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TITLE VI, COMMITTEE (GENERAL ASSEMBLY)
Article 18 – Composition of the International Committee Meeting
The International Committee Meeting shall be comprised of all branches, recognised groups and contacts. Each branch shall have one vote. Recognised groups have only advisory right. Contacts, working groups and partner organisations may also attend but without voting right.
The legally constituted General Assembly represents all members; its decisions are binding for all members, also for those not attending and the members who are not in favour of the decision taken.
Article 19 – Powers of the International Committee Meeting
The International Committee is the highest and final decision-making body of the association. The members gather in the International Committee Meeting to discuss or decide on all matters relevant for the association and in particular
a) to recognise, withdraw or revise recognition of branches, groups, contacts and partner organisations
b) to amend the International Constitution
c) to elect and dismiss the Executives and Auditors
d) to approve the international accounts and budgets
e) to discharge Executives and Auditors
f) to dissolving the association, and for all other cases stipulated by the Constitution.
g) ratify the appointment of the Financial Advice and Consultancy Team and the International Insurance Commission
h) to monitor and evaluate the international activities of SCI over the previous year
i) to decide on future policies and programmes, to discuss relevant political and social issues, and take a position on them
Without this list being limitative, the International Committee Meeting has the right to:
j) receive reports from branches, groups, working groups, the Financial Advice and Consultancy Team, the International Insurance Commission and staff
k) receive a written report from the International Executive Committee, including staff issue
l) to approve election in order to ensure fair elections
m) to approve and withdraw approval of Working Groups:
Working Groups
Working Groups are comprised of a minimum of three branches or groups to develop or co-ordinate work in a particular area and must adhere to the “Rules for working groups” as agreed by the ICM and as attached in the appendix to the Constitution.
Additional rights and responsibilities of working groups shall be established as necessary by the International Committee.
Article 21 – Regular Annual Meeting
International Committee meetings should be held at least once every year at the latest between 1 October and 15 December to discuss and accept the accounts of the previous accounting year, discharge the Executives and the Auditor(s) or Auditing Members if any and accept the budget for the next accounting year.
If the International Executive Committee fails to call together the International Committee Meeting twenty weeks before 15 December, it will be held on 20 December, at 9 AM at the legal seat of the association. (If this day is a holiday the meeting will be held on the first working day at the same time and place.
Article 22 – Special or Extraordinary Committee Meeting
A special or an extraordinary meeting of the International Committee Meeting can also be requested by the branches, the International President or the Auditor(s). If the International President receives written requests to organise an International Committee Meeting from at least one third of the branches, groups and working groups or from the Auditor(s), he/she must do so at the earliest possible opportunity. A formal notification of the meeting must be sent out within four weeks of receiving such requests, and the meeting must be held between twenty weeks and thirty weeks of the date that the notification is posted.
Article 23 – Place of the International Committee Meeting
The place of the International Committee Meeting shall be at the seat of the association or in any other place, in Belgium or abroad, which must to be notified to the members in writing.
Article 24 – Invitation
The International Committee Meeting will be called together by the International Executive Committee The invitation can be sent by postal mail, telegram, telex, fax (with sending proof), email (with reception proof) or any other means of communication resulting in a reaction of the invited effective member.
The invitation with the proposed agenda should be sent out at least eight weeks before the meeting to all affective and admitted members.
Article 25 – Representation
Any branch which is unable to be present at an International Committee Meeting may appoint a proxy (which must also be a branch) to vote on its behalf. A branch may only carry a proxy for one other branch. Valid proxies must be considered normal votes and counted for establishing simple majority, two-thirds majority and all votes taken.
Article 26 – Form of the Proxies
A letter of appointment, authorised by the committee of the branch which cannot attend, must be received by the International Executive Committee or the members organising the International Committee Meeting before the start of the International Committee Meeting.
Article 27 – Voting by mail
Postal votes can only be used for the election of members of the International Executive Committee. For a postal vote to be valid it must be authorised by the branch committee of the branch that cannot attend the International Committee Meeting, and must be received in writing by the International Executive Committee before the start of the International Committee Meeting.
Article 28 – Agenda, Amendments
The International Executive Committee proposes the agenda. Each proposal that is directed to the International Executive Committee at least six weeks before the meeting and that is signed by at least two effective members has to be included in the agenda.
The International Committee Meeting cannot legally discuss and decide points that have not been included in the agenda, be it explicitly or implicitly.
The Executives and all members have the right to propose amendments regarding all points of the proposed agenda but the proposal must be supported by two branches.
Where unforeseeable circumstances make it impossible to include an issue in the agenda in time, the ICM may choose to consider it as an urgent agenda point. An urgent agenda point must be handed in writing to the chairperson at the beginning of a session. It must be supported or seconded by the delegates of at least two branches, groups or working groups. Upon receiving an urgent agenda point, the chairperson should put the decision whether to consider the urgent point to the vote at the earliest possible opportunity. A two-third majority is needed for an urgent resolution or recommendation to be considered.
Article 29 – Quorum and majority for decisions – the Principle
A quorum at International Committee meetings shall be at least half the total number of branches. A meeting shall have quorum only if delegates from all regions are present.
Decisions shall be made by a simple majority of those present and entitled to vote, with the exception of amendments to the International Constitution and the other cases mentioned in this Constitution.
Voting happens by a raise of hand, unless the meeting decides otherwise. Elections of Executives and Auditor(s) happen in principle with a secret vote.
Article 30 – Quorum and majority for decisions – special cases
In the event that a meeting of the International Committee has no quorum or is likely not to have, the International Executive Committee must reconvene a meeting of the International Committee after at least sixteen days but within six months of the original date set. If a quorum is not achieved at such a reconvened meeting, the meeting shall proceed as if it had a quorum.
The ICM takes decisions about
1. amendments to the International Constitution,
2. the relegation of a branch from branch to group status,
3. the expulsion of a branch, recognised group or contact,
4. the prolongation of the mandate of a member of the International Executive Committee with a third term
5. the exclusion of a member of the International Executive Committee, or
6. the dissolution of the association
with a majority of at least two thirds.
Article 31 – Unanimous decision making in writing
The branches can take all decisions in writing that are the responsibility of the General Assembly if they are taken unanimously. This possibility does not exist for the decisions mentioned in article 30 and for cases mentioned in the Law.
Article 32 – Minutes
Reports of an International Committee Meeting will be electronically communicated to all branches, groups and working groups within 4 months after the meeting, or by a postal mailing on explicit request.
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