Statutes of eduVPN

Title
Statutes of eduVPN
DRACC
0018
Aliases
EVPN-0000
Category
Regulatory
Scope
Programme
Authors
Leenaars, M.A.G.J.; Meijer, J.; Aben, G.; Suklje, M.
Date
December 2016
Copyright
The Commons Conservancy and eduVPN
License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Purpose

The eduVPN Programme (in short: eduVPN) has been established to facilitate an open, transparent and efficient governance process throughout the future development of the technology and auxiliary materials (such as documentation, tests, validators and tutorials) developed within the eduVPN user and development community.

eduVPN seeks to provide guidance, oversight and coordination of activities as well as a long-term, multi-stakeholder and architectural perspective.

eduVPN is the name of a not-for-profit technical and creative community effort serving the public benefit. eduVPN is established as a Programme within [The Commons Conservancy]. [The Commons Conservancy] is a not-for-profit foundation (‘Stichting’) established under The Netherlands law.

Terms contained in this document refer to the respective definitions of these terms within the regulations of [The Commons Conservancy], unless explicitly noted otherwise. The Programme is subject to the conditions set forth in the Statutes and Regulations of [The Commons Conservancy], more in particular to the conditions stipulated in [The Commons Conservancy] DRACC 0002. References to the Statutes or Regulations of eduVPN therefore automatically mean the combination of the Statutes and Regulations of the Programme and those of [The Commons Conservancy].

Any decisions made or approved by the eduVPN Board of Directors within the scope of its mandate will be handled according to the procedure set out in DRACC “Decision Handling Procedure”. New (versions of) eduVPN Statutes and Regulations enter into effect when they are published as part of the DRACC series of [The Commons Conservancy].

Financial considerations

eduVPN operates on a nil budget, which means there are no direct financial considerations.

eduVPN Board of Directors determines the desired direction of the development of technology and auxiliary materials. At the request of grantmaking organisations, donors and partners, eduVPN MAY provide guidance to others on and inspiration with regards to the establishment and evaluation of activities. eduVPN itself will have no direct financial involvement in such activities under any circumstances.

Governance

The central decision making body within eduVPN is the eduVPN Board of Directors (in short: eduVPN Board). The eduVPN Board is a meritocratic committee responsible for making and coordinating decisions on behalf of the user and developer community around eduVPN, according to the conditions set forth in these Statutes as well as any Regulations established by prior decisions of the eduVPN Board.

The eduVPN Board has a minimum of three, and a maximum of seven natural persons. The founding eduVPN Board has appointed a number of its constituting Directors to serve a half (12 month) term, and the remainder to serve a regular (24 month) term. Subsequent Directors are elected by the eduVPN Board to regular 24 month terms according to the procedure set out in these Statutes. Directors are permitted to seek office for multiple terms, however, when running against other candidates the amount of terms they have consecutively served is deducted from the votes cast in their favour. This provides a balance between continuity, equal opportunities and renewal of qualities and competences.

The eduVPN Board determines the Programme’s structure and processes, and is responsible for maintaining its Statutes and Regulations. The eduVPN Board is free to make or revise any decision, taking into consideration applicable law as well as any immutable conditions previously established within the Statutes or Regulations.

In order to efficiently fulfill its tasks, the Board may establish specialized committees and taskforces, as well as assign named roles to qualified individuals to provide advice and assistance on specific issues. The associated qualifications, tasks and responsibilities SHALL be formalised by publication as part of the Regulations of eduVPN.

The eduVPN Board (and any person, group or organisation mandated by the eduVPN Board on its behalf) must act in good faith and in the common interest of the developer community and the wider user community of eduVPN. If significant harm to the organization has been committed by any Director, he or she MAY be removed from the Board by a simple majority vote of the rest of the Board.

The eduVPN Board SHALL convene offline or online at least every twelve (12) months.

Voting procedure

Any two eduVPN Directors MAY jointly organise a vote of the eduVPN Board on any subject, after which a notification SHALL be sent out by email to each Director detailing the proposed action and the deadline.

Each Director is entitled to one (1) vote on each matter submitted to a vote. Voting happens through an electronic voting system, by email vote or by a quorate (online) meeting. A quorum is reached when all Directors are either (tele)present, have appointed a proxy or have indicated they will abstain from voting.

It is the responsibility of each Director to maintain valid contact details for communication within the Board. When a Director does not respond to multiple communication requests or invitations to vote for a period of one month across at least two different channels, he or she is removed from the quorum count until contact is restored.

Regular decisions of the eduVPN Board are taken by a simple majority. Any amendment to these Statutes requires a consensus of the entire eduVPN Board minus one Director. In all cases, the Chair of the eduVPN board casts the deciding vote in case of a tie.

Each Director agrees to use his best efforts to resolve disputes in an informal manner.

Integrity

All eduVPN Directors (as well as any persons the eduVPN Board have delegated tasks and/or responsibilities to) are understood to act as fiduciaries with regard to the eduVPN Programme, and their duties include, but are not limited to, the fiduciary duty of care and the fiduciary duty of loyalty.

Directors SHOULD NOT receive any personal benefit as a result of a pending decision – he or she is required to explain the circumstances and avoid taking any part in the decision.

Any conflict of interest or apparent conflict of interest between eduVPN and individual Directors MUST be avoided. Directors undertake to declare any interest in any item under discussion and MAY be invited by the eduVPN Chair to withdraw from discussions when business concerning their personal interests or the interests of natural or legal persons close to them is being dealt with. Directors MUST heed such an invitation and at the very least abstain from voting.

Decisions involving activities under which one or more Directors would have conflicts of interest that are of material significance to the Programme and/or to the relevant Director(s) require the approval of the entire eduVPN Board minus the Director(s) with a conflict of interest.

Licensing policy

All software and content created or maintained within eduVPN is to be made publically available perpetually at no cost under one or more of the licenses on the Free Software Foundation’s list of “recommended copyleft licenses” or any license approved by the Open Source Initiative on or after the submission date.

When additional licensing needs (which would make the identical software or assets available also through licenses not on those lists) arise, the eduVPN Board is responsible for deciding on a case by case basis how this shall be best dealt with. In such matters the Board SHALL act in the common interest of the user and developer community, respectful of the spirit and intents of the original creators of and contributors to eduVPN.

Any financial benefits resulting from licensing agreements with third parties shall exclusively be directed towards a not-for-profit organisation aligned with the goals of eduVPN as contribution to the future development and maintenance of eduVPN. These contributions shall be spent under the responsibility of the eduVPN Board, on behalf of the eduVPN user and developer community and in the general public interest.

Transition into these Statutes

The following decisions are ratified by the signatories when these Statutes take effect:

  • The founding eduVPN Board shall be comprised of the individuals acting as signatories of the initial version of these Statutes, the act of which also has established all signees as Directors.
  • Tangui Coulouarn is appointed as the eduVPN Chair for a period of 12 months.
  • Klaas Wierenga, Rogier Spoor and Jørgen Qvist are appointed as Directors of the eduVPN Board for a period of 24 months.
  • Guido Aben is appointed as Directors of the eduVPN Board for a period of 12 months.
  • The eduVPN Board commits to identify and approach all rights holders, and ask them to transfer the moral stewardship of the codebase to the eduVPN Programme.

Agreed on May 30th, 2017, Linz (Austria) by:

Guido ABEN, Tangui COULOUARN (chair), Jørgen QVIST, Rogier SPOOR, Klaas WIERENGA