Statute

Current version, as changed by the General Meeting on April 27, 2022


Section 1 Name, Registered Office, Fiscal Year

(1) The Association shall be called "Atlanti­sche Akademie Rheinland-Pfalz e.V." (Registered Association Atlantic Academy Rhineland-Palatinate).

(2) The location of the registered office of the Association shall be Kaiserslautern.

(3) The fiscal year shall correspond with the calendar year.

(4) The Association shall be registered in the Register of Associations. 

Section 2 Purpose and Objectives

(1) The purpose of the Association is to intensify Ger­man-American and European-American dialogue and the dialogue between member states of the North Atlantic Alliance. These activities are based on the traditionally close links between the Rhineland-Pa­lati­nate and the United States of America; their objective is to contribute significantly to international understanding and to the promotion of a free and democratic political culture.

Within the framework of these objectives, the specific purpose of the Atlantic Academy is to contribute to:

  • extending and deepening the relationship between the citizens of the Federal State of the Rhineland-Palatinate and the citizens of the United States living and working there. This relationship, which has been predominantly a military one in the past, is to be extended to include economic, scientific and cultural fields;
  • expanding and promoting the existing relationship and mutual exchange between individual States of the United States and the Federal State of the Rhineland-Palatinate as well as between the other Laender of the Federal Republic of Germany in politics, economics, science and culture;
  • promoting the dialogue between Europe and America, among the member states of the North Atlantic Alliance and with the states of Central and Eastern Europe.

(2) In order to achieve these objectives, the Association shall:

  • hold conferences, seminars and expert colloquia and organize cultural events; in this context, close cooperation with the Pfalzakademie (Academy of the Palatinate) is envisaged;
  • raise donations, payments by sponsors, subsidies and other material contributions (e.g. in kind);
  • advertise the purpose and objectives of the Atlantic Academy by establishing contact with representatives from political, economic, scientific and cultural organizations and other bodies and institutions, and initiate and carry out projects in cooperation with them;
  • publish conference documentations and papers of special importance as part of the series Atlantische Texte (Atlantic Texts);
  • maintain a German-American library which shall be publicly available.

Section 3 Non-Profit Nature of the Association

(1) The purposes of the Association are exclusively and immediately for the public benefit (non-profit­) as defined in the section Steuerbegünstigte Zwecke (Purposes which constitute a reason for tax relief) of the Tax Code.

(2) The activities of the Association are charitable and not primarily directed towards economic ends.

(3) The resources of the Association may only be used for purposes in conformity with its Constitution. No person may receive benefits which serve other purposes than those of the Association or receive disproportionately high remuneration. The Association may not use its resources for the direct nor for the indirect support of political parties. 

Section 4 Membership

(1)  Members of the Association may be either natural or legal persons who are ready to support the purpose of the Association.

(2) Applications for membership should be submitted in written form to the Board, which shall decide on membership.

(3) Honorary membership may be bestowed. 

Section 5 Termination of Membership

(1) Membership terminates if a member resigns, is excluded or dies, or if the legal person (which is a member) is dissolved.

(2) A member may resign at the end of a calendar year after membership of at least two years. In order for the resignation to become effective for the subsequent year, the notice of withdrawal must have been submitted in writing to the Board/Chairwoman/Chairman at least three months prior to the end of the calendar year.

(3) A member may be excluded from the Association following a violation of the interests of the Association. The decision on the exclusion is made by the Boardafter the member concerned has been given a hearing. The member may lodge an appeal against the exclusion; the final decision is made by the General Meeting. 

Section 6: Members' Duties

(1)  Members shall pay annual dues. Further details are provided by the membership fee scale, which shall be decided by the general meeting.

(2)  In special individual cases, the board may grant a reduction of membership dues.

(3)  The general meeting shall decide increases of membership dues.

Section 7 Bodies of the Association

(1) The functions of the Association shall be performed by the General Meeting and by the Board.

(2) The members of the bodies of the Association shall serve on an honorary basis.

(3) With regard to the decisions and meetings of the Bodies of the Association notes are to be made, to be signed by the head of the meeting and to be made available by the Board.

Section 8 General Meeting

(1) The functions of the General Meeting include:
a) election of members of the Board;
b) discussion and approval of the outline of the annual program of the Atlantic Academy;
c)  acceptance of the report on activities and the annual statement of accounts;
d) appointment of auditors to audit the annual statement of accounts;
e) discharging of the Boardafter accepting the audit reports on the annual statement of accounts;
f)  approval of the schedule of membership dues;
g) taking a decision on a complaint lodged by a member against his/her exclusion pursuant to section 5 sub-section 3, sentence 3 of this Constitution;
h) changes to the Constitution;
i) dissolution of the Association.

(2) The regular General Meeting shall take place once per calendar year. It shall be convened by the Chairwoman/Chairman of the Board, who shall notify members in writing at least four weeks in advance and shall provide information as to the agenda.

(3) Any member may submit a written request to the President that the agenda be amended until two weeks before the General meeting. At the beginning of the General Meeting, the Chairwoman/Chairman shall announce these requests. Amendments to the agenda or the inclusion of additional points proposed during a General Meeting shall be decided on by the General Meeting.

(4) If one quarter of the members submit a written request that a meeting be convened, stating purpose and reasons, the Chairwoman/Chairman of the Board shall call an extraordinary General Meeting, notifying members at least two weeks in advance in text form and providing information as to the agenda.

(5) At membership meetings, a quorum shall be attained if members have been duly invited to the meeting. Decisions shall be taken on the basis of the majority of the members present. However, a majority of two-thirds of the members present is required to amend the Constitution or to dissolve the Association. Abstentions shall not be counted. To amend the Constitution or dissolve the Association, consent of the Inner State Department and the State Department of Sports is required

(6) If the amending of the Constitution or the dissolving of the Association appears on the agenda, the regulations in paragraph (5) shall be particularly pointed out in the invitation letter.

Section 9 Board

(1) The Board consists of at least two members elected by the General Meeting together with a representative of the Consulate General of the United States Frankfurt as well as a member of the government of Rhineland-Palatine or an Assistant Secretary as Chairperson.

The Director of the Academy shall be a member of the board in an advisory capacity.

(2) The Board may adopt rules of procedure governing its own activities.

(3) The Board shall take decisions based on the majority of its members unless otherwise stipulated in the Constitution of the Association. It should strive for unanimity.

(4) The Association shall be represented by the President and Deputy President, who shall act jointly on behalf of the Association in and out of court.

(5) The Board shall have the authority to take all decisions except those incumbent on the General Meeting as set down in this Constitution. The functions of the Board specifically include:
a) admission and exclusion of members;
b) implementation of decisions made at the General Meeting;
c)  appointment of the Director of the Academy according to § 11 of this Constittion;
d) decision on an economic plan for the next fiscal year stating receipts and expenses separately, for which consent of the Inner State Department and the Department of Sports is required;
e) inclusion of projects in the program of events of the Atlantic Academy;
f)  approval of agreements concluded by the Director of the Academy if they involve a sum in excess of 10,000.00 Euro or if they extend beyond the current fiscal year;
d) preparation of a report on the activities of the Association and compilation of the annual statement of accounts for the preceding fiscal year;
h) appointment and convening of an Advisory Board (if applicable).

(6) The Chairperson or, if he or she is prevented from doing so, the Deputy Chairperson of the Board of Management may order that resolutions on individual items be adopted by circulation in text form, by way of an online meeting, or by a combination of permissible resolution-making procedures.

(7) The Chairperson shall chair the General Meeting. He/she may appoint another member of the Board to deputize for him/her.

(8) Members of the Board may hold office for two years. The Board shall remain in office until the subsequent Board has been elected. The members of the Board are eligible for reelection. 

Section 10 Advisory Board

(1) The Board of the Atlantic Academy may appoint an Advisory Board to assist in the carrying out of its duties.

(2) Members of the Advisory Board can be prominent figures in the fields of politics, economics, science and culture who are involved in European/Ameri­can, German/American or Rhenish-Palatine/ American relations and who have a special interest in the work of the Atlantic Academy.

(3) The Advisory Board may adopt rules of procedure governing its own activities. 

Section 11 Secretariat

(1)The Association shall maintain an office. This office shall be headed by the Director of the Academy. The Director shall be in charge of drawing up the program of the Academy and of conducting the day-to-day administrative business as determined by the association's bodies. In this capacity, the Director acts as a representative for the association (§ 30 BGB).

(2)  The Director of the Academy shall be appointed by the Board in consent with the Inner State Department and the Department of Sports.

(3)  The Director of the Academy shall be responsible for hiring staff. Hiring of staff shall be subject to the board's approval. 

Section 12 Dissolution of the Association

(1) If liquidation of the assets of the Association becomes necessary, the active members of the Board shall be the liquidators.

(2) If the Association is dissolved or the reason for which tax relief has been granted is no longer applicable, the assets must be used for purposes eligible for tax relief. These assets may not be disposed of until the fiscal authorities have given their consent.