Articles of Association



I. CONSTITUTION AND AIMS

Art. 1
The Fйdйration Cynologique Internationale, whose registered office is presently in THUIN (Belgium), 13, Place Albert 1er, has acquired legal status by virtue of the Belgium law on October 25th, 1919, as amended by the law of December 6th, 1964, relating to international associations with philanthropic, religious, scientific, artistic and educational aims, and shall be governed by these articles of association.
The registered office may be transferred to any other location in Belgium upon a simple decision taken by the general committee. Any change to the registered office must be published in the annexes to the ‘Moniteur belge’ within one month, following the date of the change.

Art. 2
The aims of the F.C.I. are to encourage and promote breeding and use of purebred dogs whose functional health and physical features meet the standard set for each respective breed and which are capable of working and accomplishing functions in accordance with the specific characteristics of their breed; to protect the use, keeping and breeding of dogs in the member countries; to support free exchange of dogs and cynological information between member countries and initiate the organization of exhibitions and tests.

The F.C.I. shall, in particular, by issuing special regulations, take care of :

a) mutual recognition of stud books and pedigrees,
b) the mutual recognition of kennel names and the establishment of international register of kennel names and judges,
c) the promoting of scientific research, which is of fundamental importance in cynology, and the free exchange of scientific information between member countries; the observance of the breed standards as established by the countries of origin or countries of patronage of the respective breeds. Those standards must be recognized by the other countries as far as they are not in contradiction with the national laws of those countries.
d) the standardization - to all possible extent - of the national regulations by issuing regulations for international championship shows and working championship and by keeping a list of dogs qualified to take part in such championships; seeking to maintain high standard of judges appointed for international shows and working trials; supporting certain member countries, if necessary, in conjuction with other international organizations, by providing professional informations and necessary cynological experts.
e) defining - after previous approval by the representative of the breed's country of origin or country of patronage - and publishing the characteristics of each breed. In any case, the standard of the new breed or any change in an existing standard will not be internationally acknowledged, however, unless the F.C.I.'s commission of standards and in cases of a new breed also the scientific commission have examined them and stated their opinion on the subject concerned.
f) the mutual recognition of the penalties and procedure established by member countries.

II. MEMBERSHIP

Art. 3
The F.C.I. has full members, associated members and it recognizes contract partners..

a) The full members are the national canine organizations recognized by the F.C.I.
b) The associated members are those organizations who have signed a special agreement that specifies their relationships with the F.C.I.
c) The contract partners are those national organizations that came to a special agreement with the FCI and have to take a probation period before having the opportunity to apply for associated membership. Their relationships with the FCI are governed by the Articles of Association, the FCI General Rules and the contract they entered into.
Each canine society shall be designated by reference to its membership to one of the following regional groups :

1. Europe
2. The Americas and the Caribbean
3. Asia
4. Africa
5. Oceania and Australia

d) Should there be significant changes in the present position, these groupings may be revised by the General Assembly.
e) The sections may have their own organisation and/or rules insofar as these are not in contradiction with the FCI’s Articles of Association and General Rules.

Art. 4
Only governing national organizations of countries which are not yet full or associated members can apply for membership.
Only one organization from each country may be accepted by the F.C.I.

Art. 5
a) In order to become a full member of the F.C.I. a governing national organization has to submit to the President a written application, signed by its legal representative, guaranteeing to observe the provisions of the present articles of association and the rules of the F.C.I.
The application must be accompanied by a certified copy of the articles of association and the rules of the applicant organization and a copy of the instrument granting it authority within the framework of its country or a certificate from the national competent authorities, indicating the legal form accorded to this body by its country.
The only governing national organization which may become full member are those which can prove that they have registered at least 2.000 dogs in their stud book and pedigree register the year before their application.
Associated members may apply for full membership.
b) The relationship between associated members and the F.C.I. shall be governed solely by the terms and scope of the special agreement entered into jointly. The subject matter of these agreements shall be extended at least to the mutual recognition of stud books, judges, kennel names and sanctions; any other clauses may be included by the parties, providing that they are not contrary to the present articles of association.
Associated members cannot be represented in the F.C.I. General Committee and in the compulsory commissions. However, they are allowed to be represented in the non-compulsory commissions where they have the right to take the floor but not to vote. They may attend and take part to general assemblies but may not vote.
Associated members may equally be represented in the various sections meetings where they have the right to take the floor but not to vote.
Contract partners may attend the non-compulsory commissions meetings as observers but they do not have the right neither to vote nor to take the floor.
Contract partners may also attend the sections meetings as observers where they have the right to take the floor but not to vote.
In the sections, only delegates from full members can be elected. The president of a section is elected for a 4-year period. He can be re-elected. Section meetings cannot be held on world dog show days. Furthermore, a section cannot meet on its own show days.

Art. 6
a) The president of the General Committee or the Executive Committee shall examine applications according to the articles of association and the rules of the F.C.I.
b) The General Assembly will take the decision.

Art. 7
Membership of the F.C.I. will end :

a) by resignation
b) expulsion by decision of the General Assembly passed by a two thirds majority vote, if a member refuses to follow the articles of association and the rules or does not pay due subscriptions and fees to the F.C.I. The member threatened with exclusion must be summoned to allow him to present his case.
The excluded member has the right to appeal to the courts which will verify the conformity of the exclusion procedure and check whether substantial grounds exist for excluding the member in question

Art. 8
a) Members/contract partners shall be bound by the articles of association and rules of the F.C.I. insofar these do not infringe on national laws.
b) The members/contract partners commit themselves to acknowledge mutually and exclusively their own stud books and pedigrees.
However, any country may refuse to enter a dog suffering from defects or featuring defects that could be opposed according to the provision of Art.2, paragraph c of the F.C.I.'s articles of association or which do not conform to the rules of selections defined by the regulations of the country that makes the refusal.
c) The pedigrees issued by member countries / FCI contract partners must be accepted by all member countries / FCI contract partners as ‘documents proving that the pups are born of purebred parents’. These pedigrees cannot under any circumstances be rescinded by a member country or FCI contract partner.
d) The member countries / contract partners are not obliged to register and issue pedigrees to pups produced as a result of deliberate mating of parents who do not conform to the FCI breed standards.

III. ORGANIZATION

Art. 9
The F.C.I. has :

a) a General Assembly
b) a General Committee
c) an Executive Committee
d) commissions

IV. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Art. 10
a) The General Assembly is formed by the full members of the F.C.I.
b) Each full member can be represented by, at the most, three delegates who together are entitled to one vote. A full member can vote with a proxy only for one other full member.
c) The General Assembly will meet at least once every two years. The General Committee will send a written invitation to each member/contract partner at least four months before the date. The General A ssembly will not be held on the same days as the World Dog Show.
d) The Executive Director will be notified at least three months before the meeting of the General Assembly of the proposed matters to be dealt with. The agenda and details of such matter shall be mailed to members/contract partners at least six weeks before the General Assembly.
e) An extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly can be arranged by the General Committee when necessary, or at the request of at least a quarter of the full members. The agenda must include all the proposals of the above-mentioned members.
f) The General Assembly is valid and can take decisions whatever the number of members present.
g) Decisions have to be approved by at least a simple majority of the votes (50% of the vote + 1).
The General A ssembly may only legitimately decide on amendments to the Articles of Association if two thirds of the members are present or represented. Any amendment to the Articles of Association may only be adopted upon a two thirds majority vote. Abstentions are not taken into account.
However, if the amendment relates to one of the founding objectives of the association (see Art. 2), it will only be valid, if it is passed unanimously by those members present at the assembly.
The amendment to the Articles of Association will only take effect after approval by royal decree and once the conditions of public disclosure required under Article 3 of the law of 25th October 1919 have been met.
h) The decisions of the General A ssembly are recorded in a register of minutes signed by the President and the Executive Director.
This register is kept at the registered office where all members may consult it on the spot, but may not remove it.

Art. 11
The President of the F.C.I. will conduct the General Assembly.

Art. 12
The competences of the General Assembly are as follows :

a) determination of the general programme of the F.C.I.
b) decisions on the admission, resignation and expulsion of members of the F.C.I.
c) the establishment of the membership/partnership subscriptions, and the fees for the patronage of shows and trials,
d) amendments of the articles of association,
e) election of six members of the General Committee
f) election of the individual members of the compulsory commissions and set up commissions and assign tasks to them,
g) decisions concerning the introductions of new standards
h) decisions related to general policy matters
i) approval of the General Committee's annual report and financial report,
j) approval of the general rules of the F.C.I.
k) selection of the countries which will hold the General Assemblies and the world dog show in the five coming years,
l)selection of the countries which will hold the world dog show in the years when the general assembly does not take place.
m) the dissolution of the federation.

V. THE GENERAL COMMITTEE

Art. 13
The General Committee shall consist of six members from different full members.
The members of the General Committee are elected by the General Assembly from a list of candidates proposed by the full members of the General Assembly. Their office will last four years.
In the event of death or permanent disability or some other valid reason preventing a General Committee member from carrying out his duties, his governing national organization may nominate a replacement for the period until the next elections. The President of the F.C.I. must immediately be notified by registered letter of such an eventuality. The newly elected member will complete his predecessor's term of office.
Furthermore, each regional group (defined in Art.3) which has registered at least 60.000 dogs during the last year shall be entitled to designate one representative as a member of the General Commitee in addition to the six members elected by the General Assembly. His term of office will also last four years. No member of the General Committee can be member of a compulsory commission at the same time.

Art. 14
The competence of the General Committee is as follows :

a) to achieve the aims set out in these articles of association,
b) to carry out the decisions of the General Assembly,
c) to manage the day to day business and to ensure that the articles of association and the rules are respected,
d) to draw up the budget, the financial report and the annual report and submit these last two documents to the General Assembly for approval,
e) to approve the annual works and programme of the commissions,
f) to approve all the special regulations, drawn up by the special commissions (exception : FCI General Rules),
g) to take the decisions concerning the modifications of standards,
h) to announce events,
i) to draw up and bring up to date the list of international judges,
j) to bring up to date the list of kennel names,
k) to supply press organizations and other publicity organizations with any publications,
l) to appoint an E xecutive Director,
m) to try to settle in a fair way any differences that may arise between two or more members/contract partners. If a satisfactory result is not obtained in reasonable time, the matter is submitted to the commission of arbitration.
n) to make decisions about shows, trials, titles and races and to take the final decisions in case of uncertainty and disagreement,
o) decision on the admission, resignation and exclusion of contract partners. The contract partners threatened with exclusion present their case before the General Committee.

The General Committee shall be entitled to submit proposals and requests to the General Assembly at any time. Besides the General Committee can give opinions to the General Assembly about any matter and proposals forwarded by the members.

Art. 15
a) Notice of meeting must be sent on behalf of the President by the Executive Director and received by the members of the General Committee at least thirty days before the date of the meeting. The meeting is valid with at least five members attending. Its decisions are taken by an absolute majority of votes: when there is parity of votes, the President or his substitute has the casting vote.
b) The General Committee shall meet at least twice a year.

VI. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Art. 16
a) The General Committee elects from its members the President, the Vice-President and the treasurer of the F.C.I.
b) The President of the F.C.I. is the legal representative. The instruments binding upon the association, other than those concerned with day-to-day management, are to be signed by the President, or barring that, by a special delegation of the Executive Committee. Legal action shall be brought about or supported by the Executive Committee on behalf of the association and the President shall take the initiative to start legal proceedings.
c) He assures that the decisions of the General Committee are carried out. He presides over the meetings of the General Committee and the Executive Committee and chairs the sessions of the General Assembly.
d) In urgent cases, he may take any necessary decisions on behalf of the Executive and General Committees. He must, however, submit these decisions for the approval of the General Committee as soon as possible.
e) The Vice-President assists the President and takes his place when the President is absent or not able to carry out his duties.
f) The treasurer supervises all the financial and economic affairs and has the power to make all the necessary and proper decisions.

Art. 17
a) The President of the F.C.I., the Vice-President and the treasurer together form the Executive Committee.
b) The Executive Committee:

must take urgent decisions about matters that cannot be delayed to the next meeting of the G eneral Committee,
has to prepare the General Committee meetings,
can call upon the President or a member of a commission to attend the meeting to discuss the activities and finances involved. If an agreement is not reached, the matter shall be referred to the General Committee.
c) The notice of meeting shall be sent on the President's behalf by the Executive Director .

VII. COMMISSIONS

Art. 18
a) Acting on proposals from the General Committee, the General Assembly may set up comissions and assign tasks to them. These commissions are responsible to the General Committee and shall report on their activities.
b) The General Assembly shall designate the countries which are represented in commissions: the governing national organizations then appoint a member for each commission in which it is represented. The members appointed must have the necessary qualifications and knowledge to carry out their duty.
c) The commissions elect one of their members as president. The governing national organization represented in any commission may, in case of their representative being permanently unable to carry out his duties, replace the representative.
d) The following commissions must be set up :

the legal commission
the scientific commission .
the standards commission
These three compulsory commissions are formed with a maximum of six members.

e) Only the members of the compulsory commissions must be individually elected by the General Assembly from a list of candidates. They cannot be at the same time member of the General Committee.
f) The office of the members of the compulsory commissions will last four years. It may be renewed. If a member resigns or if his term of office ends for any reason(s) before the due date, the General C ommittee appoints a successor for the remainder of the term.
g) Any commission may call upon a maximum of two experts for help if the particular nature of the problems involved makes this necessary.
h) The compulsory commissions must submit to the F.C.I. Executive Committee their agenda for approval before fixing any meeting.
i) The compulsory commissions in due course, forward to the General Committee, through the Executive Director, the minutes of their meetings and any other written reports at the latest six weeks after the meeting.
j) Without the agreement of the General Committee, the commissions are not allowed to make public their reports other than through the channels of the F.C.I.
k) The General Committee determines the tasks of the compulsory commissions.
l) The members of the non-compulsory commissions are designated according to the above § b.


Art. 19
Calling the commissions meetings

a) Notice of commissions meetings are issued by the respective presidents, through the Executive Director, at least two months before the date fixed for the meeting.
b) The minutes of the meetings have to be written up immediately after the meeting.

VIII. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 20
English, French, German and Spanish shall be the official working languages of the F.C.I. Official documents will be written in French.

Art. 21
a) All office within the F.C.I. are on a honorary capacity, with the exception of the Executive Director. Honorary functions can be compensated. Expenses have to be reimbursed.
b) The General Committee will decide about reimbursement of expenses only upon individual request.
c) Only the expenses incurred by the compulsory commissions will be refunded within limits set by the General Committee.

Art. 22
a) In the event of disputes between two full/associated F.C.I. members or contract partners, a commission of arbitration composed of three members of the legal commission who do not belong to either party involved and who shall be appointed by the committee, shall be called upon to give a ruling on the matter. The procedure shall be determined by the three members of the commission of arbitration.
b) The commission of arbitration will decide on complaints from members/contract partners with direct interest when rules of the F.C.I. have been broken. Complaints must be presented to the Executive Director of the F.C.I. in writing, with all evidences, at the latest within 6 months from the event. The procedure will be defined by the commission of arbitration and reported to the General Committee.

Art. 23
a) Every full/associated member of the F.C.I. or contract partner has the right to submit a complaint against another member/contract partner to the General Committee.
b) Object of the complaint can be any kind of violation of the articles of association and the General Rules of the F.C.I.
c) Complaints must be sent in five copies in one of the official working languages together with evidence in writing and all the necessary documentation to the Executive Director of the F.C.I. The Executive Director has to receive the complaints within six months after the event has happened or has been known by the plaintiff, in any case no longer than a year from the event.
d) The Executive Director will certify the date of the receipt of the complaint to the other party concerned, informing that it has the right to send a reply in five copies, in one of the working languages within three months. The reply must be completed with all the documented evidences in writing.
e) When the Executive Director has received the reply, he will immediately send one copy to the plaintiff for information only and will immediately send the files with all the documents of the parties involved to the members of the commission of arbitration.
f) The legal commission, before deciding, has all the rights to investigate the evidence by all means, including hearings.
g) A decision will be made in writing as soon as possible in one of the working languages and copies will be transmitted immediately to the two parties involved, by the Executive Director.
h) The legal commission will decide the sanction to be applied. It will transmit it to the General Committee which may lodge an appeal with the General Assembly. The same right is reserved to the parties concerned.

Art. 24
On 31st December each year, a statement of accounts for the past year and the budget for the following year shall be drawn up. The budget is adopted by the General Committee. The statement of accounts is provisionally approved by the General Committee, pending final ratification at the next General Assembly.

Art. 25
In the event of voluntary dissolution, the General Assembly will designate two liquidators and will determine their powers.
In all cases of voluntary or compulsory dissolution by the court at any moment in time or for any reason whatsoever, the disposable assets of the dissolved federation will be made over to associations having similar objectives, as designated by the General Assembly.

The General Assembly can only pronounce dissolution of the federation on condition that two thirds of the members are present. Any decision of dissolution shall only be adopted if passed unanimously by the members present.

Art. 26
In the event of dispute, it is only the original text that is authentic

Art. 27
Anything that is not explicitly provided for in these Articles of Association, in particular the formalities pertaining to publications to be made in the Annexes to the ‘Moniteur belge’, falls under the provisions of the law of 25th October 1919 governing international non-profit-making associations.


These Articles of Association were approved in Winterthur on January 22nd, 1990.
The amendments in bold were approved by the General Assembly in Mexico, June 1999

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