Dutch Chamber update

Articles of Association

As some of you may recall, the Board of Directors (“Board”) and Management of the Dutch Chamber have been working on an update of the Articles of Association of the Dutch Chamber (“Articles”). Our goal is to:

-           provide for more flexibility in respect of membership categories;

-           improve the internal decision making process;

-           update the provisions in respect of the composition of the Board and the Advisory Board; and

-           provide for a general revamp of the Articles to make them more user-friendly for the directors and the members of the Dutch Chamber, without changing the non-profit nature and objects of the Dutch Chamber.

The proposed new Articles have been adopted by the Annual General Meeting 2017. Because of the special status of the Dutch Chamber as a non-profit organisation in the form of a company limited by guarantee, the proposed Articles have subsequently been submitted for approval of the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury and the Registrar of Companies. After some minor technical revisions, the proposed Articles have now been approved by both Government authorities and will be tabled for final adoption at the Annual General Meeting 2018.

We would like to offer the members of the Dutch Chamber the opportunity to review the proposed new Articles and to raise any comments or questions for consideration by the Board. A copy of the current Articles can be found here. The proposed new Articles can be found here.

Membership categories

Following the adoption of the proposed Articles, the Board of Directors intends to simplify the existing categories of memberships. The current distinction between Associate Members and SME Members does not serve a practical purpose and the Board proposed to merge these Members into a new category of Ordinary Members. An overview of the different membership categories and the proposed changes can be found here.