Bylaws: Open Council
This page describes bylaws of any organ/body of the Open Council.
Last updated
This page describes bylaws of any organ/body of the Open Council.
Last updated
Maintained by Open-Bank CVR 41008407. All Rights Reserved.
The members of the Council work with the following guidelines:
Meetings:
1. The Council members shall meet the Executive Council on an ongoing basis: 1.1 Generally recorded on a monthly basis through an electronic meeting with the Executive Council, either exclusively or
1.2 When recorded through the member’s presence in the Foundation’s monthly Council meetings, or
1.3 When participating through the Independent Board's private mailing list on any Open Council vote, at least once a month.
A vote of confidence may be scheduled to register the attendance of the Council members.
The members of the Council shall also nominate & appoint the Core Working Committee(CWC) of a project.
2. The Council may choose to meet the Executive Council or other members through an electronic meeting, in addition to the monthly Council meetings, to contribute to their roles and responsibilities.
3. The Council can convene an electronic meeting, inviting all the Open Council members or all the Foundation's members, to conduct an independent documented review of the Foundation’s project and initiatives.
The meeting minutes from any convened “Open Council meeting” shall be released to the Open Convention within 14 days of the meeting.
The Executive Council reserves the right to reject or release the meeting minutes and documented reviews of this Council to the other members of the Foundation.
Open Constitution Governance Framework:
4. The Open Constitution Network runs itself with a decentralised open governance system. Each open governance decision shall be recorded on the Open Constitution ledger.
The Executive Council ratifies any Council’s Resolutions.
Executive Council shall keep the Independent Board informed, as it is the Independent Boards that legally ratify any Open Governance decisions within the stipulations of local statutes, in accordance with the Local law.
An Independent Board ensures the ratification of any amendments to the constitution, governance and administration of the Foundation's project-based decisions.
Consideration & Tenure:
5. Appointment to this Council is pro bono and voluntary in nature.
Appointments are generally made for one election period.
Appointment, Nomination, Removal and Resignation:
Appointment:
6.1 The following members can officially nominate a new or existing member of the Foundation to the Council:
6.1 a. An electoral appointee to one of the Open Councils
6.1 b. A non-Council member can also request a nomination and the action of nomination shall be officially filed by the only members mentioned in above 6.1 “a”.
6.2 Self-nomination by an existing member of one of the organs of the Open Council for his/her/their appointment to the Council is not permitted.
Self-nomination by an existing non-Council member of the Foundation, for his/her/their appointment to the Council, is not acceptable. Please read more. 6.3 Once the nomination is accepted by the Nominee, the Nominee or the member nominating the nominee, shall file supporting information such as the nominee's literature, publications, and demonstration of social activities on the Foundation's Membership Registry.
A Council Resolution "Vote IN" is then scheduled on the Open Council's electronic ledger.
For the purposes of record keeping on an electronic ledger - Open Convention & Council's mailing lists are used.
Electoral Process for "Vote IN" is conditional to a quorum.
a. Quorum is achieved when a minimum of half of all the Open Council members, participate in the Council Resolution - "Vote IN". b. A decision is received in favour of the Council Resolution - "Vote IN", when the majority of all the participating members of the Open Council, vote "+1". E.g.: Let's say there are 21 Open Council members.
At least 11 members shall participate in the Council Resolution for the "Vote IN" to achieve a quorum. This is the qualifying state for the Council Resolution to be logged on the Open Constitution public ledger. For the appointment to be electorally approved, the "Vote IN" should receive at least half of the total votes(required for quorum), in favour of this Council Resolution. So, in this example, six (+1) votes of the participating 11 Council members will do the job.😒
6.4 Appointment to the Council is publicized on the public-facing records of the Foundation.
Removal Proceedings:
7.1 Members of the Executive Council or of the Council can only officially nominate the removal of a member from the Council.
7.2 Open Council Resolution - “Vote OUT" is considered to be active on the Open Constitution system, once it is initiated on the Council’s private mailing list.
Electoral Process for "Vote OUT" is conditional to a quorum. a. Quorum is achieved when a minimum of half of all the Open Council members participate in the Council Resolution "Vote OUT". b. A decision is received in favour of the "Vote OUT", when the majority of all the participating members of the Open Council, vote "+1". E.g.: Let's say there are 21 Open Council members.
At least 11 members shall participate in the Council Resolution for "Vote OUT" to achieve a quorum. This is the qualifying state for the Council Resolution to be locked on the Open Constitution public ledger. For the removal to be electorally approved for the next stage, the "Vote OUT" should receive at least half of the total votes(required for quorum), in favour of this Council Resolution. So, in this example, six (+1) votes of the participating 11 Council members will do the job.😒
A strong reason for violation of the Foundation’s governing policies and directives must be provided by member(s) initiating the resolution, to support the Council resolution “Vote OUT”.
7.3 Community Referendum: The final removal of a member from the Council is subject to a community referendum on the passed Council resolution “Vote OUT”, stated in 7.1 & 7.2 above.
Open Constitution's Community Referendum is generally accessible by all members of the Foundation - both Council and its CWC members as well as non-Council members.
Quorum on the Community Referendum for the Council Resolution - "Vote Out" is achieved when 33% (more than 1/3rd) of all the voluntarily organised subscribed members participate. Of the minimum participating members, the Community Referendum stands as Decided when the majority of the quorum populace votes in favour of the stated Council resolution “Vote OUT”.
E.g.: Let's say there are 1000 Foundation members.
A minimum of 333 members are required to participate in the Community Referendum to achieve a quorum. The decision of the Community Referendum depends on a majority(167/333) in favour of, or against the subject of the Referendum. This is the qualifying state for the Referendum to get locked on the Open Constitution public ledger.
😒
8. If a member happens to serve on two organs of the Open Council, then this effectively means that two votes are counted for the same member for the Foundation’s Open Council voting decision proceedings, including on these governing protocols for the appointment of members or their removal.
Resignation:
9. A member's self-resignation from the Council is a voluntary action.
A member may resign from the Council by stating the reasons for resignation. The announcement of resignation can be done through electronic means.
Miscellaneous:
10. The Independent Board reserves the right to update the terms and conditions, and statutes from time to time, in compliance with the existing rules and regulations of the association, including reserving the right to terminate the appointment to this Council at any time, without notice and without the due electoral process of removal, in the following scenario:
If the member is found convicted of criminal, civil and financial crimes, in any court of competent jurisdiction, across the world, where the Foundation has an active presence, either through a legal body representation or an affiliate network.
Read more on the guiding principles & diversity statement of the Foundation here.
Read more about the Foundation’s Code of Conduct here.
11. The statutes of the Foundation and terms and conditions governing its functioning can be found here. The Election Council reserves the right to dissolve the whole Council and initiate the constitution of a new Council.
Read more on the dissolution of any constitutional body of this Open Constitution.
12. The network members communicate via cryptographic electronic communications systems, and technology tools licensed to them, in connection with the electronic meetings convened by members of this Council, the Foundation’s IT infrastructure shall be used.
If the meeting took place outside the Foundation’s communications infrastructure, then the meeting minutes must be brought back to the notice of the Executive Council.
Upon a successful nomination and having received a passed Council Resolution "Vote IN", a new Open Council member should file their supporting documents to the Open Constitution Membership Registry. A private link is generated by the Open Constitution system.
