Constitution
- Written by Super User
of the Central European Association for Canadian Studies
Name: Central European Association for Canadian Studies
(in French: L'Association d'Etudes Canadiennes en Europe Centrale; in Czech: Středoevropská asociace kanadských studií) - hereafter "the Association"
Seat: Durďákova 33, 613 00 Brno, the Czech Republic
Status of the organization: The Association is an international non-governmental organization operating in the Czech Republic and other countries in accordance with their judicial codes.
2.1 The basic purpose of the Association is to bring together those interested in Canadian Studies (i.e. studies relating to Canada) in the countries of the Central European region, interpreted for these purposes to mean Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia (hereinafter “the region”) and to promote their cooperation and communication.
The objectives of the Association are:
- to support and develop Canadian Studies (i.e. studies relating to Canada) in the region.
- to encourage regional cooperation in such studies, and seek to promote active cooperation with organizations interested in Canadian Studies in other countries.
2.2 To this end, the Association shall:
- hold a conference at least once every three years as well as other meetings of its members;
- maintain a Website and publish a journal at regular intervals;
- develop programmes appropriate for the development of Canadian Studies in the region;
- initiate and deepen cooperation with similar organizations in the Czech Republic, the Central European region and elsewhere.
3. Membership
3.1. Membership in the Association shall be open to teachers, researchers, students and other individuals with an active interest in Canadian Studies, whether from the Central European region or elsewhere; in the latter case, they shall be considered “international members”.
3.2 Membership in the Association shall be voluntary; a member of the Association may also be a member of other specialized associations, clubs and societies.
3.3 Membership in the Association derives from completion of a membership application and payment of the appropriate membership fee as determined by the General Meeting of the Association.
3.4 Membership in the Association shall be terminated:
- on the basis of written notice submitted by a member to the Executive Committee of the Association;
- through expulsion for failure to fulfil the duties of a member arising from the Constitution of the Association or a resolution of the General Meeting, with the Executive Committee of the Association being the body responsible for making such a decision;
- through death;
- through the dissolution of the Association.
4.1 Among the basic rights of members of the Association are the following:
- to take part in events organized by the Association;
- to vote in elections, and be elected, to official bodies of the Association;
- to contribute through the expression of his/her opinions and comments to the work carried out by the Association
4.2 Among the duties of members of the Association the most important are the following:
- to pay his/her membership fee to the full amount and by the deadline determined by the General Meeting;
- to take part in events organized by the Association;
- to bear in mind the good name of the Association and help it to fulfil the goals it was established to achieve.
5.1 The General Meeting
5.2 The Advisory Board
5.3 The Executive Committee
5.4 The President of the Association
6.1 The General Meeting is the highest official body of the Association and is composed of all the members of the Association. A minimum of one-third of all members coming together at one particular time shall constitute a quorum. Should a quorum not be gathered within an hour of the appointed beginning of the meeting, the members present shall be deemed sufficient to form a quorum. All duly registered members of the Association have the right to vote at a General Meeting.
6.2 A General Meeting of the Association shall be held every third year, normally as part of the triennial conference. Notice of a General Meeting shall be given at least two months in advance by the President of the Association.
6.3 Among the tasks of the General Meeting the most important are to discuss the proposed plan of activities, elect the members of the Executive Committee and approve the report of the activities of the Association, including the financial report.
6.4 An extraordinary General Meeting may be convened at the request of a majority of the members of the Executive Committee or of the Advisory Board, or of one-fifth of the members of the Association. Notice of an extraordinary General Meeting shall be given at least two months in advance.
6.5 The President of the Association, or in his/her absence the Vice-President, shall preside at all sessions of a General Meeting.
6.6 The General Meeting shall take decisions by a simple majority of the members who are present, with the President abstaining. In case of a tie, the President has the casting vote.
6.7 The General Assembly shall elect two of its members to inspect the Association's financial records at least once a year and present a report on their findings to the General Assembly.
7.1 The Advisory Board participates in the preparation of the proposed plan of activities of the Association.
7.2 The Advisory Board shall consist of the President of the Association plus one representative from each country/set of countries in the region (the “national/multinational chapter”), with the proviso that a country/set of countries must have at least seven dues-paying members involved in teaching or doing research in Canadian Studies in order to quality for representation on the Advisory Board. A majority of the representatives of each country/set of countries shall constitute a quorum.
7.3 Duly registered members in each country/set of countries shall choose their representative themselves.
7.4 Members of the Advisory Board shall hold office for a term of three years. Re-election is possible. Each country/set of countries shall determine whether its representative on the Advisory Board is eligible for more than a three-year term.
7.5 If the representative for a country/set of countries is unable to complete his or her three-year term of office, the country/set of countries in question shall fill that vacancy by selecting a new representative through a process in which every dues-paying member from that country/set of countries is able to vote.
7.6 Upon the wish of one-third of the members of a national/multinational chapter, as expressed to the Executive Committee, the dues-paying members of that country/set of countries may vote to replace their representative on the Advisory Board.
7.7 There shall be at least one meeting per year of the Advisory Board, at a place and time to be determined by the President or the Executive Committee, provided that two months written notice of such meeting shall be given to each member of the Advisory Board. The members of the Executive Committee are entitled to participate in, but not vote at, the meetings of the Advisory Board.
7.8 It is at the discretion of the Advisory Board to admit representatives of additional national/multinational chapters to its membership.
8.1 The day-to-day business of the Association shall be dealt with by an Executive Committee consisting of five members, four regular voting members and the editor of the Central European Journal of Canadian Studies, who is a non-voting member.
8.2 The Chairperson and the other three regular Executive Committee members shall be elected at a General Meeting of the Association. The four regular members of the Executive Committee must come from different chapters. Each national/multinational chapter, consisting of the dues-paying members from a particular country/set of countries, may nominate one person for a regular position on the Executive Committee. This must be done a least two months before the General Meeting at which the election of the new Executive Committee will take place. It is up to each national/multinational chapter to decide on the method of selecting its candidate.
8.3 The election of the new Executive Committee takes place in two rounds: in the first round the Chairperson of the Executive Committee is elected, and in the second round the three remaining regular members. The Chairperson of the Executive Committee shall serve as President of the Association. The four members elected to the new Executive Committee then select from their number the Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer.
The body constituted pursuant to law is the President, who shall represent the Association publically in the sense that s/he shall sign in the name of the Association. S/He may also be represented on the basis of a written power of attorney issued to one of the members of the Executive Committee.
8.4 The Executive Committee shall select the editor of the Central European Journal of Canadian Studies from among the members of the Association.
8.5 All members of the Executive Committee shall serve for a term of three years. They shall be eligible for re-election.
8.6 If a vacancy arises in the Executive Committee before the expiration of a member's term, the national/multinational chapter of that member's country/set of countries will select a new member to fill the vacancy from among the dues-paying members from that country. In the case of the editor of the Central European Journal of Canadian Studies, the new editor will be chosen by the Executive Committee.
8.7 The Secretary shall be responsible for the minutes of meetings and act as membership secretary. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the Association's bookkeeping.
8.8 The Executive Committee shall meet according to need, but at least once a year. Three regular committee members constitute a quorum.
8.9 The main tasks of the Executive Committee are:
- to prepare a report of the activities of the Association for the General Meeting;
- to draw up an annual budget proposal;
- to be responsible for the finances of the Association.
9.1 All the dues-paying members from a particular country/set of countries shall form a "national/multinational chapter".
9.2 Each national/multinational chapter shall be free to arrange conferences, meetings, seminars, lectures and other activities in the field of Canadian Studies.
9.3 The national/multinational chapters shall keep the Executive Committee informed of all their activities; this shall be done by a member entrusted with doing so by a majority of the members of the national/multinational chapter.
9.4 Each national/multinational chapter shall operate according to internal regulations based on and in line with this constitution; these shall be adopted by a vote of the members of the national/multinational chapter. A simple majority of the votes of the members of the individual national/multinational chapter is sufficient for their adoption.
10.1 The legal existence of the Association dates from the authorization issued by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic on 22 August 2003. In accordance with law 89/2012 it has been recorded in the commercial register of the Regional Court in Brno.
10.2 The termination of the existence of the Association shall result from a motion to that affect at the General Meeting being passed by a two-thirds majority of all members present. This may take the form of the Association being voluntarily dissolved or of amalgamation with another association. Should the General Meeting decide to terminate the existence of the Association, it shall name as receiver the Executive Committee, which shall proceed according to special regulations.
10.3 The Association may also be dissolved on the basis of a legally valid decision by the relevant court of the Czech Republic. The liquidation of the Association shall then be carried out by a receiver appointed by the court.
11.1 The Association is an independent legal entity that finances its activities through membership fees as well as financial contributions and gifts from natural persons and other legal entities.
11.2 The financial management of the Association is the responsibility of its Treasurer, who is guided by general legal regulations. Among his duties is that of making regular reports on the financial state of the Association to the Executive Committee.
12.1 These articles may be amended by a simple majority of members present at a General Meeting, due notice of the proposed amendment having been given to all members at least six weeks in advance.
12.2 This Constitution is written in the Czech language and comprises four pages; for the needs of the national/multinational chapters it also exists in English and French versions. A complete, new version of the Constitution was adopted at a General Meeting of the Association held on 22 September 2018 in Prague.
Prague, 22 September 2018
