§ 1 Name and Registered Place of Business
The Name of the Association is ‘Reisenetz – Deutscher Fachverband für Jugendreisen e.V.’. It has its registered seat in Berlin. The association was entered in the register of associations under number 9887 at the district court of Köln, Germany.
§ 2 Purpose and Objectives
- Reisenetz is a federal consortium of organisations and individuals involved in the development and planning of excursions, encounters and city trips for children and young adults in particular, which they also implement, and who are theoretically or practically involved in this sense or another with these types of services.
The purpose and objectives of the Association are:
the promotion of excursions, youth encounters and city trips for children and young adults within the framework of youth welfare services;
educational work with participants, organisers and multipliers;
as well as the furtherance of intercultural understanding among nations.
The objectives of the Statues shall be implemented and achieved in particular by:
- Advocacy of quality in child and youth travel
- Providing information and advice for members
- Promoting business and networking contacts among members and exchanging experiences at national, European and international level.
- Joint promotion and support with planning, implementation and further development of programmes and projects
- Joint public relations
- Acquisition as well as vocational education and training of employees and multipliers
- Creation of study guides, publications and periodicals
- Implementation and participation in conferences, seminars and other events
- Cooperation with public and independent youth welfare organisations and academic institutions
- Providing information and advice for young adults, their parents and anyone with a vested interest in the subject
§ 3 Membership
3.1. Forms of Membership
a) Ordinary Member
Any natural and legal persons can become Ordinary Members of the Association, who organise trips for children and young adults, or who act as agents thereof, or who provide certain elements of these services independently that are relevant to this sector, as longs as they have an active influence on the content of services regarding the travel of children and young adults.
b) Association-related cooperative enterprises of legal or natural persons, or parts thereof, can also become Ordinary Members of the Association, if they are active in a capacity as described in a) above, or if they are seen to be contributing considerably to the advancement thereof. However, they do not have the passive voting privileges or the right to be elected.
c) Natural and legal persons can also become Sustaining Members, who wish to support the objectives of the association without having active or passive voting privileges.
d) Honorary member
Natural persons who have rendered outstanding service to the association and /
or youth travel can be appointed honorary members, with the consent of the honorary member being required. The honorary membership is valid for a lifetime and can only be withdrawn in the case of behavior which is detrimental to the association. Honorary membership is non-contributory. Honorary members have a right to speak in the General Meeting. They have no right to vote and no right to being elected. A simultaneous ordinary membership by the natural or legal person in which the honorary member is a member is possible and is not affected by its rights.
3.2. Membership and Quality
All ordinary members, for whose field of work Reisenetz has passed quality standards, must comply with the current version of these standards. The standards for the certification of the members, for review and control, for re-certification and the “Reisenetz Quality Certificate” are laid down in the „Quality Rules of Procedure”.
3.3. Admission of Members
Admission to Ordinary Membership is dependent upon whether the applicant or an organisation, whose legal successor the applicant is, has provided relevant services regarding travel for children and young adults for at least one year. Furthermore, the applicant must observe and comply with the respective and relevant version of ‘Reisenetz’ standards of quality. An exception will be made for applicants who represent association-related affiliations or enterprises, or for organisations to whose services or products quality standards have not yet been finally applied or resolved.
3.4. Membership contributions
Each member, with the exception of honorary members, shall contribute to the association. The amount of the contributions (annual contribution, admission fee, contribution to quality certification) is determined by the General Assembly in the contribution regulation. This is valid until it is replaced by a new regulation.
3.5. End of membership
The General Assembly shall decide on the admission and exclusion of Members.
Membership in the Association may be terminated.
A) by giving notice in writing to the Board of Directors at least 3 months prior to the end of the calendar year and which will become effective at the end of the year, by the death of a Member (natural persons), i.e. the loss of legal capacity (legal persons);
(B) death (natural persons) or loss of legal capacity (legal persons)
(C) by exclusion by the majority of the General Meeting, if
- the member does not meet the quality standards of the Reisenetz
- the member misused the Reisenetz Quality Certificate
- the member has violated the interests of the association
- the General Meeting notes that the admission of a network member by the Board does not correspond to the interests of the Association the member owes more than one membership fee to the association at the time of the General Meeting.
Exclusion does not affect existing receivables.
3.6. Contributions to members
The board and committee members are offering voluntary work for the association. An appropriate compensation for their work can be granted. The board of directors decides on this. No member may be favored by unreasonable contributions.
§ 4 Organs
The organs of the association are:
(A) the Annual General Meeting
(B) the board of directors
(C) the quality committee
The Management Board and the Quality Committee are elected by the General Meeting on the basis of the current election regulations.
§ 5 The General Meeting
The General Assembly will be held as required, however, it shall be held at least once every calendar year. The time and venue shall be determined by the Board of Directors and communicated to the Members in writing, with at least two weeks’ notice.
The Board of Directors is obliged to convene a General Assembly within 2 weeks, if it has been requested in writing by at least one third of the Members and concerns a specific point in need of consultation. In order to be valid, resolutions adopted by the General Assembly are subject to the special provision made in §12 where a simple majority of attending Members suffices to vote in order to reach a resolution.
Written minutes must be made of all General Assembly proceedings and any resolutions or decisions, which must be signed by the keeper of the minutes and countersigned by the Chairman or another Member of the Board.
The minutes must be approved at the next General Assembly.
§ 6 Assignments of the General Meeting
The principal responsibilities of the General Assembly are the following:
a) approval of the minutes of the previous General Assembly
b) approval of progress, financial and auditor reports
c) election and dismissal of the Board of Directors
d) deliberation and voting on motions concerning the work of the Association
e) resolution concerning the budget for the following year
f) setting of the membership fee
g) appointment and staffing of committees
h) admission of new members
i) resolution to exclude members
j) resolution on changes to the Statutes
k) resolution on the dissolution of the Association
§ 7 Board of Directors
The Board of Directors shall consist of at least 3 and at most 5 members.
In the sense of § 26 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the Board of Directors is made up of the Chairperson, his/her representative and one Member of the Board, who is responsible for the finances. The Board of Directors represents the Association inside and outside of court.
Each of its members has the power of sole representation.
The Board of Directors will be elected for a period of two years. It will remain in power after the period of office until the next vote has taken place.
Re-election is permitted.
In the event of the resignation, death or permanent prevention of a member of the Board, the Board of Directors is entitled to appoint a representative in a provisional manner up to the next Annual General Meeting. This resolution must be passed unanimously on the Board. All further resolutions are passed by a simple majority of the members present. To support its activities, the Board of Directors may propose the establishment of committees, which must be confirmed by the General Assembly.
The Board of Directors carries out the business of the Association in the sense of the statues and the resolutions of the General Meeting.
The Management Board may delegate the management of the office to third parties for the purpose of pursuing the purposes of the Association.
§ 8 The Quality Committee
The quality committee carries out the certification of the members and monitors the use of the quality certificate. The details are regulated in the „Quality Rules of Procedure”. In case of rescission, death or permanent prevention of a committee member, the board of directors is authorized to appoint a representative by the next general meeting.
§ 9 Confidentiality
The members of the Board, the Quality Committee and other committees commit to maintain secrecy in respect of all internal affairs of the association and its members, which have become known in the course of office.
§ 10 Audit
The evaluation and monitoring of the Board of Directors shall be carried out at least once a year by two representatives of the General Assembly, who have been appointed by the General Assembly to do so.
The business year is the calendar year.
§ 11 Amendment to the Statutes / Dissolution of the Association
Resolutions concerning amendments to these Statutes or the dissolution of the Association require a majority of two thirds of the Members present.
In the event that the Association be dissolved or annulled, or its present purpose be discontinued, then the General Meeting shall determine the recipient of the Association’s assets. The recipient must use the assets to promote youth travel.
Prior to the execution of the resolutions, the consent of the responsible tax office is to be obtained.
The initial statues came into effect on May 31, 1986. The valid Statues shall enter into force on the day they were passed on November 24, 2012.
This document is a translation of the German original. Should any legal issues arise, the German laws apply.