Art. 1 DEFINITION

Art. 2 PURPOSE

2.1 The purpose of EANA is to safeguard and promote the common interests of its members in all areas essential to their work and activities.

2.2 EANA serves as a Pan-European, professional forum for the establishment of contacts and co-operation as well as exchange of information, experiences and know-how among its members. EANA shall look after common interests to its members at the European Union and other international organizations. EANA shall organize seminars on subjects of common interest to its members. These seminars shall cover subjects as development of content in news services, marketing, information technology, copyright and other legal matters related to the media.

2.3 EANA can speak and act on behalf of its members, through its President, Secretary General or duly appointed representatives in debates etc on issues of concern to its members.

Art. 3 MEMBERSHIP

3.1 Only the leading news agency from any internationally recognized European country can become a member of EANA. Exceptions can be made by the General Assembly so that EANA has more than one member from a country. If an application for membership is submitted to the Bureau by a news agency other than the member from the same country, this application can be submitted to the General Assembly only if unanimously approved by the Bureau and provided that there is no objection from the agency already being a member from that country.

If there is an objection from the current member agency from that country, the Bureau shall inform the General Assembly and postpone decisions for a year at which time the General Assembly decides on the application with a three quarters majority of the membership of EANA.

3.2 Members shall support the principles of freedom of the press and unbiased news.

3.4 The size of the membership fee is decided by the General Assembly upon the recommendation from the Bureau and based on the budget submitted.

The EANA is only liable for any commitments only with its assets. No unlimited liability of the members beyond their ordinary membership contributions exists.

3.5 Member agencies that have not paid their annual dues within twelve (12) months after having received the first invitation to pay their fee will automatically be excluded from membership, unless the Bureau of EANA decides to make an exception for special circumstances.

3.6 Any member is free to withdraw from EANA at any time provided it has paid all past dues in full, including dues for the year in which it withdraws.

3.7 No individual member agency assumes any liability for EANA and EANA assumes no liability for any individual member agency.

Art. 4 GENERAL ASSEMBLY

4.1.EANA holds an ordinary General Assembly every year. The General Assembly is the supreme body of EANA.

All members are entitled to attend and vote at the annual general meeting.

In principle General Assemblies shall be held in Switzerland at a date agreed upon by the members at every annual meeting for the following year.

4.2. The General Assembly:

The General Assembly can deal with any other subject that is relevant to the objectives of EANA.

4.3 The member agencies shall be represented by their respective executive heads. If prevented from attending, any such executive can delegate his/her powers in writing to a member of his/her executive staff, who is then to represent the agency.

Any official representative is allowed to be accompanied by up to two (2) other members of the executive staff of the agency concerned, the maximum delegation from any agency thus being three (3) persons.

4.4 When voting at the General Assembly each member has one (1) vote. Decisions are taken by a show of hands unless a secret vote is requested by at least five (5) members.

For the election of President secret voting is used.

4.5 All draft decisions as well as nominations for office submitted to the General Assembly shall be addressed in written form to the Secretary General at least two (2) months before the opening of the General Assembly.

All documents for the General Assembly shall be sent from the Secretariat to the member agencies so that all members have received them at least two (2) weeks prior to the General Assembly.

Any member is free to nominate candidates for the Presidency and members of the Bureau. Such nominations from member agencies shall be supported in writing by at least two (2) other member agencies. It is the Bureau?s duty to see to that there are candidates for the Presidency and the Bureau.

Candidates shall have officially represented his/her agency in EANA for at least two (2) years.

Candidates for the Presidency shall be the CEO of his/her agency.

Candidates for the Presidency shall have served for minimum one (1) year as a Bureau member immediately prior to the election or in the past.

4.6 Decisions will be reached by a simple majority of the votes present except for decisions which must be accepted by three quarters of the votes present. These are as follows:

The refusal of a request for membership and the exclusion of members take place without specifying the reasons.

For voting concerning admission of new members, a member agency unable to attend the assembly can give another member agency or the President a proxy to vote also for the agency being unable to attend the assembly.

A proxy shall be in writing and shall be presented to the President and the Secretary General when the assembly establishes the quorum.

A proxy shall be for one specific assembly. A member agency can carry more than one proxy for an assembly.

4.7 If considered necessary, the Bureau is empowered to convene an extraordinary General Assembly. The Bureau shall also convene such an extraordinary General Assembly if requested to do so by at least one fifth of the members.

Art. 5. THE BUREAU

5.1 The Bureau is the executive body of EANA. The Bureau prepares recommendations for submission to ad hoc committees and the General Assembly, is responsible for the implementation of decisions from the General Assembly and takes those decision which are not in the responsibility of the General Assembly. The Bureau prepares the General Assembly and presents the nominations for office to the General Assembly. The Bureau also submits a budget including membership fee to the General Assembly.

The Bureau shall appoint an auditor who shall examine the accounts of EANA and whose report shall be a part of the financial report to the annual General Assembly.

The Bureau shall fix the salary and terms of employment for the Secretary General.

5.2 The Bureau consists of five (5) persons; the President, the Secretary General and three (3) other members of the Bureau.
The term of office for the members of the Bureau shall be implemented so that the Bureau is renewed step by step. Members of the Bureau elected before these statutes were approved will stay in office till the end of their previously decided term.

The President is elected for two (2) years. The three (3) Bureau members and the Secretary General are elected for three (3) years.

5.3 With the exception of the Secretary General, members of the Bureau can not be re-elected within three (3) years after the end of their mandate. The Secretary General can be re-elected for additional three (3) year periods.

5.4 Decisions or recommendations within the Bureau shall be reached by a simple majority of members present. The President has a casting vote in the case of a tie.

The quorum for the conduct of business within the Bureau shall be three (3) including the President. If there is no quorum, the meeting is rescheduled with the same agenda, in which case two members of the Bureau shall constitute a quorum.

The Bureau can also take decisions in meetings per capsulam if the members agree on such a procedure.

5.5 In the event of a position as Bureau member becoming vacant in between two General Assemblies, the Bureau is authorized to fill the vacancy by co-opting any qualified member. The term of office of the co-opted member shall run only until the next General Assembly.

A co-opted member of the Bureau may apply for re-election for a full three-year term at the following General Assembly.

Art. 6. THE PRESIDENT

6.1 The President shall be the official representative of EANA and will be vested with its authority.

He/she shall preside over the General Assembly and the meetings of the Bureau.

6.2 Should the post as President become vacant in between two General Assemblies, the Bureau elects one of its members to be President until the next General Assembly.

Art. 7. THE SECRETARY GENERAL

7.1 The Secretary General shall be responsible for the co-ordination of EANA?s activities and its general administration.

The Secretary General runs the day to day business of EANA under the supervision of the Bureau. He/she is responsible for the accounts of EANA.

He/she shall prepare the meetings of the Bureau as well as all documentation pertaining to the General Assembly.

He/she shall submit an annual report to the General Assembly on the activities and the financial status of EANA.

7.2 Should the post as Secretary General become vacant in between two General Assemblies, the Bureau may fill the position in any way it deems fit, pending the next General Assembly.

7.3 The Secretary General is employed by EANA.

7.4 The address used by EANA shall be that of the Secretary General.

Art. 8. COMMITTEES

8.1 The Bureau can decide to establish working groups on an ad hoc basis as required by the business of EANA.

8.2 Upon the recommendation of the Bureau the General Assembly may decide on the creation of specific committees and appoint chairmen of these committees.

Committee Chairmen shall report annually to the General Assembly on the activities of their committees.

The Committee Chairmen may if required attend the meetings of the Bureau in an advisory capacity and as such, shall submit interim reports to the Bureau.

Art. 9. FINANCES

9.1 The budget for each year is decided by the General Assembly upon recommendation from the Bureau who will submit a draft budget to that effect to the General Assembly.

Art. 10. LANGUAGE

The working language of EANA is English.

These statutes have been approved by the today's General Assembly. They replace the statutes as approved by the Extra General Assembly in Cracow on June 11th, 2002.

Geneva, September 22, 2006