ELRA Statutes

March 2, 2022

Article 1: Goal

The mission of the Association is to foster the progress of the science and technology of language with a particular interest on the research, development, exploitation and innovation in the field of language resources and language data (henceforth LRs) and of evaluation, in view of the promotion of all human languages and idioms. This includes, not exclusively, to promote LRs and evaluation for the Language Technology sector in all their forms and all their uses.

Article 2: Name
The name of the Association is "ELRA Language Resources Association" (ELRA).

Article 3: Location
The Association is established under the law of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Its seat is in Luxembourg.

Article 4: Activities
The primary activities of the Association are:

● to promote scientific research in the field of language resources and evaluation, with particular attention to the strategies for producing, standardising, validating, exploiting, sharing, distributing and preserving LRs;

● to promote scientific cooperation and information exchange among related national and international scientific societies;

● the organization of scientific events such as conferences, workshops and evaluation campaigns focusing on the topics of language resources and evaluation. Among them, the “International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation” (LREC) organised by ELRA biennially since the beginning in 1998;

● the publication of newsletters, scientific journals and book series;

● the promotion of research networks and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) devoted to key topics in the research area of language resources and evaluation;

● to promote educational initiatives on language resources and evaluation, such as courses, summer schools, etc.;

● to promote relations between research and industry;

● to represent the language resources and evaluation community to foundations and government agencies worldwide as well as before society;

● To take actions to support the LRs ecosystem, if needed also endorsing relevant infrastructures;

● To assess, select and implement the necessary means for sharing and distributing LRs. Where appropriate, to organize and manage the acquisition of LRs from producers, to commission production and to develop the technical and legal frameworks for validating and distributing these resources to interested users.

● To support the infrastructure, in terms of language resources, for evaluation of systems, tools, etc.;

● At the request of organisations which fund programmes for the creation of language resources, to give advice to them on the distribution and validation of those resources.

● To serve as a source of information regarding the contents and availability of LRs to all interested parties.

● To identify unfilled needs for LRs and to promote the creation of appropriate LRs to meet these needs.

Article 5: Membership

5.1 Throughout these statutes, the word "member" by itself applies to both institutional members and to the individual members. The phrase "institutional member" is always used when the legal entity is meant.

5.2 The institutional members of the Association are legal entities working in the field of science and technology of language. These legal entities may belong to both public and private sectors. Institutional membership is acquired with the payment of a minimum one year’s subscription. The term of institutional membership is at least one full calendar year. It starts on January 1st and ends on December 31st, regardless of the time of subscription.

5.3 Individual members are individuals with an interest in the field of science and technology of language. Individual membership is acquired by paying the membership fees for a two-year period, either as part of Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC) fees, or by joining directly at any time. The term of individual membership is always two full calendar years. It starts on January 1st and ends on December 31st, regardless of the time of subscription.

5.4 Membership, or member status, is acquired with the agreement of the Board.

5.5 Each institutional member shall nominate an individual to represent it and vote on its behalf. A public sector body composed of several entities for which it pays individual subscriptions shall enjoy membership rights for each such entity.

Article 6: Termination of Membership

Grounds for termination are:

a) Resignation by letter or email addressed to the President;

b) Failure to pay subscription fees within the time-limit laid down;

c) Other serious grounds - by decision of the General Assembly.

Termination does not in itself have any effect on the existence of the Association.

Article 7: Liability

No member of the Association may be held liable for commitments made by the Association. The Association shall only be liable for any and all commitments undertaken up to the amount of its own financial resources.

Article 8: General Assembly

8.1 The General Assembly shall be held at least once every year. It shall be convened by the Board or at the request of at least one quarter of the institutional members or one tenth of the individual members, with at least six (6) weeks’ notice. The Agenda is drawn up by the President and must be circulated to the membership two (2) weeks prior to the meeting. Members of the association, either institutional or individual, have the right to add matters to the Agenda, by written submission to the Board, up until four (4) weeks before the meeting. Motions from the floor will be invited and entertained at the discretion of the President.

8.1.1 Voting rights at the General Assembly are restricted to one representative per institutional member and to the individual members. Henceforth they are termed the “Convenees of the GA”. The number of votes in a General Assembly by a member may depend on the respective type of membership.

8.2 Convenees of the GA who cannot attend the General Assembly may authorise another Convenee of the GA to vote on their behalf by means of a written and duly signed form of proxy, which must be presented to the Secretary by the beginning of the meeting.

8.3 All resolutions except resolutions to amend the Statutes of the Association or to dissolve the Association shall be passed by a simple majority of votes cast or represented by Convenees of the GA. Resolutions to amend the Statutes of the Association or to dissolve it require that the General Assembly gathers Convenees of the GA holding two thirds of all admissible votes and any such resolution can only be adopted with a majority of two thirds of the votes, as per the procedure set out in Luxembourg law.

8.4 The Board presents a management report and a financial report accompanied by the Association’s accounts to the General Assembly.

8.5 By a majority of votes cast the General Assembly shall decide whether to approve the accounts of the previous financial year and to approve the budget for the next financial year.

8.6 Approval by the General Assembly of the management report and financial report releases the Officers of the Association from all liabilities for the corresponding period.

8.7 The amount of the annual subscription fee and the timing of subscription fee collection is fixed by the Board for the foreseen categories of Members.

8.8 The General Assembly is chaired by the President. Minutes of all business conducted at the General Assembly, including the outcome of all votes, are the responsibility of the Secretary and will be distributed to the whole membership.

Article 9: The Board

9.1 The management of the Association is entrusted to a Board. The Board has extended power for the managing and processing of the business of the Association and is authorized to carry out any action which is not reserved to the General Assembly or the President by these Statutes. The Board interprets and applies the statutes.

9.2 The Board consists of a maximum of 9 (nine) elected members, normally for two years. Deputising is not normally allowed, unless agreed in advance for a specific Board meeting by a simple majority of the Board (excluding the Board member making the request).

9.3 Members of the Board are elected from among the members of the Association. Nomination to be a candidate to be a Board member is by the Board, possibly taking into account nominations arrived by an email sent by at least three members to the President, not including the nominee. Nominations close two (2) weeks before the election date. If only as many nominations are made as there are places, no ballot is required and the nominees are all elected. Otherwise an election is held, with each member voting for up to as many nominees as the number of places. The available places are filled by those nominees receiving the most votes. In case of a tie for the last available place, a runoff election is held, among those tied. In the case of a further tie, the issue is resolved by drawing lots. The Election of Board members is organized by the Board and can be held remotely, not necessarily during a General Assembly.

9.4 Consecutive Board service is limited to three successive terms.

9.5 The Board meets as often as it is necessary, and at least once a year. The Board meetings are convened by the President or at the request of at least one third of the members.

9.6 Participation by more than one third of Board members is necessary for decisions of the Board to be valid. Minutes shall be taken during each meeting and shall be distributed and archived by the Secretary. Decisions are made by an absolute majority of votes cast.

9.7 The Board may nominate Honorary Presidents among personalities that have rendered valuable services to the association. Honorary Presidents have no voting rights but can attend all the meetings of the board and general assemblies. The Board has to approve such a nomination.

Article 10: Officers

10.1 At the first meeting following an “election” General Assembly, the Board elects officers from among its members: a President, Vice-President(s), a Secretary, and a Treasurer. It may elect other officers as necessary.

10.2 The Board can delegate part of its power to the President or to other Board members.

10.3 The President acts as the representative of the Association for all legal actions and in all aspects of civil life and financial expenses. He/she can delegate a Vice-President or another Board member to replace him/her, as determined by the Board.

10.4 The President can also delegate under his supervision and responsibility some of his other powers to one or several Board members. Those delegations persist until they are suspended.

10.5 The Secretary is responsible for the membership lists of the Association and of the Board and for making them available to the membership, and is responsible for the conduct of all votes, other than for the position of Secretary itself, for which the President is responsible.

10.6 The Treasurer is responsible for the accounts of the Association, and for the collection of the membership subscriptions fees.

Article 11: Payments to members

Board members, as well as any member of the Association, cannot receive any salary as a compensation for their work within the Association. Reimbursement of expenses is possible on the production of acceptable invoices. In special circumstances and with prior approval by the Board, compensation for time expended on specific tasks on behalf of the Board or Association is permitted.

Article 12: Secretary-General

The Board may appoint and subsequently replace or remove a Secretary-General, not necessarily a member. It can give him or her the necessary power for executing the ELRA mission. The Secretary-General may be an unpaid person or be a person paid by the Association, Article 11 notwithstanding.

Article 13: Resources

The resources of the Association are made up by:

1. membership subscription fees paid by the active members;
2. public and private subventions;
3. the products of generosity, the use of which has been accepted;
4. the products of its activities and of its publications;
5. the distribution licenses granted to the Association concerning language resources.

Article 14: Accounting

Accounts are kept on a daily basis, with income and payments. An annual account report is made available, with the resulting balance. The annual accounts must be prepared and distributed to the membership, in accordance to the Luxembourg law.

Article 15: Dissolution

The General Assembly, that decides a dissolution, can appoint a Committee to organise the disposition of the assets. If the dissolution is decided without a committee being nominated, the Board disposes of the assets of the Association according to the law and to the goal of the Association.

Article 16: Means of communication

The Association may use all modern communications technologies in its internal affairs and put in place appropriate recording and archiving systems. In the following cases a confirmation sent electronically, whether sent via email or made available on the Web or on a ftp server is required: notice of General Assembly, annual management & financial reports, proxy for a General Assembly. Presence in person or by proxy is required in order to vote at the General Assembly. Proxies may be sent by post, fax, express courier or email.

Article 1: Goal

The goal of the Association is to promote language resources (henceforth LRs) in all their forms, and to coordinate and carry out their validation, distribution, and reuse, in a European context.

Article 2: Name

The name of the Association is the "European Language Resources Association" (ELRA).

Article 3: Location

The Association is established under the law of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Its seat is in Luxembourg.

Article 4: Activities - The primary activities of the Association are:

4.1 To assess, select and implement the necessary means for distributing LRs. Where appropriate, to organize and manage the acquisition of LRs from producers and to develop the technical and legal frameworks for validating and distributing these resources to interested users.

4.2 At the request of organisations in Europe which fund programmes for the creation of language resources, to give advice to them on the distribution and validation of those resources.

4.3 To serve as a source of information regarding the contents and availability of LRs to all interested parties in Europe.

4.4 To identify unfilled needs for LRs and to stimulate the outside organizations bodies to create appropriate LRs to meet these needs.

Article 5: Membership - Note on Terminology

Throughout these statutes, the word "member" by itself applies to the individuals designated as the representatives of each institutional member. The phrase "institutional member" is always used when the moral persons are meant. The members of the Association are moral persons working in the field of Information Technology, and of Linguistics and established under the law of a Member State of the EU or of the European Economic Area. This moral person may belong to both public and private sector bodies. Membership is acquired with the agreement of the Executive Board and with the payment of a minimum one year’s subscription. The Board decides in cases of doubt as to eligibility. Each institutional member shall nominate an individual to represent it and vote on its behalf. A public sector body composed of several entities for which it pays individual subscriptions shall enjoy membership rights for each such entity.

Article 6: Termination of Membership - Grounds for termination are:

a) Resignation by letter addressed to the Board; b) Failure to pay subscrition fees within the time-limit laid down; c) Other serious grounds - by decision of the General Assembly
Termination does not in itself have any effect on the existence of the Association.

Article 7: Liability

No member of the Association may be held liable for commitments made by the Association. The Association shall only be liable for any and all commitments undertaken up to the amount of its own financial resources.

Article 8: General Assembly

8.1 The General Assembly shall meet at least once every year. It shall be convened by the Board or at the request of at least one quarter of the paid-up members, with at least two months’ notice. The Agenda is drawn up by the Secretary at the direction of the Board, and must be circulated to the membership one month prior to the meeting. Members have the right to add matters to the Agenda, by written submission to Board, up until six (6) weeks before the meeting. Motions from the floor will be invited and entertained at the discretion of the President.

8.2 Members who cannot attend the General Assembly may authorise another member to vote on their behalf by means of a written and duly signed form of proxy, which must be presented to the Secretary by the beginning of the meeting.

8.3 All resolutions except resolutions to amend the Statutes of the Association or to dissolve the Association shall be passed by a simple majority of votes cast or represented by paid-up members. Resolutions to amend the Statutes of the Association or to dissolve it require a two-thirds majority of votes cast, as per the procedure set out in Luxembourg law.

8.4 The Board presents a management report and a financial report accompanied by the Association’s accounts to the General Assembly.

8.5 By a majority of votes cast the General Assembly shall decide whether to approve the accounts of the previous financial year and to approve the budget for the next financial year.

8.6 The amount of the annual subscription fee and the timing of subscription fee collection is fixed by the General Assembly on the proposal of the Board. The maximum increment allowed to the annual subscription fee in any one year is 50%.

8.7 Approval by the General Assembly of the management report and financial report releases the Officers of the Association from all liabilities for the corresponding period.

8.8 The General Assembly is chaired by the President. Minutes of all business conducted at the General Assembly, including the outcome of all votes, are the responsibility of the Secretary and will be distributed to the whole membership.

Article 9: The Board

9.1 The management of the Association is entrusted to a Board. The Board has extended power for the managing and processing of the business of the Association and is authorized to carry out any action which is not reserved to the General Assembly or the President by these Statutes. The Board interprets and applies the statutes.

9.2 The Board consists of 12 (twelve) elected members-normally for two years, but in the case of withdrawal only the unexpired portion of the two-year term will be filled at the next General Assembly. Deputising is not normally allowed, unless agreed in advance for a specific Board meeting by a simple majority of the Board (excluding the member making the request).

9.3 The Association formally recognises sectors of significant interest (SSIs) for the representation of board members. These sectors are to initially three: Speech, Terminology and Text. Changes to the list of recognised SSIs only take effect at the next election, and do not themselves force an election. On joining the Association each member identifies an SSI with which it is to be associated for election purposes. 28 October, 2004A member may be associated with further SSIs on payment of a further annual subscription in each case.

9.4 There are two categories of place on the Board: at-large, and designated. Their number is determined by the number of recognized SSIs, as follows: At-large: Twice the number of SSIs, initially six (6); Designated: Two per SSI, initially six (6);

9.5 At-large places on the Board are elected from among the members by the whole membership of the Association. Nomination is either by the Board or by written petition signed by at least three members, not including the nominee who present a written and signed request. Nominations close 30 days before the election date. If only as many nominations are made as there are at-large places, no ballot is required and the nominees are all elected. Otherwise an election is held, with each member voting for up to as many nominees as the number of at-large places. The available places are filled by those nominees receiving the most votes. In case of a tie for the last available place, a runoff election is held, among those tied. In the case of a further tie, the issue is resolved by drawing lots.

9.6 Elections for the designated places are held simultaneously by a similar procedure (i.e. Nomination by the Board or petition, up to two votes, runoff followed by lot drawing in case of ties), with only those associated with each SSI allowed to stand, nominate or vote.

9.7 A member may stand for an at-large place, or a designated place for an SSI to which his or her institution belongs, but not both.

9.8 Consecutive Board service is limited to three successive terms.

9.9 The Board meets as often as it is necessary, and at least once a year. They are convened by the President or at the request of at least one third of the members.

9.10 Participation by at least one third of Board members is necessary for decisions of the Board to be valid. Minutes shall be taken during each meeting and they shall be signed by the President and the Secretary. Decisions are made by an absolute majority of votes cast. Decisions related to individual members shall be by secret ballot.

9.11 The Board may invite up to three observers to attend its meeting regularly, and other observers may be specially invited for particular meetings or particular points on the agenda. Such observers have no voting rights.

Article 10: Officers

10.1 The Board elects officers from among its members: a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary and a Treasurer. It may elect other officers as necessary. The functions of secretary and treasurer may be covered by a single person. The Officers are elected for one year and may be reelected.

10.2 The Board can delegate part of its power to the President or to other Board members.

10.3 The President acts as the representive of the Association for all legal actions and in all aspects of civil life and financial expenses. He can delegate a Vice-President or another Board member to replace him, as determined by the Board.

10.4 The President can also delegate under his supervision and responsability some of his other powers to one or several Board members. Those delegations persist until they are suspended.

10.5 The Secretary is responsible for maintaining up-to-date membership lists of the Association and the Board and making them available to the membership, and is responsible for the conduct of all votes, other than for the position of Secretary itself, for which the President is responsible.

10.6 The Treasurer is responsible for the accounts of the Association, and for the collection of the membership subscriptions fees.

Article 11: Payments to members

Board members, as well as any member of the Association, cannot receive any salary as a compensation for their work within the Association. Reimbursement of expenses is possible on the production of acceptable invoices. In special circumstances and with prior approval by the Board, compensation for time expended on specific tasks on behalf of the Board or Association is permitted.

Article 12: Acquisition and sale of properties

The deliberations of the Board related to the acquisition, trade and sale of real estate properties, the constitution of mortgages on those properties, leases for periods exceeding 9 years, sale of properties and the loans must be approved by the General Assembly. Real property may only be acquired or leased where necessary to achieve the goals of the Association.

Article 13: Chief Executive

13.1 The Board may appoint and subsequently replace or remove a Chief Executive, not necessarily a member, for specific purposes. It can give him or her the necessary power for executing his or her mission. The Chief Executive may be an unpaid person or be a person paid by the Association, Article 11 notwithstanding.

13.2 The Chief Executive may attend all Board meetings and participate in all Board deliberations, other than those specifically called to replace or remove him or her, but has no vote.

Article 14: Resources

The resources of the Association are made up by:
1. membership subscription fees paid by the active members;
2. public and private subventions;
3. the products of generosity, the use of which has been accepted;
4. the products of its activities and of its publications.

Article 15: Accounting

Accounts are kept on a daily basis, with income and payments. An annual account report is made available, with the resulting balance. The annual accounts must be prepared and distributed to the membership, in accordance to the Luxembourg law.

Article 16: Dissolution

The General Assembly, that decides a dissolution, can appoint a Committee to organise the disposition of the assets. If the dissolution is decided without a committee being nominated, the Board disposes of the assets of the Association according to the law and to the goal of the Association.

Article 17: Transitional provisions

17.1 The first General Assembly shall elect an Interim Board of not fewer than three and not more than seven members, established by simple majority vote by the founder members.It shall have the duty of attracting as wide a membership as possible and of convening a new General Assembly (not being more than eight months from the date of the founding ofthe association), at which a Board shall be elected for a term of two years in accordancewith Article 9. In the meanwhile it shall exercise the powers of the Board. To that end, it may invite non-voting observers to attend its meetings.

17.2 The initial annual membership subscription fee is fixed at 1000 ECU.

Article 18: Note on means of communication

The Association may use all modern communications technologies in its internal affairs and put in place appropriate recording and archiving systems. In the following cases a confirmation on paper sent by post or express courier is required: notice of General Assembly, proxy for a General Assembly, sending out annual accounts, election by Board of an officer. Presence in person or by proxy isrequiredin order to vote at theGeneralAssembly.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of 1995 (article 5)

Article 5 : Membership -Note on terminology

Throughout these statutes, the word "member" by itself applies to the individuals designated as the representatives of each institutional member. The phrase "institutional member" is always used when the moral persons are meant. The members of the Association are moral persons working in the field of Information Technology, and of Linguistics and established under the law of a Member State of EU or of the European Economic Area. This moral person may belong to both public and private sector bodies. Membership is acquired with the agreement of the Executive Board and with the payment of a minimum one year’s subscription. The Board decides in cases of doubt as to eligibility. Each institutional member shall nominate an individual to represent it and vote on its behalf. A public sector body composed of several entities for which it pays individual subscriptions shall enjoy membership rights for each such entity.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of March 27, 2000 (article 9.8)

Present Article 12 Article 12: Acquisition and sale of properties

The deliberations of the Board related to the acquisition, trade and sale of real estate properties, the constitution of mortgages on those properties, leases for periods exceeding 9 years, sale of properties and the loans must be approved by the whole membership.

Real property may only be acquired or leased where necessary to achieve the goals of the Association.

Adopted new article 12

12.1 The deliberations of the Board related to the acquisition of a shareholding in a commercial company must be approved by the General Assembly. Such shareholding may only be acquired in a commercial company whose the objects are compatible with those of the Association. The entirety of the possible profits deriving from such shareholding will be exclusively assigned to the realisation of the non profit goal of the Association.

12.2 The deliberations of the Board related to the selling of a shareholding in a commercial company must be approved by the General Assembly.

12.3 The deliberations of the Board related to the acquisition, trade and sale of real estate properties, the constitution of mortgages on those properties, leases for periods exceeding 9 years, sale of properties and the loans must be approved by the General Assembly. Real property may only be acquired or leased where necessary to achieve the goals of the Association.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of April 6, 2001 (article 9.8)

Present Article 9, Alinea 8:

9.8 Consecutive Board service is limited to three successive terms.

Adopted new Article 9, Alinea 8:

9.8 Consecutive Board service is limited to three successive terms. For the founding members, elected at the 1995 general assembly, a fourth term is permitted.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of April 26, 2002 (article 9.12)

New article 9.12

The Board may nominate honorary presidents among personalities that rendered valuable services to the association. Honorary Presidents have no voting rights but can attend all the meetings of the board and general assemblies. The board has to approve such nomination.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of April 27, 2005

article 1

The mission of the Association is to promote language resources (henceforth LRs) and evaluation for the Human Language Technology (HLT) sector in all their forms and all their uses, in a European context. Consequently the goals are : to coordinate and carry out identification, production, validation, distribution, standardisation of LRs, as well as support for evaluation of systems, products, tools, etc. - related to language resources. Other resources will be considered as well if developments of the field make this desirable : e.g. multimedia resources both with and without language.

New article 4.2 To support the infrastructure, in terms of language resources, for evaluation of systems, tools, etc.

Article 5 : Membership -Note on terminology Some clarifications are added, among which definition of “member” and addition of “subscribers’ rights”.

The institutional members of the Association are legal entities working in the field of Information Technology, and of Linguistics and established under the law of a state of Europe. These legal entities may belong to both public and private sectors.

Each institutional member shall nominate an individual to represent it and vote on its behalf. A public sector body composed of several entities for which it pays individual subscriptions shall enjoy membership rights for each such entity. Institutions outside Europe may join as Subscribers. Subscribers enjoy all membership rights, apart from voting rights.

(article 8.9) Former article 9.12

The Board may nominate honorary presidents among personalities that rendered valuable services to the association. Honorary Presidents have no voting rights but can attend all the meetings of the board and general assemblies. The board has to approve such nomination.

(article 9.4) Amended article 9.4

There are two categories of place on the Board : at-large, and designated. The two categories are of equal size : At-large : six (6) places ; Designated : six (6) places. The GA decides how the 6 designated places are distributed over SSIs. This decision has effect for the election following the GA.

(article 10.1) Amended article 10.1

At the first meeting following a GA, the Board elects officers from among its members : a President, as many Vice-Presidents as SSIs, each from a specific SSI, and a Treasurer. It may elect other officers as necessary. The Officers are elected for one year and may be re-elected.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of October 1, 2008

Article 4: Activities

The primary activities of the Association are:

4.1 To assess, select and implement the necessary means for sharing and distributing LRs. Where appropriate, to organize and manage the acquisition of LRs from producers, to commission production and to develop the technical and legal frameworks for validating and distributing these resources to interested users.

4.5 To identify unfilled needs for LRs and to promote the creation of appropriate LRs to meet these needs.

Article 8: General Assembly

8.1 The General Assembly shall be held at least once every year. It shall be convened by the Board or at the request of at least one quarter of the paid-up members, with at least two months’ notice. The Agenda is drawn up by the President and must be circulated to the membership one month prior to the meeting. Members have the right to add matters to the Agenda, by written submission to Board, up until six (6) weeks before the meeting. Motions from the floor will be invited and entertained at the discretion of the President.

Article 9: The Board

9.2 The Board consists of 9 (nine) elected members-normally for two years, but in the case of withdrawal only the unexpired portion of the two-year term will be filled at the next General Assembly. Deputising is not normally allowed, unless agreed in advance for a specific Board meeting by a simple majority of the Board (excluding the member making the request).

Former article 9.3 has been removed (The Association formally recognises sectors…)

9.3 Members of the Board are elected from among the members by the whole membership of the Association. Nomination is either by the Board or by written petition signed by at least three members, not including the nominee, who present a written and signed request. Nominations close 30 days before the election date. If only as many nominations are made as there are places, no ballot is required and the nominees are all elected. Otherwise an election is held, with each member voting for up to as many nominees as the number of places. The available places are filled by those nominees receiving the most votes. In case of a tie for the last available place, a runoff election is held, among those tied. In the case of a further tie, the issue is resolved by drawing lots.

Former article 9.6 has been removed (Elections for the designated places are held…)

Former article 9.7 has been removed (A member may stand…)

9.5 Consecutive Board service is limited to three successive terms.

9.6 The Board meets as often as it is necessary, and at least once a year. They are convened by the President or at the request of at least one third of the members.

9.7 Participation by more than one third of Board members is necessary for decisions of the Board to be valid. Minutes shall be taken during each meeting and they shall be signed by the President and the Secretary. Decisions are made by an absolute majority of votes cast. Decisions related to individual members shall be by secret ballot.

9.8 The Board may invite up to three observers to attend its meeting regularly, and other observers may be specially invited for particular meetings or particular points on the agenda. Such observers have no voting rights.

Article 10: Officers

10.1 At the first meeting following a GA, the Board elects officers from among its members: a President, Vice-President(s), a Secretary and a Treasurer. It may elect other officers as necessary.

10.5 The Secretary is responsible for the membership lists of the Association and of the Board and for making them available to the membership, and is responsible for the conduct of all votes, other than for the position of Secretary itself, for which the President is responsible.

Article 13: Secretary General

13.1 The Board appoints and may subsequently replace or remove a Secretary General, not necessarily a member. It can give him or her the necessary power for executing his or her mission. The Secretary General may be an unpaid person or be a person paid by the Association, Article 11 notwithstanding.

13.2 The Secretary General attends all Board meetings and participates in all Board deliberations, other than those specifically called to replace or remove him or her, but has no vote.

13.3 The Secretary General is responsible for maintaining up-to-date membership lists of the Association and the Board and making them available to the membership, and is responsible for the conduct of all votes.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of November 24, 2010

Article 8: General Assembly

8.1 The General Assembly shall be held at least once every year. It shall be convened by the Board or at the request of at least one quarter of the paid-up members, with at least six (6) weeks’ notice. The Agenda is drawn up by the President and must be circulated to the membership two (2) weeks prior to the meeting. Members have the right to add matters to the Agenda, by written submission to Board, up until four (4) weeks before the meeting. Motions from the floor will be invited and entertained at the discretion of the President.

Article 9: The Board

9.3 Members of the Board are elected from among the members by the whole membership of the Association. . The Board should reflect the various dimensions of the Language Resources and Evaluation field. Nomination is either by the Board or by written petition signed by at least three members, not including the nominee, who present a written and signed request. Nominations close two (2) weeks before the election date. If only as many nominations are made as there are places, no ballot is required and the nominees are all elected. Otherwise an election is held, with each member voting for up to as many nominees as the number of places. The available places are filled by those nominees receiving the most votes. In case of a tie for the last available place, a runoff election is held, among those tied. In the case of a further tie, the issue is resolved by drawing lots.

Article 17: Note on means of communication

The Association may use all modern communications technologies in its internal affairs and put in place appropriate recording and archiving systems. In the following cases a confirmation sent electronically, whether sent via email or made available on the Web or on a ftp server is required: notice of General Assembly, annual management & financial reports, proxy for a General Assembly. Presence in person or by proxy is required in order to vote at the General Assembly. Proxies may be sent by post, fax, express courier or email.

Statutes updated by the general assembly of October 20, 2017

Article 1: Goal

The mission of the Association is to promote language resources (henceforth LRs) and evaluation for the Human Language Technology (HLT) sector in all their forms and all their uses, in a European and international context. Consequently the goals are: to coordinate and carry out identification, production, validation, distribution, standardisation of LRs, as well as support for evaluation of systems, products, tools, etc. - related to language resources. Other resources will be considered as well if developments of the field make this desirable: e.g. multimedia resources both with and without language.

Article 4: Activities

4.3 At the request of organisations in Europe which fund programmes for the creation of language resources, to give advice to them on the distribution and validation of those resources.

4.4 To serve as a source of information regarding the contents and availability of LRs to all interested parties in Europe .

Article 5: Membership

5.1 Throughout these statutes, the word "member" by itself applies to both institutional members and to the individual members. The phrase "institutional member" is always used when the legal entity is meant.

5.2 The institutional members of the Association are legal entities working in the field of Information Technology, and of Linguistics and established under the law of a state of Europe. These legal entities may belong to both public and private sectors. Institutional membership is acquired with the payment of a minimum one year’s subscription. The term of institutional membership is at least one full calendar year. It starts at January 1 st and ends at December 31 st, regardless the time of subscription.

5.3 Individual members are individuals with an interest in the field of Information Technology, and/or of Linguistics. Individual membership is acquired by paying the membership fees for a two-year period, either as part of LREC fees, or by joining directly at any time. The term of individual membership is always two full calendar years. It starts at January 1 st and ends at December 31 st, regardless the time of subscription. Employees of institutional members are entitled to individual membership if they register for it. The individual registration fees will be waived in this case .

5.4 Membership, or member status, is acquired with the agreement of the Board , a task that can be delegated to the Secretary General.

5.5 Each institutional member shall nominate an individual to represent it and vote on its behalf. A public sector body composed of several entities for which it pays individual subscriptions shall enjoy membership rights for each such entity. Institutions outside Europe may join as Subscribers. Subscribers enjoy all institutional membership rights, apart from voting rights.

Article 6: Termination of Membership

Grounds for termination are:

a) Resignation by letter or email addressed to the Secretary General ;

b) Failure to pay subscription fees within the time-limit laid down;

c) Other serious grounds - by decision of the General Assembly.

Termination does not in itself have any effect on the existence of the Association.

Article 8: General Assembly

8.1 The General Assembly shall be held at least once every year. It shall be convened by the Board or at the request of at least one quarter of the paid-up institutional members, with at least six (6) weeks’ notice. The Agenda is drawn up by the President and must be circulated to the membership two (2) weeks prior to the meeting. Institutional members have the right to add matters to the Agenda, by written submission to the Board, up until four (4) weeks before the meeting. Motions from the floor will be invited and entertained at the discretion of the President.

8.1.1 Voting rights at the General Assembly are restricted to one representative per institutional member and to the Board representative of the individual members. Henceforth they are termed the “Convenees of the GA”.

8.2 Convenees of the GA who cannot attend the General Assembly may authorise another Convenee of the GA to vote on their behalf by means of a written and duly signed form of proxy, which must be presented to the Secretary by the beginning of the meeting.

8.3 All resolutions except resolutions to amend the Statutes of the Association or to dissolve the Association shall be passed by a simple majority of votes cast or represented by Convenees of the GA . Resolutions to amend the Statutes of the Association or to dissolve it require that the General Assembly gathers two thirds of the Convenees of the GA and any such resolution can only be adopted with a majority of two thirds of the votes, as per the procedure set out in Luxembourg law.

8.7 The amount of the annual subscription fee and the timing of subscription fee collection is fixed by the Board.

8.9 The Board may nominate Honorary Presidents among personalities that have rendered valuable services to the association. Honorary Presidents have no voting rights but can attend all the meetings of the board and general assemblies. The Board has to approve such nomination.

Article 9: The Board

9.2 The Board consists of a maximum of 9 (nine) elected members distributed as follows: 8 (eight) representatives of institutional members and 1 (one) representative of the individual members, normally for two years . In the case of withdrawal of an institutional representative, only the unexpired portion of the two-year term will be filled at the next General Assembly. In the case of withdrawal of the representative of the individual members, a new election will be organised. The election is for a new period of two years. Deputising is not normally allowed, unless agreed in advance for a specific Board meeting by a simple majority of the Board (excluding the Board member making the request).

9.3 Members of the Board who are representatives of the institutional members are elected from among the institutional members at the General Assembly . The Board should reflect the various dimensions of the Language Resources and Evaluation field. Nomination is either by the Board or by an email sent by at least three members to the Secretary General , not including the nominee. Nominations close two (2) weeks before the election date. If only as many nominations are made as there are places, no ballot is required and the nominees are all elected. Otherwise an election is held, with each member voting for up to as many nominees as the number of places. The available places are filled by those nominees receiving the most votes. In case of a tie for the last available place, a runoff election is held, among those tied. In the case of a further tie, the issue is resolved by drawing lots.

The member of the Board representing the “individual members” is elected for 2 (two) years by the individual members having paid their membership fees. For this specific election, the rule is one individual member one vote. Nomination is either by the Board or by an email sent by at least three members to the Secretary General, not including the nominee. Nominations close four (4) weeks before the election date.

9.4 Consecutive Board service is limited to three successive terms. The Board member representing the individual members can only serve one full two-year term and cannot be re-elected. For the sake of rotation, this Board Member cannot reside in the same continent as his predecessor.

9.5 The Board meets as often as it is necessary, and at least once a year . The Board meetings are convened by the President or at the request of at least one third of the members.

9.6 Participation by more than one third of Board members is necessary for decisions of the Board to be valid. Minutes shall be taken during each meeting and they shall be distributed and archived by the Secretary General . Decisions are made by an absolute majority of votes cast. Decisions related to individual members shall be by secret ballot.

Article 10: Officers

10.1 At the first meeting following an “election” General Assembly , the Board elects officers from among its members: a President, Vice-President(s), a Secretary, and a Treasurer. It may elect other officers as necessary. The Board member representing the individual members cannot be elected as an officer .