New General Assembly to adopt revised BIR Statutes and By-Laws

A new General Assembly will be convened in Brussels on Monday, 25 October 2010 on the occasion of the BIR Autumn Round-Table Sessions (25-26 October 2010) in Brussels, Belgium. Main agenda item is the adoption of the revised BIR Statutes and By-Laws, which were tabled in Istanbul on 1 June 2010 but which could not be officially agreed because the required quorum was not met.

A letter and the official documents were sent by e-mail to all BIR Effective Members on 26 July 2010 in accordance with the current BIR Statutes.

They are available on the BIR website in the Members’ Area.

With the professional assistance of the law firm Bird & Bird LLP, BIR has revised its current statutes and by-laws to achieve better governance and to address important issues resulting from the continuous development and globalisation of our world organisation.

Among the topics which have been considered in the revised BIR rules are: respect of competition law and anti-trust rules; data protection; conformity with the new tax legislation, in particular VAT; need for a prompt and efficient decision-making process within the organisation; incorporation of a best practice among international trade associations; commercial disputes between member companies, etc.