Bylaws
Art. 1 Name and Scope
- The Swiss Group for Object-Oriented Systems and Environments (CHOOSE) is a forum for practitioners and researchers working on the development and application of object-oriented languages, systems and techniques.
- CHOOSE is a special interest group of the Swiss Informaticians Society (SI or Schweizer Informatiker Gesellschaft or Société Suisse des Informaticiens) according to Art. 11.3 of the SI bylaws and the “Fachgruppenreglement” of August 13, 1987. It works independently according to the following bylaws.
Art. 2 Purpose
- CHOOSE promotes contacts, education and information exchange among its members. It fosters contacts to similar groups abroad.
- CHOOSE organizes conferences, workshops, series of lectures and other activities.
Art. 3 Membership
- Membership of CHOOSE is open to all persons interested in the purposes of the group. A written membership application shall be addressed to, and decided by the Executive Committee.
- Members of CHOOSE are required to be also members of SI or of another society with which SI has established formal cooperation (e.g. GI or OCG).
- Members may resign by notifying the Executive Committee of their intent in writing. Resignations become effective at the end of the current calendar year. The membership fee is due for the full year.
Art. 4 Agents
- The agents of the groups are the General Assembly and the Executive Committee.
- Minutes are to be kept and distributed of the meetings and decisions of the agents.
Art. 5 General Assembly
- The General Assembly is the supreme authority of the group. It consists of all members of the group and is called once a year for an ordinary meeting. Extraordinary meetings may be called by the Executive Committee or upon a written request to the Executive Committee signed by at least 25% of the members.
- The invitation to a meeting together with the agenda is to be sent to all members at least 30 days prior to the meeting. The participants of the meeting will constitute a quorum for the General Assembly. Resolutions are passed with a simple majority of 50% of the participants. Modifications to the bylaws require a majority of 75% of the participants.
- The General Assembly elects the members of the Executive Committee. It checks the finances of the group, lays down the membership fees, decides upon the new budget and upon modifications to the bylaws. The Executive Committee or a quorum of 10% of the members may request further agenda points to be handled by the General Assembly.
Art. 6 Executive Committee
- The Executive Committee consists of a Chairperson and at least three other members.
- The Chairperson and the other members of the Executive Committee are elected for a period of two years by the General Assembly with a simple majority.
- The Chairperson may not serve in his/her office for more than four consecutive years.
- The Executive Committee handles all business that is not explicitly assigned to the General Assembly. It is the official CHOOSE representative at SI.
Art. 7 Collaboration with SI
- The members of CHOOSE will benefit from the same services as the other SI members, e.g. they will receive the SI newsletter and other publications of the SI.
- CHOOSE may use the services of the SI office.
- The collaboration with SI will be maintained by the following measures:
- the Chairperson informs the President of SI about decisions and activities of the group;
- the President of SI will be invited to the Executive Committee meetings;
- a member of the Executive Committe will be invited to the meetings of the SI board.
Art. 8 Finances
- Financial responsibility lies with the Executive Committee.
- CHOOSE members pay an annual fee in addition to the regular SI membership fee. Both fees are collected by the SI.
- CHOOSE coordinates its annual budget with the SI. The bookkeeping will be administrated by the SI as part of its overall budget. SI will produce an annual balance sheet for the CHOOSE finances.
- CHOOSE activities shall be organized on a self-supporting basis.
Art. 9 Modifications
- The Executive Committee or 10% of the total membership may propose modifications to the bylaws. The General Assembly decides on such proposals. The text of the proposal has to be added to the agenda of the General Assembly meeting. Modifications to the bylaws must be approved by the SI board.
- The dissolution of the group can be decided in the same way as modifications to the bylaws. On dissolution of the group its property passes to the SI.
Art. 10 Approval
- The bylaws were approved by the first General Assembly held on October 12, 1990.
- The bylaws were approved by the Executive Committee of SI on October 26, 1990.