Message to European Chamber Members: Articles of Association Go back »

2016-03-30 | All chapters

Dear Member,

The European Chamber’s Articles of Association form the foundation upon which the Chamber is governed. In particular, they define the organisation, the membership and its rights, as well as the procedures and eligibility for board elections. They were adopted originally in 2000, underwent small amendments in 2008, and now, in 2016, are need of a thorough update to reflect how the Chamber lives them today. 

At the upcoming AGM in Beijing (likely last week of April, which may feature Vice Premier Ma Kai and EU Commission Vice President Katainen as speakers), we will ask you to vote on proposed amendments to these Articles of Association.

For the amendments to be approved, we need a strong turnout (a quorum must be met). Your vote matters. The Executive Committee and the boards of our six chapters in China believe that these changes are needed to reflect both the nature and the realities of the Chamber today and going forward.

Summarised below are the ten (10) key amendments that we ask you to approve:

Member Rights:

1.    We want to strengthen the identity of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China by requiring the president to be a representative of a European Union corporate member.

2.    We want a greater voice for our members and will therefore allow all members to vote at the Annual General Meeting and local elections where they are present. This also includes non-European members. 

Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary Meetings:

1.     We want to create greater flexibility and introduce e-voting and other new technological forms for holding meetings.

2.     However, at the same time we will demand greater requirements should members wish to initiate an extraordinary general meeting by requiring at least five (5) working group chairs to make a request, instead of five (5) members to initiate, thus making it a working group initiative. Likewise, to ensure that any resolution proposed by a member has sufficient member interest, we will require that such member has obtained no less than one per cent of the members’ support, instead of the current wording of only three (3) members, thus ensuring greater representation.

Elections of President, Vice Presidents and Treasurer

1.  We want to allow for greater geographical representation of our members and will therefore allow the chair of chapters with 10 per cent or more of the Chamber’s overall membership to be automatically and directly elected to the Executive Committee of the Chamber as vice president.

2.  For other chapters, with less than 10 per cent, the Executive Committee would have the option to co-opt into the Executive Committee up to five (5) members, instead of the current limit of three (3) members.

3.  We want to strengthen the leadership within local boards as well by allowing for and creating direct elections for a local vice chair, and in instances where chapters have more than 10 per cent of the members, or two local offices, to allow them have two vice chair positions that are again directly elected from the membership.  

Executive Committee

1.  We want to create greater continuity within the Executive Committee and the local boards by extending the term for president, vice presidents and treasurer for two (2) years, instead of one (1) year, and renewable subject to re-election for a consecutive two- (2-) year term (2 X 2).  This would also apply to local board chairs and board members and would take effect from 2017.

Other Wording Changes:

1.    Finally, we want to make additional updates to wording such as:

·         Inserting wording on the responsibilities of the executive committee, president, local boards and secretary general that was previously found in the By-Laws.

·         Creating a minimum size for the creation of working groups of at least six (6) members.

During the local elections, you will be, or will have already been, briefed further about these proposed changes. As we are required to gain approval from two thirds of our voting members for these changes to be approved, this will not happen without your support.

Please download a version with tracked changes and a clean version of the Articles for your consideration.

Sincerely,

On behalf of the: 

Executive Committee: President Joerg Wuttke and Vice President Sara Marchetta

Shanghai Board: Vice President and Shanghai Chairman Mick Adams

South China Board:  Chairman Alberto Vettoretti

Southwest China Board: Chairman Ulrich Birch

Tianjin Board: Chairman Christoph Schrempp

Nanjing Board: Chairman Helmut Guesten

Shenyang Board: Chairman Harald Kumpfert