Source: http://www.emcinterpreting.org/?q=node/16
Timestamp: 2018-06-19 20:15:03
Document Index: 363787342

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 4', 'Art. 4', 'Art. 7', 'Art. 7', 'Art. 5', 'Art. 7', 'Art. 6', 'Art. 7', 'Art 4']

Statutes | EMCI
Article 1: Name, Seat, Duration, and Language of the EMCI Consortium
Article 2: Aims and Objectives of the Consortium
Article 5: Membership – Designation of New Members – Withdrawal
Article 6: Suspension and Exclusion of a Member
Article 7: Standing and Ad hoc Committees
Article 9: Accounting and Auditing
Article 10: Representation and Agreements with Third Parties
Article 12: Amendments to the Constitution and Dissolution
1.1 The Consortium constitutes a network of institutions of higher education, hereinafter called “Consortium”. The name of the Consortium is European Masters in Conference Interpreting, in abbreviation “EMCI”. The full name and its abbreviation may be used together or separately in identifying the Consortium.
1.2 The seat of the Consortium is in the European Union. The seat of the Consortium may be transferred to any other location in the European Union by decision of the Governing Board.
1.3 The Consortium is created for an indefinite period of time and may be dissolved at any time by the General Assembly of Members acting in accordance with this Constitution.
1.4 The vehicular language of the Consortium is English.
2.1 The Consortium shall advise and assist Members in:
(i) Implementing a European Masters in Conference Interpreting program as a university-level post-graduate course;
(ii) Fostering the exchange of information and experience and the dissemination of best practice in interpreter training;
(iii) Engaging in continuing education for the purpose of upgrading interpreting skills and pedagogical skills for interpreter trainers;
(iv) Providing for well-structured training for teaching staff;
(v) Engaging in research relevant to interpreter training and issues that relate to the exercise of the conference interpreter profession, and
(vi) Leveraging new technologies in interpreter training with a view to sharing pedagogical resources across the Consortium’s membership, and integrating new technologies in the exercise of the profession.
2.2 Members of the Consortium shall adhere to EMCI Quality Assurance
Standards and to the EMCI Core Curriculum as established in accordance with the Consortium’s Constitution.
2.3 The Consortium may participate in the activities of other organizations dedicated directly or indirectly to the work of creating programs for training conference interpreters and interpreter trainers.
2.4 The Consortium may contribute to the design and implementation of research projects in the field of interpreter training or interpreting practice.
2.5 The Consortium may carry out any and all activities that directly or indirectly support its principal aims and objectives.
3. 1 The activities of the Consortium are financed by:
(i) Membership fees established annually by the General Assembly and which may be in money or in kind. Membership fees shall be non-reimbursable.
(ii) Other contributions of the Members, in money or in kind. No Member shall be obliged to make contributions other than their membership fees.
(iii) Any other contributions, from public or private sources, provided to any or all of the members, to support the activities of the Consortium.
3.2 During the entire lifetime of the Consortium, any profit shall be allocated to the continuation of the Consortium’s activities.
The Consortium is governed by the General Assembly and the GoverningBoard. The General Assembly elects the Consortium’s officers: the President of the Consortium and the Vice-President of the Consortium; it endorses the selection of the Treasurer and the Secretary General.
The General Assembly is the ultimate decision-making body of the Consortium. It is composed of all Members of the Consortium.
The General Assembly shall have exclusive, non-transferable and inalienable jurisdiction to:
(i) Adopt the report of the Consortium’s activities as presented by the Governing Board;
(ii) Approve the annual accounts of the Consortium and discharge the Members of the Governing Board;
(iii) Approve the annual budget presented to it by the Governing Board. In doing so, the General Assembly shall also approve the conclusion of any agreement with third parties, including grant agreements, needed to finance the activities of the Consortium. Such votes of the General Assembly shall be unanimous;
(iv) Fix the amount of membership fees;
(v) Elect members of the Governing Board;
(vi) Elect the President and Vice-President of the Consortium;
(vii) Endorse the selection of the Secretary General and the Treasurer;
(viii) Approve the appointment of an auditor;
(ix) Elect the members of the Standing Committees;
(x) Approve the designation of new Members;
(xi) Vote the exclusion of a Member or its suspension;
(xii) Amend the Constitution;
(xiii) Approve amendments to the EMCI Quality Assurance Standards.
(xiv) Decide the dissolution of the Consortium;
(xv) Decide all matters which are not reserved to other governing bodies;
(i) The General Assembly of Members shall meet at least once a year within a period of six months following the end of a fiscal year. The General Assembly is chaired by the President of the Consortium.
(ii) The General Assembly may exceptionally, upon notice of thirty days by electronic mail or registered letter, be convened at any other time at the request of the President or the Vice-President or upon the written request of at least fifty percent of the membership of the Consortium.
(iii) Notices of a General Assembly together with an agenda shall be communicated by the President to the Members not less than thirty days prior to the date of the General Assembly.
(i) Members shall designate one or more delegates to attend and vote at General Assemblies. Each Member shall be entitled to one vote at General Assemblies.
(ii) Unless otherwise stipulated in this Constitution, resolutions of the General Assembly shall be adopted by a majority vote of all the Members. No resolution may be adopted at any meeting of the General Assembly unless at least one half of the membership of the Consortium is present or represented. If a quorum is not achieved at a meeting that has been convened in accordance with this Constitution, a new meeting may be convened in accordance with Art. 4.1.3. (iii) and Art. 4.1.4. (i) and the draft resolutions set forth in the notice of meeting may be passed by a majority of the Members present or represented and voting.
(iii) Voting at General Assemblies shall be by show of hands. Voting by telephone or electronic means may be allowed if requested by threequarters of the Membership. A motion to vote by secret ballot may be requested by a majority of Members present or represented. Decisions under Article 5 of the Constitution shall be taken by secret ballot. In case of a tie the President has the casting vote.
(i) The Governing Board shall have no fewer than five members including the President and the Vice-President of the Consortium elected by the General Assembly. Members of the Governing Board each represent different Member institutions. Until such time as the Consortium has reached a membership level exceeding 15 Members, the Governing Board may function with three Members.
(ii) In electing members of the Governing Board, the General Assembly shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that the Board reflects a balanced representation in terms of widely and less-widely used languages covered by EMCI Members. One and the same Member institution shall not occupy more than one seat on the Governing Board.
(iii) Members of the Governing Board shall be physical persons, affiliated as trainers with Members of the Consortium, who are elected for a term terminating on the date of the third General Assembly following their election. Members of the Governing Board are eligible for re-election; if elected, their term of office may not exceed two consecutive terms.
(iv) Their mandate comes automatically to an end after three years or when the ember of the Governing Board is no longer affiliated with a Member of the Consortium. Their mandate may also be revoked at any time by the General Assembly.
(v) Vacancies on the Governing Board may be filled by the Board itself by amajority vote. A co-opted member of the Governing Board shall serve until the next meeting of the General Assembly.
The Governing Board ensures that the aims and objectives of the Consortium are fulfilled, in application of General Assembly decisions and in compliance with the Constitution of the Consortium. The Governing Board has notably the following functions which are non-transferable and inalienable:
(i) To propose to the General Assembly a tri-annual work program, detailed annual work programs, as well as the annual budget;
(ii) To consider applications for membership and to submit them to the General Assembly;
(iii) To decide any corrective measures regarding the good management of the Consortium and to inform the General Assembly of such decisions;
(iv) To verify, and agree upon, the annual accounts and the activities report, before their transmission to the General Assembly;
(v) To ensure that the accounts and records are kept in good order and that the resources are put to proper use;
(vi) To propose amendments to the EMCI Quality Assurance Standards;
(vii) To promote the activities of the Consortium.
(i) The Governing Board shall be convened by the President at least twice a year. Notices of meeting shall be communicated to Board members by electronic mail, or by registered letter at least thirty days prior to the date of the Board meeting. Meetings of the Governing Board may be held by telephone, by video-conference or in any other manner that the Governing Board deems appropriate.
(ii) Unless otherwise provided for in the Constitution, resolutions of the Board require a simple majority. Members of the Governing Board shall serve for the benefit of the Consortium. Should a Member of the Governing Board be required to deliberate or vote on a matter in which there would be a clear conflict of interest, said Member shall so inform the Governing Board.
(iii) The President of the Consortium shall preside at Governing Board meetings; in his/her absence the meeting will be chaired by the Vice- President or by the most senior member of the Board in terms of age.
(iv) Proxy voting shall be permitted on condition that no Governing Board member may hold more than one proxy.
(v) Minutes of Governing Board meetings shall be approved by the Governing Board members having participated in such meeting and shall be held in a register available for inspection by the Consortium’s Members.
4.3 The officers of the Consortium
4.3.1 The officers of the Consortium are,
the President of the Consortium
the Vice-President of the Consortium
The President and the Vice-President of the Consortium shall be elected by the General Assembly for a period of three years, renewable. They must be affiliated with a Consortium Member institution.
4.3.2 The Secretary General
(i) The Secretary General is nominated by the President of the Consortium and endorsed by the General Assembly, for a term of three years. In an effort to maintain efficiency in carrying out the activities of the Consortium, the Secretary General should come from the same Member institution as the President of the Consortium.
(ii) Unless otherwise decided by the General Assembly or by the Governing Board, the Secretary General organizes and manages the activities of the Consortium, ensuring their coherence and their coordination in accordance with the decisions of the General Assembly and the Governing Board, and in compliance with this Constitution.
(iii) The Secretary General conducts the administrative and financial affairs of the Consortium (inquiries for information, internal and external dissemination of information, etc).
(iv) The Secretary General manages the resources allocated to the Consortium, in accordance with the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Governing Board, and keeps the Consortium accounts.
(v) The Secretary General prepares the annual budget, the annual accounts and the activity report and submits those documents to the Governing Board.
(vi) The Secretary General ensures the promotion of the Consortium, in collaboration with the Governing Board and in accordance with General Assembly resolutions.
4.3.3 The Treasurer
4.3.3.1 Functions
The Chair of the Finance Committee shall act as the Treasurer of the Consortium. The Treasurer is responsible for communications of the Finance committee whose functions are defined in Art. 7.5.2 below.
5.1 Except as provided in Article 5.5 below, there will be only one class of membership. The Founders of this Consortium are deemed to be Members.
5.2 To qualify for membership, an applicant will need to:
(i) Be a university-level entity accredited as such by its national jurisdiction and submit appropriate supporting documents;
(ii) Run a university-level post-graduate course for the training of conference interpreters;
(iii) Meet all quality assurance standards as set forth in the EMCI Quality Assurance Standards;
(iv) Formally agree to comply with the Constitution of this Consortium, the EMCI Core Curriculum and the EMCI Quality Assurance Standards;
(v) Meet such other requirements as may be set forth by the General Assembly or the Governing Board.
5.3 Applications for membership are initially submitted to the Governing Board for its consideration. If the Governing Board so agrees, applications shall thereupon be submitted for approval to the General Assembly. A decision to approve an application for membership shall require a three-quarters majority of the Consortium’s full membership. Should an application for membership not obtain the required majority, the applicant may file a new request for membership in the second calendar year following the date of a negative decision rendered by the General Assembly.
5.4 A Member may resign from the Consortium upon giving notice of not less than three months by registered mail addressed to the President or Vice-President of the Consortium.
5.5 The General Assembly of Members may create an observer membership class.
The Quality Assurance and the Projects Committee may invite subject-matter experts to assist these committees in carrying out their work programme. Such experts and Observer members shall not have the right to vote (cf. Art. 7.3.)
6.1 A Member may, on proposal of the Governing Board, be excluded from membership by a decision of the General Assembly if it is determined that:
6.1.1 The Member no longer satisfies the EMCI Quality Assurance Standards and/or the principles set forth in this Constitution;
6.1.2 The Member has failed to comply with its obligations as provided in this Constitution including, but not limited to, failure to pay the annual membership fee;
6.2 A decision to exclude a Member shall require the affirmative vote of three quarters of the full membership of the Consortium not including the Member that is the subject of the exclusion.
6.3 The General Assembly is sovereign in determining whether in certain cases the reasons for exclusion as contained in 6.1. may justify a suspension for a period of 12 months, during which time the Member that is the subject of the
exclusion will have to provide proof that the causes of the suspension have been rectified. Such a decision shall require the affirmative vote of three quarters of the full membership of the Consortium not including the Member that is the subject of the suspension.
7.1 The following Standing Committees shall be created:
Quality Assurance and Membership Committee
and Projects Committee
7.2 The Governing Board may establish such other standing and Ad hoc Committees as may be necessary or useful in order to implement the Consortium’s annual work programme and/or to ensure the proper functioning of the Consortium.
7.3 Standing Committee members shall be elected by the General Assembly; nominations for committee membership shall be submitted to the Governing Board who shall forward a list of nominees to the General Assembly for endorsement. Committee membership may be open to persons who are not associated with Members of the Consortium and who have specialized skills or knowledge that would be useful to the work of the Committee. Such members shall not have the right to vote (cf. Art. 5.5).
7.4 Members of Ad hoc Committees shall be proposed by the Governing Board and approved by the General Assembly.
7.5 Standing and Ad hoc Committees shall determine their own procedures that will be subject to the approval of the Governing Board, prior to adoption by the General Assembly. Chairs of Standing Committees shall be members of the Governing Board.
7.5.1 Quality Assurance and Membership Committee
(i) No fewer than three persons shall serve on the Quality Assurance and Membership Committee (QAMC). Other nominees may be chosen from among the Members of the Consortium. Additional nominees may be chosen from third parties including, but not limited to, officials of international institutions. They act in a consultative capacity (cf. Art. 7.3.).
(ii) The QAMC may propose amendments to the EMCI Quality Assurance Standards. Amendments to the Quality Assurance Standards and related documents shall be submitted for approval to the Governing Board and adopted by the General Assembly.
(iii) The QAMC shall review periodically the quality assurance procedures (EMCI Quality Assurance Standards) and shall monitor compliance with those procedures by Members of the Consortium as well as entities applying for or subject to EMCI recognition. The assessment procedures will include a process for handling compliance issues.
(iv) Should a Member be found to be non-compliant with respect to quality assurance by the QAMC, the latter will formulate recommendations to the Governing Board (cf. Art. 6.1. to 6.3).
(v) The QAMC will prepare an annual report to be submitted to the President of the Governing Board at least 30 days prior to the General Assembly of Members. This report will be submitted to the Members as part of the documentation accompanying the notice of meeting of the General Assembly.
(vi) (a) The QAMC shall evaluate applications for membership to the Consortium and for program recognition. In doing so, it may enter into discussions with applicants wishing to join the Consortium or wishing to have their degree in conference interpreting formally recognized by the Consortium.
(b) The QAMC shall communicate its findings with respect to applications for membership and/or program recognition to the Chair of the Governing Board.
(vii) The QAMC will be consulted on issues regarding alleged violations by Members of the Statutes and other rules of the Consortium.
(viii) Confidentiality of QAMC deliberations shall be maintained in accordance with rules adopted by the QAMC.
7.5.2 Finance Committee
(i) No fewer than three members shall serve on the Finance Committee.
Members shall be chosen with particular attention to their qualifications in financial matters and may include a minority of persons who are not affiliated or associated with Members of the Consortium (cf. Art. 7.3.).
(ii) The Chair of the Finance Committee shall act as the Treasurer of the Consortium (cf. Art 4.4.3 above). The Finance Committee shall have access at all times to the accounts of the Consortium and supporting documents.
(iii) The Finance Committee shall review the annual budget and financial results. It will also examine and comment upon the annual report of the auditor(s). The latter shall be chosen from among the Consortium membership but may not represent the same Member institution as the President of the Consortium, the Secretary General or the members of the Finance Committee.
(iv) Each year, the Finance Committee will prepare a report to be submitted to the General Assembly at least 30 days prior to the General Assembly meeting.
7.5.3 Projects Committee
(i) No fewer than three members shall serve on the Projects Committee whose mandate is to further the aims and objectives of the Consortium as identified in Article 2 of this Constitution.
(ii) The Projects Committee contributes actively to the development of new projects to be undertaken by the Consortium and in the drafting of related grant applications.
(iii) The Projects Committee may set up task forces for specific projects.
8.1The Governing Board shall, at least 30 days prior to the General Assembly of Members, submit to the membership a proposed budget. The budget shall include:
(i) An annual work program
(ii) A summary of sources of revenue needed for the implementation of the work programme, including annual membership fees, grants offunds from international institutions and other third parties, and feesfor services provided by the Consortium to its Members and otherparties.
(iii) An estimate of costs and disbursements to be incurred by the Consortium.
8.2 Approval of the budget requires the unanimous vote of the Consortium’s full membership.
The Consortium shall maintain its accounts on a financial year basis commencing on October 1st and terminating on September 30th of the following year in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards. The Consortium’s annual statementsand accounts are subject to an audit; the General Assembly of Members shall appoint a qualified auditor from among its Members.
10.1 The President of the Consortium is the Consortium’s designated spokesperson.
10.2 The Consortium may also be represented by its Vice-President or the Secretary General, or by any other person designated by the Governing Board with respect to external communications.
10.3 No contract may be concluded on behalf of the Consortium, or mention the Consortium, without the prior and express approval of the General Assembly.
11.1 Members are equally, jointly and severally liable for obligations to third parties contracted jointly or through representatives, under this Consortium and in its name.
Members are liable to each other for any loss or damage caused through the Consortium’s fault or negligence.
12.1 Proposals to amend this Constitution or to dissolve the Consortium shall require an affirmative vote of three quarters of the Consortium’s full membership. 12.2 In the event of dissolution, the balance of the Consortium’s assets, after the payment of all liabilities, shall be returned to the Membership or to any other organization having a goal that is compatible with the objectives of the Consortium.
The Governing Board shall designate an ombuds whose role will be to mediate disputes between Members of the Consortium and between Members and the Consortium itself. The qualifications and terms of engagement of the ombuds shall be determined by the Governing Board and follow Standards of Practice laid down by the International Ombudsman Association (IOA).
ANNEX 1: EMCI members: See right column on the home page
ANNEX 2: EMCI Quality Assurance Standards
ANNEX 3: EMCI Core Curriculum
ANNEX 4: EMCI Membership fees
Lat updated 18.05.2015