International Cat World e.V.
§ 1 Name, Seat, Financial Year
The name of the association is: International Cat World e.V. abbreviation ICW e.V.
Its seat and administration is in Cologne
It has been registered in the association register of the Cologne district court.
The calendar year is its financial year.
§ 2 Purpose of This Association
The purpose of the association „ICW e.V.“ is to safeguard the interests of breeders, keepers and friends of all cat species with a view to promote pure breeding and species-appropriate keeping of cats as household pets.
In particular, the purpose of these articles of incorporation has been materialized by:
the association of breeders and lovers of pedigree cats
the exchange of breeding experience in the event of meetings and in the specialized press
providing animals with breeding potential
the organization of cat shows and exhibitions
the exchange of experience with similar foreign breeder organizations
keeping a pedigree book for creating family trees
issuing title certificates and championship certificates
§ 3 Membership
Legally competent, natural and legal persons who agree to be willing to actively or materially support the purposes and objectives of the association can become members of this association. The members can be divided into active members, family members, friendship members, and honorary members.
Active members will have all the rights and obligations of an association member. If a cattery name is to be registered on behalf of a breeding community, all of the breeding community’s members have to be active members.
The persons who live in a joint household with active members or have a family relationship to them can become family members. These family members have the right to vote and are obliged to pay membership fees as well as admission fees. Further rights and obligations will not exist.
Friendship members will have the right to vote and will be obliged to pay membership fees as well as admissions fees. Further rights and obligations will not exist.
Persons who have committed themselves to support the association are honorary members. They have been exempted from the membership fees and all the rights and obligations of an active member.
Membership can be acquired by the executive board’s resolution based on a written application.
Membership will end by resignation, exclusion or death, for legal persons also through loss of legal identity. Resignation of a member will only be possible by the end of a calendar year by a written declaration made by registered mail to the executive board subject to a three-month notice period.
Exclusion from the association will be made by the executive board’s resolution if a member has seriously violated the objective and interests of the association, if he or she does no longer meet the requirements of the articles of incorporation or if he or she is in arrears with the payment of the membership fee despite two reminders. In these cases the member can be excluded with immediate effect by the executive board.
The member can be offered the opportunity to give any comments or to justify any actions and file an appeal against the resolution regarding exclusion within a period of two weeks after the communication of exclusion. The member’s rights and obligations will be suspended until a decision regarding exclusion has been made.
Exclusion will be made
- in case of delivery of sick animals to a buyer, if the seller has known or should have known about the disease,
- final conviction because of a criminal offence which could harm the association’s reputation,
- exhibition of sick animals, if the exhibitor has known or should have known about the disease,
- misconduct in animal husbandry (non-compliance with the legal prescriptions regarding animal welfare and non-compliance with the guidelines of the association).
- If a member fails to fulfil his or her payment obligations despite two reminders. If a member is in arrears he or she will be requested to pay within 4 weeks. In this first reminder it will be pointed out that a late payment fine plus expenses incurred will become due upon expiry of that term. Should payment not be made within this term the late payment fine and the costs incurred will become due. The following reminder will threaten exclusion if the due amounts are not paid within the then set deadline of two weeks after receipt of a registered letter containing the reminder. This reminder will be effective even if the letter is returned as undeliverable. Exclusion and cancellation of membership will be carried out by the executive board and will have to be communicated to the member concerned. Appeal against this will only be possible through justification of a proven payment in due time or through the statement of wrongly requested fees.
Exclusion can be made
- in cases of non-compliance with the articles of incorporation as amended by the ICW e.V., the breeding guidelines or any other resolutions or orders made by the meeting of members or by the association body,
- harmful conduct inside or outside the association,
- disturbance of the peace of the association,
- non-compliance with the orders given by authorized members of the association.
In these cases the executive board will decide on the concerned members‘ exclusion.
Cancellation of membership will involve the loss of all of the member’s rights.
In urgent cases the executive board who will be represented by one of its members can order with immediate effect suspension of the membership rights, in particular, by a ban on participation in the association’s meetings or other events, if a procedure of exclusion has been filed or initiated against the member, or if such measures become necessary to safeguard the interests of the association. The order will be communicated to the member concerned by registered letter. This order is to be justified at least in a way that the decisive misconduct or the corresponding provisions of the articles of incorporation can be seen in the statement on which the decision is based. However, participation in a meeting of members cannot be prohibited by this.
The member will have the right to appeal against these measures; the written appeal must be received within two weeks from receipt of the contested decision. The date of dispatch will be sufficient for evidence. The member will have no further right to appeal against that decision.
The maximum term regarding the measures as stated above may be no longer than six months, however, in urgent justified cases it may be extended once after expiry of the given time.
The Members‘ Rights and Obligations
The association will be obliged to give information to its members – by letter or by electronic means – and to provide information regarding the association.
The members will have the right to make use of the association’s facilities by observing the relevant provisions.
Upon admission to the association the members will engage themselves
- to promote the association by their active support and to observe the regulations of the association and the resolutions of its organizations,
- to seriously carry out breeding and keeping of its cats by taking the legal prescriptions into account, to care for the animals and to keep them free from diseases,
- to inform the executive board in writing or by electronic means about contagious diseases,
- to always fulfil their financial obligations towards the association in due time.
§ 4 The Bodies of the Association
The bodies of the association are as follows:
- the meeting of members
- the executive board
- the auditors
§ 5 Meeting of Members
All the members of the meeting belong to the association and will have the right to vote with only one vote.
The regular meeting of members will take place every 2 years. It will be called in writing by the executive board (by letter or email) indicating the agenda. The invitation term will be at least 4 weeks. This term will start on the date following the dispatch of the letter of invitation, the date of the postmark being conclusive (date of the outgoing mail server). The letter of invitation will be deemed to have been received by the member when it had been sent to the association member’s last address communicated in writing (postal address or email address).
An extraordinary meeting of members will have to be called if this is in the interest of the association. On the written demand of at least 10 % of all association members the executive board will call an extraordinary meeting of members within 6 weeks. The members‘ demand will show the requested item of the agenda.
Based on a regular invitation the meeting of members will have a quorum without taking the number of attending persons into account. The executive board will chair the meeting. Unless otherwise determined by the meeting, resolutions will be made openly through the show of hands based on the majority of votes. If the voting results in a tie the motion will be deemed to be rejected.
By way of derogation from (4.), ¾ of the votes cast in the meeting of members will be required for amendments to the Articles of Incorporation and resolutions regarding the dissolution of the association.
§ 6 Functions of the Meeting of Members
The meeting of members being the top decision-making body of the association is, in principle, responsible for all the tasks unless any other body of the association has been charged with certain tasks according to these articles of incorporation.
The meeting of members will elect the executive board from the members. Those persons who have the largest number of votes will be elected. The election will take place in a secret ballot with ballot cards. If a member of the executive board resigns a new board member will be elected with the majority of votes of the attending members.
The executive board can only be removed by vote if 75 % of the members entitled to vote attend the meeting.
The meeting of members will receive the financial report which is to be submitted by the executive board once a year as well as the audit report of the auditors and will grant the board discharge.
The meeting of members will decide on the financial plan of the association to be submitted by the board every 2 years.
The meeting of members will decide on amendments to the articles of incorporation and dissolutions of the association.
In particular, the written annual account and the written annual report will be submitted to the meeting of members regarding the resolution on the approval and discharge of the board. The meeting of members will appoint an auditor who will neither be a member of the board nor that of a body appointed by the board or an employee of the association in order to examine bookkeeping and to report on the result of the meeting of members. The auditor will have access to all accounting and invoicing records of the association.
E.g. the meeting of members also will decide on:
exemptions from fees
tasks of the association
approval of all orders for the association field
membership fees
amendments to the articles of incorporation
dissolution of the association
The meeting of members can decide on other matters that are submitted by the board or the members.
§ 7 Executive Board
The executive board will consist of 4 persons, i.e. the 1st chairman, the 2nd chairman, the treasurer, and the secretary. Each of them will be authorized to solely represent the association. (§26 of the German civil code). Their term of office will be 4 years, re-election will be permissible. The board members being in office will remain in office on expiry of their term of office until a successor has been elected.
The executive board will decide on all matters regarding the association unless they require a resolution to be made by the meeting of members. The board will execute the resolutions of the meeting of members.
The board will meet on one board member’s demand upon agreement with the other board members. Invitation to board meetings will be made either in writing or by electronic means.
The board will have a quorum if 3 members are present and will make decisions by majority vote. A motion will be deemed to be rejected in the event of a tie. In urgent cases decisions by the board can also be made in writing, electronically by email of by phone, provided that all of the board members have agreed to this procedure in writing, electronically by email or by phone. Decisions made by the board in writing or by phone will be put into writing and signed.
The association will be represented judicially and extrajudicially by the chairman or if he is unable to do so by a board member. Only the 1st chairman and the treasurer will have access rights to the accounts of the association.
Amendments to the articles of incorporation that are requested on formal grounds by supervisory, judicial or financial authorities will be made by the executive board. These amendments to the articles of incorporation will be communicated to the following meeting of members.
§ 8 Minutes
The resolutions of the board and the meeting of members will be recorded in writing and made available to the members for inspection.
§ 9 Financing of the Association
The required financial and tangible means of the association will be made available by:
membership fees
donations
contributions
issuing charges
creation of documents and pedigrees
The members will pay contributions according to a resolution of the meeting of members. The simple majority of the members of the association who are present and entitled to vote in the meeting of members will be sufficient to fix an amount and a due date of the contributions and fees.
Resolutions on the use of the funds of the association in the future will only be made after approval by the tax authorities.
§ 10 Coming Into Effect
These articles of incorporation will come into effect upon registration in the register of associations.
Registration 15/ 03/ 2011
1st amendment 05/ 08/2015