SAP 3 Delete Court of Arbitration from the Statutes

• Sponsor: Pirate Party of Germany (PPDE)

• member of Pirate Party:

  • Thomas Gaul (Int. Coord. PPDE)
  • Gregory Engels (Int. Coord. PPDE)

• Contact data

  • thomas.gaul at piratenpartei . de
  • gregory.engels at piratenpartei . de

• Proposal:

Delete or change all references to the Court of Arbitration from the Statutes accordingly.

In detail:

Ad. 1

Change
III. Membership

(5) The Members are obliged to respect the Statutes, internal regulations and rules of procedure, in particular abide by the decisions of the Court of Arbitration.

to
III. Membership

(5) The Members are obliged to respect the Statutes, internal regulations and rules of procedure.

(6) The legal domicile of the association is where the organisation is seated.

Ad. 2

Change
VI. Multiple applicants from one sovereign state

(2) If a Federation or Confederation cannot be agreed on, the voting power of this state is split between these Members. The splitting method is, in order of preference:

a) consensus between all Ordinary Members of this sovereign state; 

b) compromise between all Ordinary Members of this sovereign state, with the help of a Registered Moderator from the Court of Arbitration ; 

c) decision by the Court of Arbitraton within the limits contained in proposals given by Ordinary Members from the sovereign state. 

(3) As long as none of the preferred methods comes into action, the voting power of the sovereign state is split equally between its Ordinary Members.

to
VI. Multiple applicants from one sovereign state

(2) If a Federation or Confederation cannot be agreed on, the voting power of this state is split between these Members. The splitting method is, in order of preference:

a) consensus between all Ordinary Members of this sovereign state; 

b) compromise between all Ordinary Members of this sovereign state 

(3) As long as none of the preferred methods comes into action, the voting power of the sovereign state is split equally between its Ordinary Members.

'Ad. 3

Change
VII. Termination of Membership

(2) The decisions on the changes of Membership, such as suspension, reinstatement and exclusion, fall within the competence of the Court of Arbitration, and can be appealed to the General Assembly. If the Member appeals, the decision becomes effective at the end of the Meeting of the General Assembly, unless the General Assembly decides otherwise. A proposal for the exclusion of a Member may only be submitted by the Board, or by a tenth of Members from three different continents.

to

(2) The decisions on the changes of Membership, such as suspension, reinstatement and exclusion, fall within the competence of the Board, and can be appealed to the General Assembly. If the Member appeals, the decision becomes effective at the end of the Meeting of the General Assembly, unless the General Assembly decides otherwise. A proposal for the exclusion of a Member may only be submitted by four Board members, or by a tenth of Members from three different continents.

Ad. 4

Delete
XIa. Revocation

(1) At any time, Ordinary Members wielding at least a fifth of the voting power can initiate the revocation of a PPI officer by calling upon the Court of Arbitration. The Council of the Court of Arbitration can reject the revocation request if it is not supported by enough of the Ordinary Members, if an election for the seat took place less than a month ago or will take place within a month, or another revocation process of the same PPI officer is already in progress.

(2) When the request is valid, within seven days the Council of the Court of Arbitration warns the Members of the revocation process, and opens an internal consultation of seven days to collect grievances against the concerned PPI officer. The Council of the Court of Arbitration then has seven days to send him a synthesis of the grievances.

(3) The PPI officer has seven days to answer. At reception of his answer, or at the end of the time, the Council of the Court of Arbitration organizes a postal referendum on the revocation of the PPI officer with the synthesis of the grievances and, if any, his answer. If the revocation is voted, the PPI officer's seat is treated as vacant and this person cannot occupy the same seat until the following General Assembly.

Ad. 5

Change
XIII. Functions of the Board

(8) A Board member may resign at any moment. After resignation, death, long term disease or if a Member of the Board does not execute its functions for more than three months, his seat becomes vacant. If the seat has neither become vacant by resignation nor death of the Board Member the remaining Board Members have to declare the seat as vacant by majority vote. The concerned Board Member may appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration within the period of a month. The Court of Arbitration shall pass judgement not later than a month after the appeal was filed. Pending the decision of the Court of Arbitration or until the decision of the Board cannot be appealed anymore the seat shall not be taken by an Alternate Member, but all rights of the concerned Board Member will be suspended.

to
XIII. Functions of the Board

(8) A Board member may resign at any moment. After resignation, death, long term disease or if a Member of the Board does not execute its functions for more than three months, his seat becomes vacant. If the seat has neither become vacant by resignation nor death of the Board Member the remaining Board Members have to declare the seat as vacant by majority vote.

Ad. 6

Delete
Court of Arbitration
XIVa. Court of Arbitration

(0) The Court of Arbitration shall be constituted by a Council composed of individuals and a deciding Jury composed of all the Ordinary Members.

(1) The exclusive power to resolve internal disputes shall be vested to the Court of Arbitration. All other organs and officers are required to cooperate with the Court of Arbitration to the extend needed for the proper exercise of its functions.

(2) Complaints may be sent by the organs and officers of the PPI and by the Members. A complaint may be regulated with a fee to be returned if the complaint is reasonable. The complainant may participate in the investigation.

(3) In particular, the Court of Arbitration has the exclusive power to

a) issue a preliminary ruling in an urgent matter of its competence, 

b) declare matters of fact when necessary for the functioning of the PPI, 

c) decide the disputes between the officers and the organs of the PPI, 

d) decide on the restrictions on persons who breach the Statutes and the internal regulations and in these cases degrade an official or declare his further incapability to be elected, 

e) decide on the validity of legal acts of the organs of the PPI, 

f) decide on the matters of Membership (Art. VII par. 2). 

(4) The Court of Arbitration keeps a Register of Mediators. This register lists the name, contact address, and Party affiliation of the people from the Ordinary Members who are willing to help solve the disputes between the Members. All Members may consult this register and choose a Mediator who can help them solve the dispute.

(5) If the mediation fails, each of the Members or applicants who are in a dispute may present an agreement to the Court of Arbitration, which contains their description of the dispute, their solution and their consent to abide by the decision of the Court of Arbitration. The Council of the Court of Arbitration will present an independent solution within the limits of opposing views. Other solutions may also be presented to the Court of Arbitration by independent third parties. The Jury of the Court of Arbitration will decide the dispute by casting a preferential vote using an appropriate single-method election system that ensures a condorcet criterion.

(6) The Council of the Court of Arbitration may answer the preliminary questions of the organs and individuals about the interpretation of the Statutes and the internal regulations; such answers act through their persuasiveness only.

(7) The Council of the Court of Arbitration shall have between three and seven Members. The provisions concerning the election of the Members of the Board and vacancies apply accordingly.

(8) A member of the Board cannot be also a member of the Council of the Court of Arbitration. In case the results in the General Assembly elections would put the person in position to occupy a seat in both Board and Council of the Court of Arbitration, she must immediately relinquish one of the two. In case the person is not able to choose:

if she already occupied one of the seats before the General Assembly then she relinquishes this position for the new one,

otherwise it is considered by default that she relinquishes any seat position in the Council of the Court of Arbitration.

(9) The Court of Arbitration keeps a Register of Investigators. This register lists the name, contact address, and Party affiliation of the people from the Ordinary Members who are willing to help investigate on any matter the Court of Arbitration has authority on. All Members and PPI officers may consult this register and ask, anonymously or not, an Investigator to constitute a file. Any Investigator can ask the Court of Arbitration to rule on a case. Members of the Court of Arbitration or of the Board cannot be Investigators.

• reasoning and motivation: Out of experience and several discussions in the past, we consider: Lesson learnt. Due to several ideas mostly based on the judical background and its history in each member state country there deem to be no mutual definition of a Court of Arbitration. There may be ways to see fit some kind of a body for appealing decision or such in the future. At the current state of affairs among the members of PPI there will be no common solution to agree upon. The current concept is malfunctioning and needs to be abolished.