This is an English translation of the Statutes of ECCAI. Translation by L. Siklóssy. Note: this translation is not official. It is provided for information only. Only the original French version has legal status.
An international association with scientific and educational objectives called European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence (ECCAI) is hereby established.
This Association is governed by the Belgian law of 25 October 1919, modified by the law of 6 December 1954.
The registered office of the Association is established in a Belgian commune. The registered office is at: Bruxelles, AI Laboratory, Pleinlaan 2, Building K2.
The registered office can be transferred to any other place within Belgium by decision of the Board of Directors published in the same month as the decision in the Annexes du Moniteur Belge.
The objectives of the Association, which is non-profit making, are:
to promote the science and technology of artificial intelligence in Europe,
to promote the establishment of a European computer network,
to encourage the teaching of artificial intelligence,
to publish a European journal of information on artificial intelligence,
to sponsor a biennial conference organized by one or more of the member societies.
The Association includes a sub-committee responsible, in particular, for coordinating and promoting activities inside the European Community.
The Association is composed of active members who have independent legal status. These members are scientific European associations concerned with artificial intelligence. They must have at least 25 members actively working in this field.
The admission of a member is decided by the General Assembly by a two- thirds majority vote of the Representatives present or represented (see Article 8).
A member's expulsion from the Association may be proposed by the Board of Directors after it has heard the defence of the member concerned, and is decided by the General Assembly by a two-thirds majority vote of the members present or represented.
A member may resign by registered letter. The resignation becomes effective one month after the letter's receipt.
A member who ceases to be a part of the Association loses its rights in its capital.
The General Assembly possesses full powers to realize the objectives of the Association.
The General Assembly is made up of the representatives of all its active members (the Representatives).
In particular, the following fall within its competence:
The General Assembly meets by full right under the presidence of its Chairman, or in his absence its Vice Chairman, each year at its registered office or at the location indicated on the convocation, which is sent by the Chairman. The convocation and the agenda are sent out by the Chairman at least one month before the date of the General Assembly.
Moreover, an extraordinary General Assembly can be called by at least two board members or on the request of at least a third of the Representatives of the active members.
The Representatives of the members to the General Assembly are chosen as follows:
a. if there is only one member in a given country, that member will choose two Representatives to represent it. The member will communicate the names of its two representatives to the Secretary of the Association. This communication must reach the Secretary of the Association before the opening of the General Assembly.
b. if there is more than one member in a given country, these members will each choose two Correspondents. In turn, these correspondents will choose two Representatives to represent all the members of the country to the General Assembly. This choice will be communicated to the Secretary of the Association before the opening of the General Assembly.
Each Representative has one vote at this General Assembly.
Votes can be exercised by proxy, either to the other Representative of members of the same country or to another Representative of members of another country. Each Representative may not hold more than the following proxies: the proxy of the other Representative of the member(s) of the same country, or the two proxies of a Representative(s) of the member(s) of another country.
The General Assembly's decisions are valid only if half of the total of the votes of the Association are present or represented.
Except in the exceptional cases foreseen in these statutes, resolutions are passed by a simple majority of the votes of the Representatives present or represented and the resolutions are made known to all members.
Topics not on the agenda cannot be decided upon.
The resolutions of the General Assembly are recorded in a register signed by the Chairman and the Secretary and kept by the Secretary who holds it at the disposition of the members.
Without prejudice to Article 5 of the law of 25 October 1919, any proposal seeking to modify the statutes or dissolve the Association must come from the Board of Directors or from at least a third of the Representatives of the members of the Association.
Such a proposal must be made known to the members of the Association by the Board of Directors at least three months before the date of the General Assembly that will rule on the proposal.
The General Assembly cannot validly deliberate unless two-thirds of the total votes of the Association are present or represented.
No decision will be valid that is not approved by at least a two-thirds majority of the votes.
Notwithstanding, if the General Assembly does not reach the quorum, a new General Assembly will be called, under the same conditions as above, which will decide definitively and validly on the proposal in question, whatever the number of votes present or represented.
Modifications to the statutes will not take effect until approved by royal decree and after the publication requirements of Article 3 of the law of 25 October 1919 have been met.
The General Assembly will establish the manner in which the Association is dissolved and terminated.
The Association is administered by a Board (the Board of Directors) composed of a minimum of six persons elected from the members' Representatives; at least one Board member has Belgian citizenship.
The Board members are elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term. A Board member cannot be elected to more than three consecutive terms as Representative of the active members of a country.
The Board members can be dismissed by the General Assembly by a two- thirds majority vote of the Representatives present or represented.
The Board internally elects:
The Board meets every year and by special convocation of the Chairman.
A Board member can give his proxy to another Board member, who, however, cannot have more than one proxy.
The Board cannot deliberate validly unless at least half its members are present or represented.
The Board has full powers of management and administration reserving the prerogatives of the General Assembly. It can, however, delegate daily administration to its Chairman or a Board member or an employee. It can, furthermore, on its own responsibility, delegate special and specific powers to one or more persons.
The resolutions of the Board of Directors are passed by a majority of Board members present or represented. In the case of a tied vote, the Chairman has a casting vote.
The resolutions are recorded in a register signed by the Chairman and kept by the Secretary, who holds it at the disposition of the members of the Association.
All acts committing the Association will be signed by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, who need not justify to third parties the powers delegated to them for this purpose.
Legal actions, whether as plaintiff or defendant, are pursued by the Board of Directors, represented by its Chairman or by a Board member designated by him for this purpose.
The Association's accounts are closed each year on 30 June.
The Board prepares, on that occasion, an activity report and a financial report for the preceding year to be submitted for approval to the General Assembly.
It also presents a proposed budget and programme of activities for the coming year to the General Assembly.
Anything not covered by the present statutes, and in particular the publications to be made in the Annexes du Moniteur Belge, will be governed in accordance with the law.