The General Assembly of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) will be held semi-virtually on 29 June 2021 from 13:00 to 15:00 GMT (Belgian time). This is a General Assembly which must be convened yearly in accordance with Belgian law for administrative reasons.
The draft agenda includes Opening of the General Assembly & appointment of the bureau, Approval of the Agenda, Approval of the draft minutes from 3 September 2020, Approval of the 2020, Audited Accounts & discharge of the auditor and Discharge of the Board.
The Agenda also includes passage of the 2021 Budget, Creation of a Thematic Committee for Youth and Invitation to the next ICA General Assembly. The General Assembly would wound up at 15:00 Belgian time.
ICA members with the right to vote will be able to participate virtually during the Assembly and vote electronically using a separate electronic voting system. Interpretation will be provided for in English, French and Spanish. ICA members without the right to vote will be able to observe the Assembly via a live streaming.
Full details on how members can register for the Assembly and the official meeting documentation will be available on or before 30 May 2021.
In order to prove the validity of the General Assembly, in case of complaints, one needs to be able to prove the identity of the members attending the General Assembly and their capacity to represent their organizations. When the members join the General Assembly, ICA should be able to identify them with their full name and allow them to vote. The observers will not be authorized to vote. ICA says that it is important to distinguish between these categories of participants.
“The members shall take notice of the discussions in a direct, simultaneous, and continuous way. We need to guarantee that the members can participate in the deliberations and to ask questions and that the members are able to vote on each item on the agenda. The convocation notice must include a clear and specific description of the processes regarding the remote participation. The description of the process also must be made available on the ICA website”, reads a release on the subject.
Article 29 of the ICA Bylaws stipulate that “members who have not paid all subscriptions due at least forty-five days prior to the General Assembly are not eligible to vote”.