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ARCADE Bylaws
(Draft, 12 June 2002)

Article 1: Status and Address

  1. ARCADE is a European non-governmental non-profit academic platform for the exchange of knowledge and information on high-end computing policies and infrastructures.
  2. ARCADE is an independent organisation not in any way led, directed or influenced by any other organisation, be it private, public or commercial. All the activities and recommendations of ARCADE shall be politically neutral.
  3. The members of ARCADE are representatives of European national research organisations, scientific academies and other organisations responsible for high-end computing policies and facilities.
  4. The seat of ARCADE is in The Hague. The address of the ARCADE Secretariat is:

    NCF
    P.O. Box 93575
    2509 AN Den Haag
    The Netherlands

Article 2: Aim and objectives

  1. The aim of ARCADE is to exchange amongst the members information on European and national high-end computing infrastructures, infrastructure policies, policies for financing equipment and other resources, and allocation mechanisms for computing resources.
  2. ARCADE pursues its aim by the following means:
    1. Organising an annual exchange meeting for all members.
    2. Maintaining a web site with public up to date information and a private forum facility only accessible for members.
    3. Providing advice on policy matters for computing and computing infrastructures.
  3. Further objectives of ARCADE are:
    1. To facilitate co-operation in the use of existing facilities and in the planning and provision of new facilities.
    2. To initiate new and strengthen existing supranational collaborations amongst advanced European computing sites.
    3. To promote the usage of advanced computing facilities and infrastructures in European scientific research.
    4. To conduct activities for the benefit of the European scientific community in the field of computer related resources, facilities and infrastructures.

Article 3: Membership

  1. Direct eligible for membership of ARCADE are representatives appointed by one of the following organisations:
    1. Any national non-profit research (funding) organisation which has a seat in an European country and which supports computing facilities or basic scientific research from significant means assigned for that purpose mainly by the government of its country.
    2. Any national Academy of Sciences of an European country involved in national computing policies.
    3. Any computing centre in an European country fulfilling a designated national role in providing computer resources can assign its Director or high ranking staff member as member of ARCADE.
  2. Individual membership of ARCADE is obtainable for representatives of non-profit organisations active in the field of computing resources and infrastructures that are considered by members of ARCADE to be of particular importance to fulfil the aims of ARCADE.:
    1. Any such individual who wishes to apply for membership of ARCADE shall, after the necessary consultations, submit a formal application to the ARCADE Secretariat
    2. The ARCADE Secretariat shall inform all members of such an application.
    3. If within three weeks after the notification to the members no objections are issued, the membership is considered granted and the applicant will be notified.
    4. In case any objection is raised against a membership application, the issue will be discussed in the annual General Meeting and the application will be voted on. The membership application is approved if a normal majority favours the application.
  3. Members are strictly the people listed in the ARCADE Membership list. This list is maintained by the ARCADE Secretariat.
    1. To join ARCADE one must inform the Secretariat to include him/her in the Membership list.
    2. To withdraw from ARCADE one must inform the Secretariat to delete him/her from the Membership list.
    3. Members must inform the Secretariat of changes in their address. The Secretariat will contact the members annually to verify the correctness of entries in the Membership list. If this contact fails persistently, the Secretariat will delete the member from the Membership list.
  4. Members receive notification of ARCADE events and can participate in these. They are eligible as member of the Executive Council and can vote in elections of this Council and in other issues presented in the General Meeting.
  5. All members must provide information on their national policies, facilities and infrastructures to the ARCADE secretariat, actively and on request, such as to keep the information up to date for all members. The information will be available from the ARCADE website.

Article 4: Structure

  1. ARCADE has three permanent bodies: the General Meeting, the Executive Council and the Secretariat. The General Meeting or the Executive Council can appoint temporary committees to address specific issues that pertain to the ARCADE community.
  2. ARCADE holds annually a General Meeting to manage its internal affairs. The General Meeting can only be attended by ARCADE members. The General Meeting is held as a part of the Annual Meeting mentioned in Article 4.6.
  3. ARCADE has an elected Executive Council which directs the overall strategy and controls the operation of ARCADE.
    1. The Executive Council consists of 5 Executives. Any ARCADE member is eligible as Executive.
    2. Executives are elected by the General Meeting for a two year period and can be re-elected. For election a majority of the votes cast is required.
    3. The Executives elect from amidst themselves a Chairman.
    4. The Chairman officially represents ARCADE externally. He may delegate this duty to any of the other Executives.
    5. The Executive Council can hold Council meetings. Decisions require a majority of 3 votes. The voting positions of all Executives for motions addressed by the Council are recorded and made public to the ARCADE members to uphold accountability to the ARCADE members.
  4. The Secretariat acts as the office and co-ordinating body of ARCADE. It tasks and duties include:
    1. To maintain the Membership list.
    2. To maintain the ARCADE website.
    3. To keep the members informed over the activities of ARCADE.
    4. To support the Executive Council.
    5. To prepare the General Meetings.
    6. To keep minutes of the meetings of the Executive Council and the General Meeting.
  5. The Secretariat is elected by the General Meeting for a period of five years. The Secretariat is accountable to the members of ARCADE and reports its activities to the General Meeting.
  6. ARCADE holds an Annual Meeting, preferably in November. The site were the Annual Meeting is held, rotates over the European countries with members. The organisation of the Annual Meeting is managed by a local committee. The local committee may invite persons who are not member of ARCADE to participate in the Annual Meeting if their contribution is considered to be important for the outcome of the meeting.

Article 5: Financial Control

  1. Membership of ARCADE is free. No dues are collected from members.
  2. The costs for the ARCADE Secretariat are to be paid by the organisation where it is located.
  3. Travel and other expenses made by the Executive Council are to be paid by the organisations to which the Executives belong.
  4. The costs for organising the Annual Meeting are to be paid by the local organising committee. This committee may accept for the organisation of this event gifts or contributions from governmental, public or commercial organisations provided that the independence stipulated in Article 1.2 is not compromised.

Article 6: Miscellaneous

  1. This Statute may be amended by a majority of two-thirds of more of the votes cast by the members present at the annual General Meeting.
  2. ARCADE will act as an expert committee and advisory body to the European Science Foundation.