Revision of BIR statutes and by-laws

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.

These draft revised statues and by-laws are enclosed.

The new rules will be on the agenda of the next General Assembly for acceptance by BIR Effective Members but as the 2/3 attendance quorum required by the current statutes will almost certainly not be reached on 1 June 2010, a special General Assembly will be convened in October at the time of our Autumn Round-Table Sessions (24-26 October 2010), thus giving ample time to BIR Effective Members to comment.