Akademinis Politologų Klubas

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Statutes

The statutes regulating the activities of the Academic Political Science Club.

1. General Provisions

1.1. The Academic Political Science Club (hereinafter – APK) is a public, non-political, non-profit organisation uniting the Lithuanian academic community (students and lecturers of higher and higher schools).

1.2. The legal form of the APK is an association with all its rights and obligations, having its own seal and a bank account. The name of the association is the Academic Political Science Club.

1.3. The Academic Political Science Club also has a second legal name – APK, which is equivalent to the name of the Academic Political Science Club.

1.4. In its activities the APK is governed by these statutes, the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the laws of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts.

1.5. The registered office of the APK is at Vytautas Magnus University, Gedimino g. 44 – 103, Kaunas, Republic of Lithuania.

1.6. The club’s documents and all information may be consulted at the APK headquarters.

2. Objectives and Tasks of the Activities

2.1. The objectives and tasks of the APK:

  1. to promote the development of civil society in Lithuania;
  2. to raise the political culture of academic youth;
  3. to encourage a more active social life among young people;
  4. to promote the study of political science within the academic community;
  5. to provide club members with the opportunity to meet prominent politicians, political scientists and public figures;
  6. to encourage the writing of political research works.

2.2. In pursuing its objectives, the APK carries out the following activities:

  1. cooperates with political parties, public and political organisations operating in the Republic of Lithuania and with Lithuanian state institutions, as well as with similar organisations abroad whose activities do not contradict the laws of those countries and of the Republic of Lithuania;
  2. organises meetings, conferences, seminars, discussions and carries out other projects consistent with the objectives of the APK;
  3. collects and disseminates information about the political, economic, legal and cultural life of Lithuania and other states and the situation of young people there.

3. Admission of APK members and the procedure for their departure, their rights and duties

3.1. Members of the APK may be students, lecturers and graduates of Lithuanian higher and higher schools who pursue the club’s objectives, comply with these statutes and are registered in accordance with the procedure established by the APK Board.

3.2. A person becomes an APK member when the Board satisfies the person’s written request to admit him or her to the APK and registers the person, as a member, in the register of members.

3.3. APK members have the right:

  1. to make proposals;
  2. with the approval of the APK Chairman, to establish working groups for the implementation of their projects;
  3. to have priority in participating in projects organised by the APK;
  4. to familiarise themselves with the APK documents and to receive all available information about the activities of the APK;
  5. to participate in Board meetings;
  6. to elect and be elected to the governing bodies of the APK.

3.4. APK members undertake:

  1. to comply with these statutes;
  2. to pay membership fees;
  3. to implement the decisions of the General Meeting and of the Board;
  4. to obtain the Chairman’s consent before disseminating official information about the APK;
  5. to be tolerant towards other club members, respecting their opinions and rights.

3.5. Members lose their APK membership:

  1. by renouncing APK membership;
  2. by failing to comply with the APK statutes, the decisions of the General Meeting and of the Board, or by failing to pay membership fees for 2 consecutive years, or where a final court judgment has found the person to have violated the laws of the Republic of Lithuania; the person is removed by a decision of the APK Board, having first been warned verbally or in writing.

3.6. By a decision of the General Meeting, the status of honorary member is granted to all former members of the APK Board and to the APK Chairman. On the recommendation of the Board, the General Meeting of members may confer the status of honorary member on other persons for their merits to the club. Honorary members do not pay the APK membership fee. The status of honorary member may be revoked by a decision of the majority of the General Meeting. The Board proposes to the General Meeting that the status of honorary member be revoked from a member who has violated the statutes of the APK.

4. Bodies

4.1. The bodies of the APK:

  1. the General Meeting of APK members (the Meeting),
  2. the APK Board (the Board),
  3. the APK Chairman,
  4. the APK Control Commission (the Control Commission).
  5. The term of office of all APK bodies, except the General Meeting of members, is one year.

4.2. Meetings of collegiate bodies are lawful if more than half of their members participate in them. Decisions of collegiate bodies are adopted by voting. An equal division of votes means that an equal number of votes was cast for and against. Where votes are equally divided, the decision is determined by the vote of the chairman of the collegiate body. Where the chairman of the collegiate body is absent or does not participate in adopting the decision, in the event of an equal division of votes, the decision is deemed not to have been adopted. In cases provided for by these statutes or regulations, a qualified majority is required to adopt decisions.

4.3 The decisions of the bodies of the APK enter into force upon their announcement, unless otherwise specified therein.

5. The General Meeting

5.1. In order to decide the most important APK issues, a General Meeting of members, holding all the rights of the General Meeting of members, is held annually, within 2 months of the end of the financial year.

5.2. The General Meeting of members is convened by the Chairman.

5.3. An extraordinary General Meeting of members is convened if so required by 1/4 of all APK members, or 1/2 of the Board members, or by the Control Commission.

5.4. All APK members have the right to vote at the General Meeting of members. Each member has one vote.

5.5. The competence of the General Meeting of members:

  1. examines and approves the statutes of the APK, their amendments and supplements;
  2. adopts decisions on general issues of activity;
  3. approves the strategy of the APK;
  4. elects the APK Chairman by a secret ballot. The Chairman is recalled by a secret ballot, on the initiative of the Board or of 2/3 of all club members;
  5. elects the members of the Board by an open ballot. The Board or its members are recalled on the initiative of the Chairman or of 2/3 of all club members;
  6. elects the members of the Control Commission; the Control Commission may be recalled on the initiative of 2/3 of all club members;
  7. approves the APK activity plan submitted by the APK Board;
  8. examines and evaluates the report of the APK Chairman and of the Control Commission;
  9. determines the amount of the APK membership fee and the procedure for its payment;
  10. approves the report on the activities of the APK for the previous academic year, which is public and must be accessible to any person wishing to familiarise themselves with it;
  11. adopts a decision on the reorganisation, restructuring or liquidation of the APK;
  12. approves the regulations governing the activities of the bodies of the APK.

5.6. The General Meeting of members is chaired by a club member elected by a simple majority.

5.7. The decisions referred to in sub-clauses 1 and 11 of point 5.5 may be adopted if 2/3 of all members participating in the General Meeting vote in favour.

5.8. The APK Chairman is responsible for the preparation of the report referred to in sub-clause 10 of point 5.5 and presents it to the General Meeting of members. The report on the activities of the APK must contain:

  1. information on the activities of the APK in implementing the objectives of the activities provided for in these statutes and the APK strategy approved by the General Meeting of members;
  2. the number of APK members at the end of the financial year and its change compared with previous years;
  3. the annual financial statements of the APK;
  4. the number of employees hired by the APK at the end of the financial year;
  5. the conclusion of the Board concerning the report;
  6. other important information about the activities of the APK.

5.9. The General Meeting of members adopts decisions by a simple majority of the members participating in the meeting, unless otherwise provided for in the statutes.

5.10. When electing the APK Chairman, the Board and the members of the Control Commission, the persons who receive the greatest number of votes of the voters are deemed elected.

6. The Board

6.1. The Board is a collegiate governing body of the APK.

6.2. The Board consists of 4 members. All citizens of the Republic of Lithuania may be elected as members of the Board, who need not be APK members. The number of terms of office of the Board members is unlimited.

6.3. The newly elected Board elects the Chairman of the Board from among its members. Where the Chairman of the Board is unable to perform his or her duties, his or her duties are performed by a member of the Board authorised by the Chairman of the Board.

6.4. At its first meeting the Board elects the APK treasurer from among its members.

  1. Where the treasurer resigns in writing, the Board, upon accepting the resignation, elects a new treasurer from among its members.
  2. Where the treasurer is removed from among the members of the Board during the General Meeting, the General Meeting immediately appoints a new person to that position.

6.5. The competence of the Board:

  1. coordinates the activities of the APK, cares for the well-being and growth of the club and shapes the strategy of the APK;
  2. implements the decisions of the General Meeting of members;
  3. approves regulations for individual areas binding on all APK members and controls their implementation;
  4. where necessary, prepares draft amendments to the statutes of the APK;
  5. approves the annual activity plan and budget of the APK prepared by the APK Chairman;
  6. analyses the report on the activities of the APK prepared by the APK Chairman and provides the APK Chairman with a conclusion which is mandatory for inclusion in the report;
  7. adopts a decision on the establishment of other legal persons or on becoming a participant in other legal persons;
  8. adopts decisions on the establishment of branches and representative offices or other subdivisions of the APK and on the termination of their activities, approves their regulations, appoints and dismisses the heads of branches and representative offices;
  9. deals with other issues of the APK not assigned to the competence of other bodies of the APK.

6.6. The Chairman of the Board convenes Board meetings at least 2 times per year on his or her own initiative or at the request of 1/2 of the Board members or of the Control Commission. Upon request, the meeting must be convened within 2 weeks. The Chairman of the Board chairs Board meetings. The first meeting of the newly elected Board is convened by the APK Chairman.

6.7. Where a member of the Board resigns in writing, the Board may suspend his or her powers and invite to his or her place the candidate who was not elected during the General Meeting and who received the greatest number of votes of the voters at the General Meeting. Where the non-elected candidate holds other positions in the bodies of the APK or refuses to become a member of the Board, an extraordinary General Meeting of members may be convened.

6.8. Until the first meeting of the newly elected Board, the previously elected Board temporarily performs the duties.

7. The APK Chairman

7.1. The APK Chairman is a single-member governing body of the APK.

7.2. The APK Chairman is elected from among the APK members by the General Meeting of members.

7.3. The competence of the APK Chairman:

  1. organises the activities of the APK;
  2. acts on behalf of the APK in relations with other persons or organisations and institutions and represents the APK;
  3. concludes transactions on behalf of the APK;
  4. implements the decisions and other assignments of the General Meeting of members and of the Board;
  5. hires and dismisses employees and concludes employment contracts with them; before concluding employment contracts, the APK Chairman must obtain the approval of the Board;
  6. issues authorisations for the performance of the functions assigned to his or her competence;
  7. prepares the activity report, submits it for consideration to the Board and, having included the conclusion of the Board in the report, presents it to the General Meeting of members;
  8. prepares and, after approval by the Board, implements the annual activity plan and budget of the APK and, at the end of the year, reports to the Board on their implementation;
  9. cares for the economic activities of the APK, prepares and submits to the General Meeting of members for approval the annual financial statements of the APK;
  10. deals with the current issues of the APK not assigned to the competence of the Board;
  11. is responsible for the accounting of APK members and the notification of material events;
  12. assists the branches/subdivisions of the APK in solving practical problems of their activities;
  13. organises the publication of public information;
  14. opens and closes the accounts of the APK in banking institutions;
  15. is responsible for the submission of data and documents to the Register of Legal Persons.

7.4. The activities of the APK Chairman are controlled by the Board. The APK Chairman reports to the Board at regular Board meetings and, at the end of the term of office, for all his or her activities – to the General Meeting of members.

8. The Control Commission

8.1. The Control Commission is a collegiate control body.

8.2. The Control Commission consists of 3 APK members elected at the General Meeting of members.

8.3. The Control Commission elects the Chairman of the Control Commission from among its members.

8.4. The Control Commission reviews the economic and financial activities of the Board, the APK Chairman, the branches/subdivisions of the APK and the institution of the APK, the lawfulness and validity of decisions, examines disputes between the bodies of the APK and interprets these statutes and other documents of the APK.

8.5. At least once a year the Control Commission reviews the economic and financial activities of the Board, the APK Chairman, the branches/subdivisions of the APK (where established) and the institution of the APK and submits a report to the General Meeting of members.

8.6. The Control Commission, on its own initiative or at the request of the APK Chairman and having given prior notice, may at any time review the economic and financial activities of the Board, the APK Chairman, any branch/subdivision of the APK (where established) or the institution of the APK. The head of the body, branch or subdivision or institution under review, or a person authorised by him or her, must participate in the review. An act is drawn up during each review, signed by the head of the body, branch or subdivision or institution under review or a person authorised by him or her, who may add his or her explanations. The Control Commission may entrust the conduct of a review to persons authorised in writing. In such a case the Control Commission further approves the acts of the review of its authorised person or persons.

8.7. Where the Control Commission establishes that the decisions of the Board, the APK Chairman, the branches/subdivisions of the APK or the institutions of the APK are unlawful or unjustified, it may suspend the execution of these decisions.

9. Symbols of the APK

9.1. The symbols of the APK consist of:

  1. the emblem of the Club – on a blue background, within yellow rectangular frames, at the top written in yellow letters: “APK”, and below the yellow line written in yellow letters: “AKADEMINIS POLITOLOGŲ KLUBAS”.

10. Assets and funds of the APK

10.1. The funds of the APK:

  1. the membership fees provided for in the statutes;
  2. funds donated by natural persons, charity organisations and charity foundations;
  3. funds donated by non-governmental organisations and international public organisations;
  4. interest of credit institutions on the funds kept by the APK;
  5. other lawfully acquired funds.

10.2. The funds are used only to pursue the objectives of the club and to implement its tasks.

10.3. The financial year of the APK coincides with the calendar year.

11. Subdivisions of the APK

11.1. A branch is a subdivision of the APK which may have a separate registered office.

11.2. A branch is established on the initiative of at least 3 members, by a decision of the Board.

11.3. A branch operates in accordance with the statutes of the APK, the decisions and authorisations of the General Meeting and of the Board. In accordance with the procedure established by the regulations, APK members of not less than 18 years of age may be appointed as heads of APK subdivisions.

11.4. The founders of a new branch convene the first general meeting of the branch, during which the regulations are approved. The regulations enter into force upon their approval by the APK Board.

12. Reorganisation, restructuring or liquidation of the APK

12.1. The APK may be reorganised, restructured or liquidated in accordance with the procedure established by the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania and the Law on Associations.

12.2. The APK may be reorganised, restructured or liquidated by the General Meeting of members by a majority of 2/3 of all club members’ votes.

12.3. At the General Meeting of members a Liquidation Commission is formed which deals with the issues of the use of the funds and assets of the APK.