EurEta Statutes

How the process to register functions in the individual countries is determined by the individual National Members

 

Article 1

Name, object and seat

 

1 The European Higher Engineering and Technical Professionals Association (EurEta) is a non-profit making, non-political, but policy-making organisation formed to set European qualification standards for higher engineering and technical professionals, to represent these professionals and their official national organisations at European and World-wide forums and to keep a European Register relating to the Level d set by the appropriate EU Directives for those professionals, who wish to register. There shall be an option to add separate Registers for other levels.

 

2 EurEta may also represent independent associations and/or organisations of higher engineering professionals that relate to other levels in the appropriate EU Directives not lower than Level c.

 

3 The legal seat of the Association is in Zurich in Switzerland. It is established as an international Association according to Swiss Association law. The operative seat is in Brussels.

 

Article 2

Aim of the Association

 

The Association shall aim to further the following goals:

  • To act as an European wide common platform for National Members co-operating with the
  • To act as a policy maker in the benefit and interest of higher engineering professionals as described in Article 1, throughout Europe and World-wide
  • To enhance the professional, technical and ethical reputation of the professionals
  • To ensure mutual recognition of the formations of the registered professionals and protection of their proper titles in order to permit free exercise of the profession in the whole of Europe and World-wide while safeguarding a high technical standard
  • To monitor and verify the professional titles and the status of the formation according to the levels set by the appropriate EU Directives
  • To enhance solidarity and promotion of professional and cultural contacts within Europe and World-wide

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Article 3

Languages

 

The official language of EurEta is English. Documents will be published in English and during the meetings English shall be the official language spoken. Interpretation and translation services into other languages shall be provided by those who need them.

 

Article 4

Membership

 

1 Membership is open to registered or regulated organizations and public bodies representing engineering professionals recognised at Level c or above in the appropriate EU Directive.

 

2 Full Members are registered or regulated organizations and public bodies representing engineering professionals of the EU Level d. There shall be only one Full Member per country and per EU Directive, which shall be able to represent officially all professionals that qualify for EurEta registration. An additional Full Member per country shall be admitted only by agreement with the existing Full Member.

 

3 In a country in which more than one nationally recognised engineering organization is interested to join EurEta, those organisations must officially accredit a National Committee as the National Member to represent them and apply for membership in EurEta as that Country's National Member. No Full Member may take advantage of a monopoly situation in its home country to EurEta's disadvantage.

 

4 Member in Development are registered or regulated organisations and public bodies representing engineering professionals who are not yet in a position to fullfil the obligations of a Full Member. There can be more than one Developing Member per country.

 

Article 5

Admission

 

1 Membership is awarded by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Board. Applicants for membership must guarantee that they will fulfil their commitment according to these Statutes.

 

2 Membership starts with the decision of admission by the General Assembly. Financial obligations of the new Member toward the Association begin on the first day of the month following the meeting of the General Assembly in which the membership was granted. The annual subscriptions for the year of admission shall be paid pro rata.

 

Article 6

Termination of membership

 

1 A Member can only resign with effect from the end of a calendar year. Notice of resignation must be given to the Board at least six months in advance. The annual subscription has to be paid for the whole calendar year.

 

2 A Member may be excluded from the Association by the General Assembly on request of the Board for serious infringement of the Association Statutes such as non-fulfilment of the financial obligations or non sufficient representation of its country.

 

Article 7

Special membership categories

 

1 The General Assembly may admit Supporting Members and it may appoint Honorary Members.

 

2 Supporting Members may be persons, bodies, legal entities or companies who support, in whatever form, the aims of the Association.

 

3 Honorary Membership may be awarded to persons, bodies, legal entitles or companies who have rendered outstanding service in the pursuit of the aims of the Association.

 

Article 8

Funding

 

1 The revenues of the Associations shall be the subscriptions of the Members, subsidies, contributions and income from the Association's assets as well as revenues from its own activities.

 

2 The General Assembly shall, on the recommendation of the Board, determine the level of the annual subscriptions for all classes of Membership according to an agreed formula. Full Members shall pay annual subscriptions, which shall be substantially higher than those of Members in Development. For Supporting Members the General Assembly shall set a minimum amount. The annual subscription shall be paid by the end of March.

 

3 The Registration Fees shall be kept by the Members, to which the registered professionals belong. The central administrative costs of registration shall be paid by those Members according to the respective number of their new registrations only. The Standing Orders determine the details.

 

Article 9

Organisation

 

The organisation of the Association shall be as follows:

 

* General Assembly

* Board

* Auditors

* Committees

* Forum

* General Secretariat

 

 

Article 10

General Assembly

 

1 The General Assembly shall be the highest body of the Association. It shall consist of the representatives of all Members of EurEta.

 

2 EurEta President can be the Chairman of the General Assembly if it is impossible to find a person out of the board as Chairman of the General Assembly.

 

3 Voting in the General Assembly is restricted to Full Members and Developing Members, who have paid their annual subscription for the preceding calendar year. Full Members are entitled to two votes, Developing Members to one vote.

 

4 The Board Members shall not execute any voting right in the General Assembly.

 

Article 11

General Assembly - responsibilities

 

The General Assembly shall have the following responsibilities

  • election and dismissal of the Board, the President, the Vice-President and the Treasurer, members of the Board
  • election and dismissal of Auditors
  • election and dismissal of the Committees and/or their Chairmen
  • decisions on general policy matters of the Association
  • decision on annual and multi-annual action plans
  • approval the main lines of the corporate identity
  • approval of the annual report of the Board
  • approval of the annual accounts and ratification of the activities of the Board
  • approval of the annual budget on proposal of the Board
  • issue and modifications of the Statutes
  • issue and modifications of the Standing Orders
  • issue of the Registration Regulations
  • decisions of appeals against the Registration Committee
  • setting level of registration fees
  • setting level of different member categories subscriptions
  • admission and exclusion of Members
  • appointment of Honorary Members
  • dissolution of the Association
  • changing of the operating seat

Article 12

General Assembly - meetings

 

1 The General Assembly shall meet at least once a year by 30 June at the latest. It shall be convened with at least six weeks' notice with an indication of the venue, time and agenda. Generally, the meetings of the General Assembly shall take place alternately in the various countries of the Members. In special cases or for different reasons, Board can decide to convene the General Assembly meeting in any other country.

 

2 The General Assembly shall be quorate if at least half of the voting power of the Members is represented. With written authorisation a Member may vote by proxy on behalf of another.

 

3 The resolutions of the General Assembly shall be passed by a simple majority of the votes. In the case of a tie the resolution shall be referred back to the Board.

 

4 A qualified majority of two-thirds of the votes shall be necessary for the modification of the Statutes, the exclusion of a Member or the dissolution of the Association.

 

5 The voting rights of a Member who is suspended because of non regular payments, can be re-established if the Member pays the arrears, at least one week before the General Assembly meets.

 

6 The keeping of the minutes of the General Assembly meetings shall be the responsibility of the Secretary-General. The Secretary General shall send the minutes to voting members not later than one month after General Assembly meeting.

Minutes must be approved by voting members within two months after receiving them and will be confirmed by the General Assembly at its next meeting and signed by the President and the Secretary General.

 

7 If a Voting Member does not reply within two months, the minutes are considered to be approved by that Voting Member.

 

Article 13

General Assembly - extraordinary meetings / circular resolutions

 

1 If the conditions of the quorum are not satisfied, a new meeting of the General Assembly shall be convened, six weeks later at the earliest, at the seat of the Association. This meeting shall be quorate irrespective of the number of National Members represented.

 

2 An extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly may also be convened on request of at least two Members representing at least one third of the voting power.

 

3 In matters which cannot wait until the next meeting, a resolution of the General Assembly may be passed by circular resolution. Such resolutions must be passed by a 75% majority of the total votes.

 

Article 14

Board

 

1 The Board shall be the executive body of the Association. It shall consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and two to six other members. Each member of the Board shall come from a different country. The Chairmen of the Committees shall be ex officio non-voting members of the Board. The term of office shall be four years. Re-election shall be possible.

 

2 The Board shall carry out all the business of the Association which is not reserved to any other body.

 

3 The Board shall prepare the meetings of the General Assembly and formulate its proposals to all items of the agenda.

 

4 The Board is responsible for appointment and dismissal of the Secretary General

 

Article 15

Board - meetings

 

1 Generally the Board shall convene with four weeksâ?? notice at the request of the President or two other members. In case of very urgent matters it shall convene with 10 days notice. The Board shall be quorate if more than half of the voting members are present. It shall take its decisions by simple majority voting. In the event of a tie the Chairman shall have a casting vote.

 

2 The keeping of the minutes of Board meetings shall be the responsibility of the Secretary-General. They must be approved by circular resolution and confirmed by the Board at its next meeting and signed by the President and the Secretary General.

 

Article 16

Board - President / representation / signatures

 

1 The President shall be responsible for representing the Association, chairing the Board and co-ordinating the activities of the different bodies of the Association. He/she shall be entitled to demand a report at any time from the heads of the different bodies on their activities.

 

2 The President shall have the legal signing authorisation for the Association.

 

3 In the event of the indisposition of the President, the Vice-President shall act as his/her substitute. For the duration of the indisposition of the President, the Vice-President shall have signing authorisation.

 

4 For matters purely concerned with assets and petty cash the Treasurer shall be authorised signatory.

 

5 Ordinary correspondence may be dealt with directly by the Secretary-General.

 

Article 17

Auditors

 

1 There shall be two lay auditors and a professional auditing firm. They cannot belong to any other body of the Association. They shall audit the annual accounts and report the result to the General Assembly with application for ratification of the activities of the Board. They shall also examine and comment on the annual budget to the General Assembly.

 

2 The report of the Auditors shall be circulated to National Members not less than four weeks in advance of a General Assembly.

 

Article 18

Board - committees and working groups

 

1 Committees will be set up and elected by General Assembly to handle lasting issues of the Association. They are responsible to the Board. The minutes of committee meetings shall be the responsibility of the respective chairmen and shall be sent to the President, the Secretary General, and the Board Members.

 

2 Member of Committees shall be elected for a four-year term. Re-election shall be possible.

 

3 Working-groups will be set up by the Board to handle specific temporary issues.

 

Article 19

Policy Committee (PC)

 

1 PC shall consist of 3-7 members. They shall be organisation and marketing experts.

 

2 PC shall observe developments in the fields and policies of education, formation and professions as well as professional organisations within and outside Europe.

 

3 It shall advise the Board in the development of visions, strategies and policies of EurEta.

 

4 It may be tasked by the Board with specific parts of the implementation of EurEta policies.

 

Article 20

Registration Committee (RC)

 

1 The Registration Committee should consist of 3-7 members. They shall be formation experts and their combined expertise shall reflect the diversity of formation systems in EU. They shall formulate the Registration Regulations to be approved by the General Assembly.

 

2 To examine the regulation details concerning a specific country and EU Levels the Registration Committee may invite formation experts of the specific country and EU Levels, to its meeting.

 

3 If needed, separate Registration Committees may be set up for EU Levels not lower than Level c.

 

Article 21

EurEta Forum (EF)

 

1 All persons involved in EurEta shall form the EurEta Forum.

 

2 EF shall be chaired by a person elected by the Forum participants.

 

3 EF shall discuss policy matters which are of interest to the professionals, the Members or the Association itself.

 

4 The meetings shall take place during the regular yearly meeting sessions of EurEta.

 

5 The keeping of the minutes shall be the responsibility of the Secretary General.

 

6 EurEta Forum may pass resolutions to the General Assembly which must be discussed and decided on.

 

Article 22

General Secretariat

 

The General Secretariat shall be headed by the Secretary-General who shall carry out his/her task according to the Standing Orders of the Association. He/she shall be responsible to the Board. The General Secretary keeps all official documents.

 

Article 23

Salaries and expenses

 

1 The salaries and legitimate expenses of the General Secretariat, as well as the travel and other legitimate expenses of the Board, the Auditors and the Registration Committee, shall be borne by the Association in accordance with the annual budget.

 

2 The expenses of the delegates to the General Assembly and representatives invited to attend Registration Committee meetings shall be borne by their national organisations.

 

Article 24

Standing Orders

 

The Standing Orders shall define all details concerning the organisation and administration of the Association, remunerations, procedures in case of disputes, assets and finance management which are not defined in the Statutes.

 

Article 25

Business year

 

The business year of the Association shall be the calendar year.

 

Article 26

Dissolution of the Association

 

In the event of the dissolution of the Association by the General Assembly, the Board shall transfer the assets to a non-profit-making organisation with similar aims. If such an organisation is not formed within one year, the Board shall use the assets of the Association to set up a non-profit-making foundation which furthers the interests of the Association.

 

Article 27

Final remarks

 

1 The original Statutes were approved by the Working Group which set up the Association on 10 May 1993 in Aarau, Switzerland, the members of the Working Group coming from Austria, Finland, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

 

2 The Statutes as amended here were agreed by resolution of the General Assembly circulated on 9 November 1994. They were amended by the General Assembly on 8 May 1995 in Venice, Italy, on 5 September 1998 in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 8 June 2002 in Rome, Italy and on 21 October 2006 in Brussels, Belgium.

 

Brussels, Belgium, 26th October 2006

 

The President

 

Urs Keller

Switzerland

 

The Secretary-General

 

Milena Fontana

Belgien

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