a position could not be filled.

Method of voting will be approval voting, meaning that every voter may have one vote per candidate.

The order of voting:

1. Chairpersons
2. Chief of Administration
3. Treasurer
4. Further Board Members
5. Alternate Board Members
6. Lay Auditors
7. Members of the Court of Arbitration

To safeguard the diversity and the international character of the organisation only one officer of the same nationality may be elected in each organ of PPI. If two nominees of the same nationality would receive the needed votes to be appointed in the same organ of PPI only the nominee first elected in case of sequential elections or the nominee with the most votes in case of a simultaneous election will be appointed.

If a candidate is elected as a officer and they accept, they will automatically loose any mandate as a delegate in the General Assembly after the meeting of the General Assembly is over. They may not accept a new delegation while still in office. The function of officer of PPI can not be combined with any function on the national level of any member.

All functions are elected for a term of one year, each officer of PPI can only serve two consecutive terms in the same PPI organ.

Finances

Financial Provisions

The financial year of the Association shall run from 1 January to 31 December of the same year.

At the end of each financial year, the Board shall adopt the annual accounts for the past financial year and the budget for the next year in the manner provided for by law and shall then submit them annually for approval by the General Assembly.

After approval of the annual accounts and the budget, the General Assembly shall vote separately on granting discharge to the members of the Board.

At least two weeks before the annual General Assembly meeting, the accounts and budget shall be communicated to the members of the General Assembly, who may then ask to inspect, without removal, any of the documents on which these accounts and budgets are based.

A surplus shall be added to the assets of the Association and may not under any circumstances be paid to the members as a dividend or in any other way.

The Board shall ensure that the annual accounts and the other documents referred to in the Law on Not-for-profit Associations are deposited within thirty (30) days of approval at the Registry of the Court of First Instance or, if the law so requires, the National Bank of Belgium.

Reimbursement

The General Assembly may decide to grant reimbursement of costs in relation with offices and functions fulfilled for the Association, if the financial situation of the Association allows. This decision will be made at the annual General Assembly meeting together with the adoption of the budget for the next year.

The Association will only reimburse the travel costs or accommodation costs or other costs relating to each meeting under presentation of original receipts and tickets. The original tickets/receipts for any event, including the General Assemblies, must be send to the PPI office before the last day of February of the year after the event. After that date, no reimbursement may be requested.

Change of Statutes and the Pirate Manifesto and Decision-making-Process

Decision-making-Process

If not otherwise specified in these Statutes, all decisions taken by the General Assembly or the Board will be decided by a simple majority of the votes cast.

All votes will be public and published in the minutes of a meeting, including those for elections. They shall be done in writing, if appropriate. Votes done in writing are usually appropriate for the election of members of the Board. To fulfil the requirement of a written vote, an email or chat protocol will be enough. Abstentions will not be taken into account.

Change of Statutes

Proposals must be presented in writing by any means (electronic, paper or otherwise) to the Board which will transmit them to the Members of the General Assembly for deliberation at least four weeks prior to the meeting at which the General Assembly will deliberate and decide on those proposals. The proposed amendments to the Articles of Association must be attached to the notice calling the meeting of the General Assembly. A reference to a website displaying the proposed changes of the Statutes would also be sufficient.

Decisions regarding amendments to the Statutes can only be taken if there is an attendance quota of two-thirds of the members entitled to vote present or represented and shall be taken with a double majority of two-thirds of the votes cast by two-thirds of the Ordinary Members taking part in the voting, except for decisions on the Principles (Art. 1.4) and Objectives (Art. 1.5) where consent of all the Ordinary Council Members is necessary.

Change of the Pirate Manifesto

The Pirate Manifesto combines the identified common policies of the member parties in a document representing the common policies of the Association and is an integral part of these Statutes.

Any changes to the Pirate Manifesto will be following the same procedure as those to the Statutes.

PPI Headquarters

Pirate Parties International Headquarters (PPI HQ) is incorporated in accordance with Belgian law as an "Association internationale sans but lucratif" or AISBL. It's official registration number is 0834.274.234. PPI Headquarters shall serve as the Secretariat of Pirate Parties International. PPI will nominate all it's board members for the corresponding functions in PPI HQ. The co-chairperson of PPI with the most votes during the GA will be nominated as President of PPI HQ, the other co-chairperson as vice-president. The PPI Headquarters shall consist of its international headquarters and any regional offices. The PPI Headquarters shall be responsible for all administrative and financial matters, and shall report on them and present them for confirmation to the Members every quarter.

Duration and Dissolution

The Association shall be set up for an unlimited period of time.

The Association is not dissolved as a result dissolution or resignation of a member, provided the number of members is not less than three Ordinary Members.

Except in the event of judicial dissolution and automatic dissolution due to the requirements of the law, the association may be prematurely dissolved only by a decision of the General Assembly acting in accordance with Article 20 of the Law on Not-for-profit Associations.

It may be dissolved by a four-fifth majority decision of the General Assembly with an attendance quota of two-thirds of the members entitled to vote present or represented. If the quota is not reached, a new meeting of the General Assembly shall be called no earlier than 15 calendar days after the first meeting. The second meeting of the General Assembly shall be entitled to take valid decisions irrespective of the number of members with voting rights present or represented.

As from the moment the decision of dissolution is taken, the Association is required to mention at all times that it is ‘in dissolution’.

In the event that the Association is dissolved, the General Assembly shall decide by a simple majority of the votes cast on (i) the appointment, powers and remuneration of the liquidators, (ii) the methods and procedures for the liquidation of the Association and (iii) the destination to be given to the net assets of the Association. The net assets of the Association will have to be allocated to a non-profit purpose. They may be divided among the member parties according to their financial contributions.