PPI Conference 2014/Statutes Amendments

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The deadline was March 14th 2014 23:59 CET

The current statutes and how they are voted on can be found here.

SAP-1 Court of Arbitration reform with Council and Jury

Title	Court of Arbitration reform with Council and Jury
Sponsor	Partido Pirata Português (PPP)
member of Pirate Party	Nuno Cardoso, International Coordinator for PPP (PP-PT)
Contact data	nuno.cardoso@partidopiratapt.eu
proposal ballot(s)	Amendments to transform the Court of Arbitration into an organ with a Council of individuals and Jury of Members Proposal: 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. __________________________________________________________ Current wording: XIVa. Court of Arbitration (5) If the mediation fails, the Members or applicants who are in a dispute may present an agreement to the Court of Arbitration, which contains the description of the dispute and their consent to abide by the decision of the Court of Arbitration. The Court of Arbitration will decide the dispute within the limits contained in the agreement. Proposal: XIVa. Court of Arbitration (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. __________________________________________________________ Current wording: XIVa. Court of Arbitration (6) 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 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 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 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 Court of Arbitration. Proposal: XIVa. Court of Arbitration (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. __________________________________________________________ Current wording: 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 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 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 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 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. Proposal: 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.
reasoning and motivation	This amendment is being resubmited because in addition to last year’s reasoning and motivation, it seems that this year’s Court of Arbitration activity was practically non-existent (who want’s to risk new threats at personal prosecution anyway?) and we really need a new way to handle things. Last year’s reasoning and motivation read as follows: “Given the events leading to the resignation of the members of the Court of Arbitration, it became perfectly clear that we need an arbitration model that Members can and must respect. Placing a mirror in front of them and allowing a full democratic model will help to accomplish that. We still need someone with time committed to make sense of conflicting parts, but we can have that in the form of one or more opinions/solutions from a Council of elected individuals. Then those opinions/solutions, along with the claims/solutions from each conflicting part, and any other volunteered opinions/solutions, can be voted by the Members, who become effectively a Jury of peers in the decision making. In cases of extreme controversy the vote could even be secret to avoid any kind of targeted threats from any Member, like the legal threats raised against the individuals elected to the previous Court of Arbitration, because all public opinions are just that, opinions protected by freedom of speech. Also, the actual final binding decision would include all Members and as such it would be senseless to make legal threats against themselves. The existence of the Council serves to address all bureaucratic issues and guarantee that at least an independant opinion is put up along with the opinions of the conflicting parts in case no other independent volunteered opinions/solutions are presented. In the case of article VII (2), regarding “Termination of Membership”, it would seem that appealing to the General Assembly would result in the same result, as the voters are the same, but since it’s a particularly delicate issue, an appeal with a final plea seems justified.”

SAP-2 Board of Representatives

Title	Board of Representatives
Sponsor	Partido Pirata Português (PPP)
member of Pirate Party	Nuno Cardoso, International Coordinator for PPP (PP-PT)
Contact data	nuno.cardoso@partidopiratapt.eu
proposal ballot(s)	Amendments to transform the Board into a Board of Representatives Current wording: XII. Board (1) Pirate Parties International is managed by the Board, the executive organ. The members of the Board shall consider the interests of the Pirate movement as a whole and shall neither consider themselves, nor be considered, as representing any particular Member or non-member Organization or region. (2) The Board and the Alternate Members are elected by the General Assembly at the regular sessions or if an extraordinary session is requested for that purpose. (3) The Board is composed of: a) two Co-Chairmen, b) five Board Members (4) The Board elects among the Board Members a) a Treasurer and b) a Chief of Administration No Board Member shall fulfill more than one office. (5) Other positions may be created by the Board. (6) There shall be four Alternate Members of the Board. If one seat of the Board becomes vacant, one of the Alternate Members shall follow-up according to a list. The position of the Alternate Members on the list shall be determined by approval voting. (7) Alternate Members following-up on the Board shall have no office, but may be elected into one by a majority vote of the Board. Proposal: XII. Board of Representatives (1) Pirate Parties International is managed by the Board of Representatives, the executive organ. The members of the Board shall consider the interests of the Pirate movement as a whole and shall neither consider themselves, nor be considered, as representing any non-member Organization or region. (2) Each Ordinary Member shall name a natural person as their Representative for the Board that will be empowered by the General Assembly at the regular sessions or if an extraordinary session is requested for that purpose. (3) The Board is composed of: a) a representative of each Ordinary Member, (4) The Board elects among the Board Members. a) a Chairperson, b) a Treasurer and c) a Secretary General No Board Member shall fulfil more than one office. (5) Other positions may be created by the Board. (6) If one seat of the Board becomes vacant, the Ordinary Member it represents is responsible for providing an alternate representative. Current wording: X. Functions of the General Assembly d) to hold elections of the Board, and other committees, Proposal: X. Functions of the General Assembly d) to empower the nominated Representatives to the Board, and hold elections of other committees, Current wording: XIII. Functions of the Board (3) One natural person named by each Ordinary Member shall be admitted with the right to participate in the Board meetings without the right to vote. (5) One of the Co-Chairmen convenes, opens, suspends, and closes the sessions and meetings and presides over them to ensure the observance of procedure, communicates the points of concern, and informs the Board about absences. In the absence of both of the Co-Chairmen another Member of the Board may be appointed to perform all these functions. (8) ... 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. Proposal: XIII. Functions of the Board of Representatives (3) (5) The Chairperson convenes, opens, suspends, and closes the sessions and meetings and presides over them to ensure the observance of procedure, communicates the points of concern, and informs the Board about absences. In the absence of the Chairperson another Member of the Board may be appointed to perform all these functions. (8) ... 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 Representative, but all rights of the concerned Board Member will be suspended.
reasoning and motivation	This amendment is being resubmited because in addition to last year’s reasoning and motivation, this year’s Board demonstrated what can happen when resources are scarce and start becoming unavailable. With only 7 elected , it doesn’t take too many absences to cut into the workforce in such a way that it begins to overwhelm the work of others or even render it infeasible. We really need a new way to handle things. Last year’s reasoning and motivation read as follows: “Sometimes the communication between the board and its members may not be the best both ways, this aims to fix that and at the same time mitigate the stress and conflict that sometimes arises from it. Giving the Members permanent responsibility in the Board will force both to work out solutions to problems instead of deflecting blame and throwing accusations because through the Representatives the Members are the Board and vice-versa. We as Pirates should know better than to select a “few” to represent the “many”, in this case a Board of “few” to represent the “many” Members is not a good solution, a better one is where every Member can have it´s voice heard at any time from within.”