STATUTES OF THE UNION OF ROAD TRANSPORT ASSOCIATIONS
IN THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION REGION (BSEC-URTA)

PREAMBLE

Sharing the goals of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation which aims to transform the Black Sea region, through mutual cooperation, into a region of peace, freedom, stability and prosperity,

Acknowledging the intensive support given and remarkable interest shown by the BSEC Working Group on Transport, the BSEC Business Council and the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the global organisation for road transport, at the foundation stage,

Mindful of the leading role that national associations of international road transport play in the economic life and wishing to enhance this role within the institutional structure of the Black Sea cooperation process,

Expressing that road transport constitutes the basic form of international transport of goods and passengers in the BSEC region,

Convinced that by considering the main objective of new organization, BSEC-URTA will be able to give assistance to solve the practical road transport problem in the BSEC countries.

Reaffirming our commitment to the provisions of essential BSEC documents,

Taking into consideration relevant provisions of national legislation of the BSEC Participating States concerning the transport and the transport associations at national level,

Wishing to establish a close and permanent cooperation with the IRU so that its activities, in-depth global experience and extensive means and facilities can rightly be used in regional formulations,

The undersignatory founding Associations, members of the IRU, the global organisation for road transport, agreed to establish hereby the Union of Road Transport Associations in the BSEC region.

Article 1- Name

In accordance with the intention of the founding Associations, the open name of the Union shall be the Union of Road Transport Associations in the BSEC region (in the following BSEC-URTA).

Article 2 - Functions

BSEC-URTA shall act in all matters of transport policy, road transport policy in particular. The principal task of BSEC-URTA shall be, in particular, on its own initiative and independently, to promote actively the development of road transport in the BSEC countries and the region to safeguard the interests of its Members vis-à-vis the Governments and international bodies and to undertake all the necessary action to reduce and progressively eliminate the barriers to the road transport, BSEC-URTA shall aim at developing cooperation and promoting exchange of information and experience among its members as well as facilitating multilateral cooperation projects in the field of transport on a regional basis. BSEC-URTA shall carry out its activities in close co-operation with the IRU, the BSEC and its Related Bodies.

Article 3 - Seat

BSEC-URTA shall have its seat in Istanbul (Turkey) in the form of an International Secretariat at the premises provided by the International Transporters' Association of Turkey (UND).

Article 4 - Composition

BSEC-URTA will consist of IRU active members from the BSEC Member States. Each member representing the road transport industry in a BSEC State, shall appoint, by name, its delegation responsible for following the work of BSEC-URTA. Such delegations shall be limited with three seats, in principle. Provided that the number of seats allocated to it is not exceeded, a delegation may arrange to be accompanied by any other person from the Association, chosen by the Member.
In the event of any change in representation in BSEC-URTA, the Member shall inform the BSEC-URTA International Secretariat thereof in writing.
The appointment by an IRU active Member of its representatives to BSEC-URTA and its participation in the work of BSEC-URTA, presupposes their effective exercise of leading functions and responsibilities within the Member Organisation, as well as their active and constant participation in the work of BSEC-URTA. The Member and its representatives must be ready to accept any duty which is entrusted to them and declare that they are ready to devote the time required to carry it out.
The Members and their representatives shall attain the BSEC-URTA objectives in accordance with Article 2 above.
To make use of the competence and synergy existing within the IRU, the relevant experts from the IRU may be requested by BSEC-URTA to take part in the work of BSEC-URTA and its ad hoc Working Bodies.
On the proposal of its President, BSEC-URTA may invite other persons engaged in specific activities to participate in its meetings, but not on a regular basis.

Article 5 – Observers ⁽**⁾

Upon proposal of the BSEC-URTA Management Council, the BSEC-URTA General Assembly can grant, by two-thirds of the BSEC-URTA Members, the Observer status to:-

 

a)     national and international non-profit-making organizations, participating directly or indirectly in road transport activities in the BSEC region,

b)     national and international companies and other profit-making enterprises, participating directly or indirectly in road transport activities in the BSEC region.

Management Council shall examine the requests for Observer status based on written applications together with the:

 

-       official documents attesting to the structure, type and importance of the activity engaged by the applicant; and/or

-       a copy of its constitution and rules of procedure; and/or

-       any other internal documents, together with any other material likely to assist in considering its application; and/or

-       a report indicating the geographical scope of its activity, the number of members of the organization and the number of road vehicles operated by it or its members, and

 

will decide on their submission to the General Assembly or not, without having to justify its decision to the applicant. There is no possibility of appeal to the Management Council.

In its decision to grant an Observer status, the BSEC-URTA General Assembly shall define the terms and conditions of the granted status including the period of such status and related observer’s fee applicable.

The admission or non-admission of an applicant shall be notified to it, in writing, by the BSEC-URTA Secretary General.

Observers shall not have the right to vote or to be elected but enjoy the following privileges and duties:

 

a)     to take part in the BSEC-URTA General Assembly meetings as well as the BSEC-URTA conferences or seminars;

b)     upon approval of the BSEC-URTA President, to participate in the work of BSEC-URTA Working Parties with the right to make proposals;

c)     to implement the BSEC-URTA recommendations, decisions, resolutions and actions; to promote such to their society, customers, members, media and competent national authorities; and to ensure their follow-up;

d)     to participate and reply within the given deadlines to the BSEC-URTA surveys, information requests and other inquiries;

e)     to contribute to the BSEC-URTA’s work by sharing any information, which may be of interest or importance for the BSEC-URTA Members.

 

Upon proposal of the BSEC-URTA Management Council, the BSEC-URTA General Assembly will decide to suspend, prolong, terminate or annul an existing Observer status, at any time, by two-thirds of the BSEC-URTA Members.

 

Article 6 – Honorary Membership ⁽***⁾

Upon proposal of the BSEC-URTA Management Council, the BSEC-URTA General Assembly, to take into account the interest of the BSEC-URTA, can grant, by simple majority vote of the BSEC-URTA Members, the Honorary Member status, with or without voting rights, to recognized organizations, which are ready to make significant contribution to the activities of the BSEC-URTA.

An Honorary Member shall have the same obligations and duties as the BSEC-URTA Member Associations.

Upon proposal of the BSEC-URTA Management Council, the BSEC-URTA General Assembly will decide to suspend, prolong, terminate or annul an existing Honorary Member status, at any time, by simple majority vote of the BSEC-URTA Members.

Article 7 - Meetings

The dates of the regular meetings of BSEC-URTA shall be determined by its President, 2 years in advance. Normally, one meeting is held every year. Meetings shall, in principle, be held in Istanbul. They may also be held in one of the BSEC Member Countries.
BSEC-URTA may also organise an extraordinary meeting at the request of its President or at the written request of at least five Members.
The notice and agenda of meetings of BSEC-URTA shall be sent by its Secretary General in writing, in principle at least 30 days prior to the date of the meeting, to all the Members of BSEC-URTA. This period may, in urgent cases, be reduced with the assent of the President. The agenda shall be established by the Secretary General, with the agreement of the President of BSEC-URTA.
At the beginning of the meeting, the President of BSEC-URTA shall decide the agenda, on the basis of the provisional agenda.
To attain efficiently the objectives of BSEC-URTA:

a) the Secretariat, in agreement with the President, shall be responsible for the timely distribution, to the Members of BSEC-URTA, of the documents tabled on the agenda.

b) The items on the agenda of BSEC-URTA must highlight:

 

i) the subjects on which decisions must be taken

ii) the subjects for information only.

c) The documents concerning transport policy, as mentioned in Article 2 of these Statutes, submitted for decision, must be structured as follows:

 

i) Analysis of the political situation or of the proposal to be the subject of a decision, highlighting:

- the development of this question,
- the benefits/disadvantages and
- the possible consequences for the industry.

ii) Definition, by the Secretariat, of the draft standpoint to be debated for decision by BSEC-URTA.

iii) Definition of the means to be employed in a coordinated manner at the national and international levels and in relation to BSEC.

During meetings of BSEC-URTA, its President shall declare each meeting open and closed, direct the debates, allow participants to address the meeting, put matters to the vote and announce decisions.
Each meeting of BSEC-URTA shall be chaired by its President or, in his absence, by its Vice-President who is the longest standing and subsidiarily, the eldest.
A minimum of fifty percent of all Members shall create the quorum at meetings.
The IRU President and the Secretary General of the IRU or his representative shall be entitled to attend all the meetings of BSEC-URTA and its Management Council, if any, without voting rights.

Article 8 - Vote

At meetings of BSEC-URTA, each Member has, at its disposal, six (6) votes, whatever the number of delegates present. In case, there is more than one Member per country, six votes per country will be divided among themselves by the members of BSEC-URTA.
Decisions by BSEC-URTA shall be taken by a show of hands and by a simple majority of Members present. However, at the prior request of the President or of at least three Members, voting on the decisions submitted to BSEC-URTA shall take place by secret ballot. In the event of a secret ballot, the decision shall be taken by a majority of votes of the Members taking part in the vote.
In the framework of the functions defined in Article 2 above, voting by correspondence is permitted in respect of written proposals transmitted to it by the BSEC-URTA President or the Secretary General. In other cases, neither voting by correspondence nor voting by proxy is permitted.

Article 9 - Elections ⁽*⁾

The term of office of the BSEC-URTA President is 2 years. The President will be elected by two-thirds majority of the BSEC-URTA membership. If this can not be reached, a second round of elections will be held between the two candidates having the highest votes in the first round. In this case, the new President will be elected by simple majority of the BSEC-URTA membership in the second round of elections.

Upon completion of his term of office, the BSEC-URTA General Assembly may elect its Founding President as the life-time Honorary President.

The term of office of the BSEC-URTA Vice-Presidents is 1 year each. The Vice-Presidents will be nominated by rotation in English alphabetical order of the names of the countries represented in BSEC-URTA. For selecting one Vice-President A-Z alphabetical order will be followed while Z-A for selecting the other Vice-President.

If due to this rotation, the President and Vice-Presidents are foreseen to come from the same country at the same time, the Vice-President will be elected from the next country in the alphabetical order.

The nominations for the posts of President and of Vice-President must be addressed by the member to the BSEC-URTA Secretary General 30 days prior to the elections, and be annexed to the agenda of the meeting, except in imperative and exceptional cases approved by BSEC-URTA.

Voting shall take place under the conditions set out in Article 6 above.

Article 10 - Ad hoc Working Parties

On the initiative of BSEC-URTA or of its President, ad hoc Working Parties only may be set up.
The opinions resulting from the work carried out by these ad hoc Working Parties shall be submitted, before publication, for approval by BSEC-URTA.
With the agreement of the President, any Member may invite outside persons to participate in the proceedings of the ad hoc Working Parties, but not on a regular basis.

Article 11 - Management Council ⁽*^{) (}**⁾⁽***⁾  

In case of need, the BSEC-URTA President may decide to set up a Management Council.
The Management Council is composed of the President, the Vice-Presidents, BSEC-URTA Secretary General and the Honorary President, if any.

The meeting of the Management Council may be convoked by BSEC-URTA President inbetween two plenary meetings of BSEC-URTA in order to give guidance to ongoing activities.
The President shall preside over the work of the Management Council.
In his absence, the Management Council shall appoint a Chairman for that meeting by consensus or, where appropriate, by simple majority.
The Management Council has the following functions:

1) It shall be responsible for co-ordinating the work of BSEC-URTA with view to strengthening and increasing the efficiency of its internal and external activities.

2) It shall take note of the activities of BSEC-URTA and determine the priorities for work.

3) It shall institute a continuous dialogue and defend the unity of the BSEC-URTA and the profession, while respecting the responsibilities of BSEC-URTA.

4) It shall entrust the Secretary General with applying and complying with all the transport policy decisions taken in accordance with Article 2 of these Statutes.

5) It may also invite anyone to assist in its work.

6) It shall supervise the implementation of the working programme approved by the BSEC-URTA.

7) It shall examine the requests for Observer status or any nominations for Honorary Member status in accordance with Article 5 and 6 of these Statutes.

 

 

The Management Council of BSEC-URTA shall meet whenever necessary at the request of BSEC-URTA President or Secretary General, on a date and at a place determined by the latter.
The agenda and notice of meetings of the Management Council shall be drawn up and addressed to the members by the Secretary General of BSEC-URTA.
The decisions of the Management Council of BSEC-URTA shall be taken by consensus and, if necessary, by a simple majority vote of its members. In an emergency, decisions may be made by correspondence. The Secretary General has the right to participate in all the meetings, but without voting right.

Article 12 - Secretary General of BSEC-URTA

The BSEC-URTA shall appoint its Secretary General for a four-year term which is renewable based on performance criteria.
The Secretary General has the following main functions:

1) To monitor the transport activities of the BSEC authorities and to report on these to the members of BSEC-URTA, including the IRU Geneva, as appropriate,

2) To carry out, in concert with the President of BSEC-URTA, the working programme,

3) To apply and to comply, in accordance with Article 2 of these Statutes, with all the transport policy decisions taken, in accordance with the same Article, by BSEC-URTA, catalogue them and ensure follow-up to them,

4) To co-ordinate the work of the Secretariat and to assure co-operation among all Members,

5) To take on all administrative tasks.

6) To assist the Members of BSEC-URTA in drawing up general policy and in preserving unity of the profession,

7) To draw up a proposed budget for the Secretariat and for the activities of BSEC-URTA, if need be,

8) To assume sole responsibility for the proper and sound management of the funds which are entrusted to him and to adhere strictly to budgets,

9) To create alliances with the partners of the road transport industry to promote the views and opinions of the profession to the media and other bodies concerned.

Article 13 - Working Program, Budget, Membership Fee, and Financial Contributions ⁽*^{) (}**^{) (}***⁾

The BSEC-URTA Secretary General shell draw up a draft annual and long-term working program, indicating the priorities as well as, if need be, the relevant budget proposals.
The working program, the annual budget and membership fees shall be adopted by autumn session of the BSEC-URTA General Assembly.
The annual budget of the BSEC-URTA will be covered by a membership fee paid in advance by each member of the BSEC-URTA. The activities of the BSEC-URTA can also be covered by annual contributions to be paid by the Honorary Members, Observers or other donors.
Expenses of organising meetings shall be covered by the hosting Member organisations except for travel and accommodation costs to be covered by delegates.
Subsidies from Members, Observers, Honorary Members, Governments in the BSEC region and any other donor organisations are welcome.

Article 14 -Working Method

Assisted by the Secretary General, BSEC-URTA shall ensure in writing, before initiating or pursuing any new activity, the political support by Members for this activity and, if so decided by BSEC-URTA, their financial participation in it.
To derive maximum benefit from the available time and resources of its Members, any new activity undertaken by BSEC-URTA is to be developed project by project.

Article 15 - Implementation of the Working Programme

In accordance with the working programme approved and the annual budget, if any, adopted by BSEC-URTA, the President of BSEC-URTA and its Secretary General shall determine 2 to 3 concrete and realistic priority objectives to be reached during the course of the year.
The Secretary General of BSEC-URTA shall establish the corresponding reports, ensure the follow-up to the decisions taken and control their application.

Article 16 - Languages

The official meetings language of BSEC-URTA shall be English and Russian.
Any other language can be used at BSEC-URTA meetings if the participating Members agree in advance to cover related costs themselves.

Article 17 - Amendments to the Statutes

Any amendments to the present Statutes shall be effected by two-thirds of the BSEC-URTA Members. Voting shall take place under the conditions set out in Article 6 above. The amendments shall enter into force on the date of their adoption.

Article 18 - BSEC Accreditation

BSEC-URTA will seek accreditation to competent BSEC authorities.

Article 19 - Member Withdrawal and Termination of BSEC-URTA

Every member of BSEC-URTA has a right with 6 months writing notification for the end of the calendar year to withdraw from the organisation.
In case BSEC-URTA will decide to terminate itself by at least two-thirds of its Members, a liquidation commission shall be appointed to settle all matters pertaining to the liquidation. Assets shall be divided among the Member Associations in proportion to the financial resources they contributed for the whole period of their membership.

Article 20 - Entry into force

These Statutes enter into force on the day of their adoption. This Statutes will be entered into force and will be implemented at national level on the day of the adoption by the respective competent body of each national association member of BSEC-URTA. UND shall act as Depository, sending a duly signed copy to all members as well as to the IRU in Geneva.
Done at Antalya (Turkey) on the 24th day of October 2001.

Signed by

Mr. Ilir Mataj, ANALTIR (Albania)
Mr. Herbert Hambardzumyan, AIRCA (Armenia)
Mr. Orkhan Afandiyev, ABADA (Azerbaijan)
Mr. Georgi Petrov, AEBTRI (Bulgaria)
Mr. Alexander Chkheidze, GIRCA (Georgia)
Mr. Panagiotis Nicolaras, OFAE (Greece)
Mr. Oleg Muntean, AITA (Moldova)
Mr. Adrian Albu, ARTRI (Romania)
Mr. Arkady Kurshin, ASMAP (Russia)
Mr. Ö. Çetin Nuhoglu, UND (Turkey)
Mr. Yuri Ivanov, AIRCU (Ukraine)
In witness whereof
Mr. Martin Marmy, IRU (Switzerland)

____________________________________

(*) As amended and undersigned by the representatives of eleven Member Associations during the Sixth Meeting of the BSEC-URTA General Assembly held in Tbilisi (Georgia) on 26 October 2004.

(**) As amended and undersigned by the representatives of nine Member Associations during the Ninth Meeting of the BSEC-URTA General Assembly held in Istanbul (Turkey) on 11 May 2006.

(***) As amended and undersigned by the representatives of nine Member Associations during the Twelfth Meeting of the BSEC-URTA General Assembly held in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 2 November 2007.