Following sentence 2011-1-A, the Court of Arbitration issues the following provisional rules of procedure. These rules are to be considered temporary until ratified or rejected by the next meeting of the General Assembly, which has the power to approve internal regulations according to art. (X) paragraph (h) of the Statutes.
The actual procedure has been to accept external complaints, to begin a self-initiated procedure and to pass rulings when a simple majority of four members was reached.
PROVISIONAL RULES FOR THE CoA
COMPLAINT PROCEDURES
Complaints must be presented to the Court by email at the address <coa@pp-international.net>. Requests outside the boundaries of the following descriptions will be treated on a case-by-case basis. The Court will, if needed, begin a self-initiated procedure, acknowledging the board and the members of PPI through the pp-leaders mailing list if such a need arises.
Complaints against PPI organs, PPI members or PPI officers
In case of complaints against a PPI organ, member or officer, the complaint shall be sent to the Court and CCed to the board and the PPI address of the interested person and, if known, to his personal email address. Complaints can be filed by a PPI member or a PPI organ and must contain or give a direct link to the complete description of the complaint and the relevant documents.
The Court of Arbitration acknowledges the reception of the complaint within two days after any of its members has read it. The Court of Arbitration can issue a motivated reject of the claim within one week from this acknowledgement. The Court of Arbitration must issue a rule within thirty days since the complaint was acknowledged.
Anonymous complaints
Anybody can contact either the Court of Arbitration or one of its member by the channel of his choice to issue a complaint about the functioning of the PPI or the PPI by itself, provided they are suspected of a violation of the PPI Statutes, of the Pirate Party movement core values, or would be victims of such a suspected behaviour.
The Court of Arbitration then decides whether the claim seems well-grounded, and if so can initiate an own intended procedure without the need of disclosing the identity of the complainant. This decision is sent to both the complainant and the PPI officers, organs or members the complaint is referring to, and is subject to the same time limits applied to regular complaints.
Requests for opinions, declarations or rulings on legal acts of PPI organs
Requests regarding declarations on matters of fact or rulings regarding the validity of legal acts of PPI organs can be requested by a PPI officer, a PPI organ or a PPI member. In case of rulings on legal acts of PPI organs, the interested organ must be CCed. Opinions can be requested by anyone, but the Court will issue such an opinion only if considered relevant for PPI and its members. If the opinion requested is considered particularly relevant to PPI the Court may decide to open an own-initiated "request for declaration on a matter of fact".
Requests for mediations
Requests for mediation can be sent by one or more PP members and all the involved parts must agree on the requests.
COURT PROCEDURES
When a case is brought to the Court, two members of the Court will be appointed to be the coordinator and the secretary for the ongoing proceeding. At any point of the procedure, a majority of the Court of Arbitration members can change the coordinator or the secretary for a case, and cancel any decision they have taken.
Complaints
In case of complaints against persons or PPI organs, the coordinator will solicit, if needed, a defensive script and a reasonable period of time to reply, that cannot be less than five days in case of urgent matters. If needed, the coordinator also set up in the same conditions a period of time for the discovery of evidence and the hearing of testimonies. When the coordinator declares a discussion on a case finished, a ruling will be issued.
Mediations
In case of requests for mediation the appointed coordinator will request the PPI members for a list of Mediators willing to help. The coordinator will ask the parties to elect the mediators they accept. In case more than one is accepted by all the parties, they can ask the coordinator to extract one of them. In case the mediation is declared failed by any of the party and they agree on requesting a Court ruling, the matter will be discussed by the Court members.
Rulings
The secretary will write a ruling draft and send it to the rest of the Court of Arbitration for review. Any member of the Court of Arbitration can suggest modifications to the draft. Once the text has been fully approved by a majority of the Court of Arbitration members, a deadline is fixed for the remaining members to either approve, abstain or express a dissenting opinion. This deadline should be of at least two days, but in case of emergencies this delay can be shorter. A ruling will contain the date of the ruling, the description of the case, and both the ruling of the majority of the Court and the dissenting opinion(s), if any. It will be published on the PPI wiki, on the PPI general mailing list and sent to the interested parties, PPI members and the PPI board. The ruling will become enforceable immediately, if a different lapse of time is not specified in the ruling itself.
Power delegation
A member of the Court of Arbitration can delegate his power to another member of the Court of Arbitration, for each and every vote described in the current rules of procedure. A member of the Court of Arbitration shall not be delegated more than one power at a time.
