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CAcert Inc. Association

• CAcert Inc. is an incorporated non-profit association registered with New South Wales (NSW), Australia. - It was incorporated by 24 July 2003, with the full association name CAcert Incorporated under the Incorporation No INC9880170. We have a DUNS number 75-605-6102.

General Meetings of the Association

• Every General Meeting, regardless if AGM or SGM, need to have at least five attending members.

• Voting: You need to have paid up your fees in order to be able to vote. A proxy vote can be done via appointing a proxy for your vote. See here: Association/Voting for more information.

• Annual General Meetings of the association are (should be) called yearly. Here is a draft and proposed agenda for the next AGM. Anyone can suggested items to be discussed, but only members have a say.

• See Special General Meetings for non-regular events.

History of General Meetings

• CAcert Inc. Association General Meetings (agenda, details and minutes) in the past:

• SGM 8th May 2011 work-in-progress

• SGM 3rd April 2011 work-in-progress

• AGM 30th January 2010 work-in-progress

• SGM 25th July 2009

• AGM Nov 2008

• SGM 4th Apr 2008

• AGM Nov 2007

• SGM 25th May 2007

• AGM 3rd July 2005

• AGM 24th August 2004

• SGM 29th July 2004

• See also the Board's meetings

All current members of the Committee are Association Members. The Committee is responsible for the management of CAcert Inc. The Committee does not employ a secretariat so is responsible for both CAcert Inc. policy and its administration. Board business can be found at Committee (Board of Directors).

Association Membership

Terms: Association Members are part of the Association

• Note: Do not mix up terms:

• Association Member means a member of the Association CAcert Inc., and is what is discussed on this page.

• Member means a person registered at the CAcert.org website as part of the community. (Community) Members are not discussed on this page.

• According to the policy decision p20080106.1 the term member now belongs to the community. This is because it significantly eases understanding in the community itself.

What can an Association Member do?

• An Association Member is able to nominate or to be nominated to serve on the board (Committee) of CAcert Inc. An Association Member can vote at AGMs and SGMs on any motion that the board puts to the association membership or any resolution brought forward by an association member.

• (Registration at the CAcert website as a (community) member does not give any right to vote on any motions brought up at any AGMs or SGMs.)

How to become an Association Member

• If you want to become an Association Member of the CAcert Inc. Association, please read the association rules, and afterwards fill out this Application Form.

• There are several formats available for completing form fields and handling via email in digital format. Have the digital form (or the emails) signed with CAcert certificates:

• open document format;

• pdf format.

• A step by step guide for becoming an Association Member can be found here.

• To become a full member of CAcert Inc Association (once again, this is different from being a registered member of the community of CAcert) you have to be
• nominated by a current CAcert Inc Association Member,
• seconded by another current CAcert Inc Association Member,
• accepted by the board (as per the rules), and
• pay an annual membership fee.
• First step then is to try to find an Association Member who will nominate you, and another to second the nomination. E.g. via a request to one of the CAcert email lists. When you find two association members tell them why you want to join and what you plan to contribute. Once nominated (the nominators will send a signed nomination form to the association members and CAcert board), the treasurer will notify you when you have to pay the annual membership fee in order to be a full member of the association with all rights and responsibilities as described in the official Association Rules.
• The easy way is to print off the Association Membership application form, complete it, scan it and send it of for nomination via a (CAcert cert) signed email.The other is to complete the digital forms, and sign it with a CAcert certificate.

• All Association Members must be on the membership email list. This list is for notices to Association Members *ONLY*, not for general discussions. This list allows the board to notify Association Members of any motions needing a majority vote to make changes, or for any AGMs or SGMs.

Annual Membership Fee

• If you are located outside of Australia you can pay your yearly membership fee by Pay CAcert US$10 Fee. Note the Paypal button on this page is a subscription button which will charge your Paypal account automatically every year. To remote this subscription you have to send a signed email to the Treasurer of the CAcert Board. If you pay from your Australian bank account please use a direct money transfer to: CAcert Inc, BSB: 032073, Account No.: 180264, bank account and inform the Secretary of the CAcert Board.

• The current membership fee is US$10/year.
• While you will be notified of your membership being due before the end of the association financial year, please make sure you are paid up before the 30th of June otherwise you will loose membership rights.
• Your membership can be resigned by sending a signed email to the Secretary of the CAcert Board.

Membership Announcements and Discussions

• CAcert has a wiki for information about CAcert services and certificates.

  • It has a special place for CAcert Inc. and Membership information.

  • It also provides info about the next General Meeting.

  • Nominations for board function for elections will be notified on the wiki as well.
  • This information is a wiki and so is not the formal CAcert Association membership information. No one is responsible for the contents of these wiki pages, but you may find information there which is meant as information exchange between Association Members.
• Email lists:

  • There is a member announcements and discussion email list: < cacert-members@lists.cacert.org > . If you are an association member you should have been added to this email list. Meeting notifications and notification of resolutions and nominations for board elections will be sent on to this list. If you are not receiving email via this list and you believe yourself to be a member, please contact the board or support as soon as possible. This list is can also be used for discussions between association members.

  • A moderated list for sending (signed) emails to the CAcert Committee (board): < cacert-board@lists.cacert.org >.

Association Rules and Law

The Association conducts according to the Act and the Rules. The Act controls many things about the Rules, so typically, for a fuller understanding, we have to read them both together.

Summary

• CAcert Association is a closed association

  • you can only become an Association Member via nomination and acceptance from the board (called Committee).
  • Association Members should not be involved with other Certificate Authorities.

• The liability is limited to the (unpaid) yearly fee (10 US$).

• CAcert must hold and Annual General Meeting, generally around December - February every year.
• The Committee (Board) has a maximum of 7 positions.
  • 4 with a clear function: president, Treasurer, Secretary and Vice-President.
  • 3 members with no extra role.
  • 3 board members needs to be present at meeting in order to decide.
  • There may be sub-committees installed by the board.
  • We use the term Committee (from the Act) and Board (easier to understand) interchangeably.
• The Public Officer is the direct contact to the Director-General of Affairs (Australian Trade Office).
  • The Public Officer must be resident in NSW.
  • The PO must file a yearly report the Director-General of the OFT.
• The association is not permitted to provide own (money) gain for the association members (really non-profit for association members).
• The Committee needs to hold meetings.

  • See Minutes for all records of meetings.

  • Notices, decisions and resolutions can be done with email (signed, or CARS).

• 5% of members can form and petition the board for an Special General Meeting (SGM).

  • at current numbers, that is about 3 or 4 members.

Notes on the 1984 Associations Act. However these are superceded by the 2009 Associations Act now in effect.

CAcert Rules

• The Association is incorporated under a modified version of the model rules published by the NSW government under the 1984 Associations Incorporations Act. You can find the official copy of the CAcert Inc. association by-laws on the SVN repository. Current version is Jan-2010.

• These rules define the association operations, annual membership fee, liability of association members, elections, AGM, etc. In Appendix 1 you will find the membership application form. Appendix 2 has a form with which you are able to get a proxy for voting on your behalf at any formal meetings, such as the AGM, or any SGMs.

Association Act

• The law applicable is the 2009 Associations Act (PDF and web).

• This new Act was signed in late 2010 and was in effect from then. It therefore replaced the old 1984 Act. This also imposes new requirements over the Rules. However, there is a changeover regime that effects the Rules: While the Rules remain unchanged, they are deemed to be "in compliance" which means the Rules are interpreted in any dispute so as to comply with the Act. When the next change of Rules occurs, the entire Rules must be re-drafted to be in compliance, in the words. (If not, the Rules will be rejected by the regulator.)

• See Notes on the 1984 Act to see the historical context.

Regulator -- Office of Fair Trading

The Act is implemented by the NSW Office of Fair Trading (OFT). For the current forms and legislation, look to the Office of Fair Trading: NSW Business Services which is the regulator of Associations, under the Act.

Copy of Certificate of Incorporation of CAcert

Proposal for an Association Move

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