FFI

ff International Constitution

1. Title
  The title of the Federation is ff International.
2. Flag
  The Class flag shall be the ff insignia in red on a white background.
3. Objectives
  The objectives of the Federation are:
  3.1 To promote interest in, building and sailing of the International Flying Fifteen Class yacht (“the Class”) throughout the world;
  3.2 To maintain the one-design characteristic of the Class;
  3.3 To control and manage the affairs of the Class;
  3.4 To encourage and co-ordinate national and international competition within the Class;
  3.5 To function as the sole body making recommendations to and agreements with the International Sailing Federation (“ISAF”) on the control of the Class Rules.
 
4. Membership
  4.1 The members of the Federation shall be:

(a) eligible National Associations of Flying Fifteen owners;
(b) eligible individual members.
  4.2 An eligible National Association is an association which has been formed to represent the interests of all Flying Fifteen owners in a country where in which there is at least:

(a) one Flying Fifteen fleet (that is, at least six registered Flying Fifteens normally sailed from one venue and owned by members of that National Association); or
(b) at least ten registered Flying Fifteens owned by members of that National Association, but not necessarily in fleets.
  4.3 An eligible individual member is a person who owns or sails on a Flying Fifteen or for other reasons wishes to promote interest in and sailing of the Class.
  4.4 All members of the Federation shall be bound by this Constitution and by the Class Rules which are deemed part of this Constitution.
 
5. Objectives of National Associations
  5.1 Each National Association shall:

(a) promote interest in, construction of and sailing of the Class in its own country;
(b) assist the Federation to meet its other objectives;
(c) control and manage the affairs of the Class in its own country in a manner which is consistent with this Constitution;
(d) uphold the Class Rules as amended from time to time in accordance with this Constitution:
(e) adopt and maintain its own constitution in which the following provisions are mandatory:
  (i) at general meetings of members, resolutions shall be decided by a simple majority of votes cast by voting members present, in person or by proxy, and voting;
  (ii) before voting on any proposed change to the Constitution of the Federation or to the Class Rules or the Championship Regulations, the National Association shall first conduct a postal ballot of its voting members. When voting on the proposed change, the National Association shall cast the same number of votes against that proposed change as were cast by its own voting members on the national postal ballot;
  (iii) voting members are those members who own registered Flying Fifteens. Each voting member shall be entitled to one vote per boat, except that no member shall be entitled to more than one vote regardless of how many boats that member may own. If a boat is owned jointly by more than one member, any one (but only one) of those members may cast a vote for that boat.
 
6. Annual Contributions, Subscriptions and Building Fees
  6.1 The Federation shall be financed by annual contributions from the National Associations (“National Subscriptions”), by annual subscriptions from individual members (“Individual Subscriptions”) and by a portion of the Building Fees paid by builders of Flying Fifteens.
  6.2 The amount of the National Subscription shall be based on a notional subscription for each of their voting members (“the National Subscription Rate”).
  6.3 The National Subscription Rate and the amount of the Individual Subscription for the following year shall be fixed by the Council not later than 30 June in each year.
  6.4 All National Subscriptions shall become due on 1 April and all Individual Subscriptions on 1 October following the date on which they have been fixed.
  6.5 The proportion of Building Fees to be received by the Federation shall be agreed between the Federation and ISAF. The proportion of Building Fees to be received by the National Association of the country where the Building Fee receipt is issued shall be 50% of that received by the Federation.
 
7. Management
  7.1 The affairs of the Federation shall be managed by the Council. The Council shall have and exercise all the powers of the Federation under applicable law anywhere in the world. For that purpose the Council may, subject to the express requirements of clause 7.5, appoint Officers and establish committees and working parties which shall report their findings and recommendations to the Council for adoption or otherwise.
  7.2 The Council shall consist of:

(a) Appointed Members: Each National Association shall be entitled from time to time by notice to the Federation to appoint, and thereafter remove and replace, one of its voting members as an Appointed Member of the Council.
(b) Co-opted Members: The Appointed Members of the Council shall have the power to co-opt any person who is either an eligible individual member of the Federation or a member of a National Association to assist it as a co-opted member of the Council. A co-opted member shall have full speaking rights at any Council meeting but shall have no vote. A co-opted member shall hold office only during the term of the Commodore who was in office when that member was last co-opted, but may be re-appointed by the Council at any time thereafter for the term of the current Commodore.
(c) The Commodore: The Council members shall at a properly convened meeting held on the occasion of each World Championship, or at any earlier time if a vacancy in the position of Commodore should arise, elect one of their number to be the Commodore of the Federation. The Commodore shall hold office for a term fixed by the Council but no longer than until the conclusion of the next World Championship. A Commodore may be re-elected by the Council for a second term, but thereafter shall not be eligible for a consecutive term of office. If more than one Council member stands for election, the candidate who receives the most votes cast by Council members shall be elected. If a deadlock arises in an election for Commodore, the retiring Commodore, if he is standing, shall be re-elected; and if he is not standing, then he or, if he is not present, some other person who is acting as the chairman of the meeting shall have a casting vote as well as a deliberative vote on the election.
  7.3 The Council may determine its own meeting procedures and the quorum and procedures for all meetings of committees. Agenda, together with all relevant submissions, correspondence and other documentation, shall be circulated to all Officers and Members of the Council not less than seven days before the meeting. Meetings may be in person, by telephone, video conference or other effective form determined by the chairman of the Council or committee as the case may be. The quorum for a meeting of the Council is three Appointed Members. All questions arising at a meeting of the Council shall be decided by a simple majority of votes cast by Appointed Members attending the meeting.
  7.4 The Commodore’s functions and powers include:

(a) to act as chairman of all meetings of the Council;
(b) to act as the chief administrator and spokesperson of the Federation;
(c) to serve as the Federation’s principal liaison to ISAF;
(d) to serve as an ex-officio member of all committees of the Council;
(e) to have sole authority to authorise commitment of the credit of the Federation within the limits of the financial budget approved by the Council;
(f) to delegate any of the above powers to any one or more Council Members or Officers;
(g) to exercise a casting vote (even if he or she has no deliberative vote) in the event that a deadlock arises on a vote at any meeting of the Council.
  7.5 The Council shall, whenever a new Commodore is elected:

(a) appoint for the same term as the Commodore one or more secretaries approved by the Commodore, who shall keep correct minutes and record of all Council and committee meetings, assist the Treasurer, communicate with members of the Federation as and when the Commodore shall direct and otherwise provide administrative assistance to the Commodore and Council as required;
(b) appoint for the same term as the Commodore a Treasurer approved by the Commodore who shall have charge of the funds of the Federation, collect the annual contributions, subscriptions and building fees, make such payments as the Council or the Commodore shall direct, keep an accurate record of the financial affairs of the Federation, and present an annual financial statement together with a report from the Federation’s auditor to the Council no later than 1 July in each year;
(c) appoint an auditor who shall review and report to the Council on the Federation’s annual financial statements;
(d) elect or appoint for the same term as the Commodore a Technical Committee comprising such number of persons (but not less than three) as the Council may fix from time to time. The members of that committee, who may be Appointed Members or Co-opted Members, shall be responsible for advising the Council on the interpretation of the Class Rules, reviewing and reporting to the Council on any proposal for change to the Class Rules which relates directly to the hull, spars, sails or equipment (“a Technical Change”) and on other technical matters referred to it or coming to its attention;
(e) appoint for the same term as the Commodore any other Officer who the Council may consider necessary.
 
8. Functions and Powers of Council
  8.1 The Council’s functions and powers include:

(a) to carry out the objectives of the Federation;
(b) to consult and co-operate with and make recommendations to ISAF in respect of administration, changes to and interpretations of the Class Rules;
(c) to consider and implement changes to this Constitution, the Class Rules and the Championship Regulations subject always to the procedures and restrictions in clause 9;
(d) to keep members of the Federation well informed about the administration of the Class and interpretations of the Class Rules and for that purpose to publish annually a Year Book and other newsletters as the need arises;
(e) to conclude arrangements for the holding of Championships of the Class requiring FFI approval in accordance with the Championship Regulations, which are deemed part of this Constitution;
(f) all ancillary powers necessary for the efficient discharge of its functions including the power to remove any Officer at any time and to appoint a replacement for the balance of that Officer’s current term.
 
9. Proposed Changes to Constitution, Class Rules, or Championship Regulations
  9.1 A proposed change to this Constitution, the Class Rules or the Championship Regulations (“a Proposed Change”) may be made only by:

(a) ISAF, in the case of a change to the Class Rules; or
(b) the Council of the Federation; or
(c) a National Association,

and may not be adopted by the federation until after compliance with clauses 9.3 to 9.7 inclusive.
  9.2 Notice of a proposed change together with the proposer’s reasons shall be lodged in writing with the Administration Secretary of the Federation and immediately referred to all Appointed members of the Council and its Officers. If the proposed change is a Technical Change then it shall immediately be referred to the Technical Committee for review and report back to the Council as soon as practicable. Before the Proposed Change is referred to postal ballot by the National Associations the proposer shall be invited by the Council to consider, within a fixed consultation period, any recommendations made by the Technical Committee or by the Council as the case may be.
  9.3 On the expiry of the consultation period, the Proposed Change incorporating any modifications agreed to by the proposer plus the Council Package described in clause 9.4 shall then be sent to each National Association for referral to postal ballot, and the Proposed Change may not thereafter be withdrawn or amended.
  9.4 Whenever a Proposed Change is to be referred for postal ballot it shall be accompanied by the following Council Package:

(a) the existing text of any clause or rule being changed or affected by the change;
(b) any recommendation which the Technical Committee may have made to the Council on a Technical Change;
(c) where appropriate, any recommendation or comment from the Council;
(d) notice of the date by which National Associations must conduct a postal ballot of its voting members and report on the outcome of voting;
(e) notice of the dates on which it is intended that the change will come into effect, if approved;
(f) a form of ballot paper for use by voting members of National Associations;
(g) the form of voting return to be sent to the Federation by National Associations on completion of the postal ballot.
  9.5 Each National Association shall within the time fixed by the Council conduct a postal ballot of its voting members by sending to each of them the Council Package together with its own separate recommendation, if any.
  9.6 On conclusion of the postal ballot each National Association shall report to the Administration Secretary of the Federation, on the voting return supplied, the number of valid votes cast for and against the Proposed Change by their voting members. Those votes, both for and against, shall be deemed to be votes cast by that National Association for and against the Proposed Change.
  9.7 A Proposed Change shall be adopted by the Federation if:

(a) in the case of a technical change which is not recommended by the Technical Committee, the number of votes deemed to be cast in favour exceeds by a margin of 2:1 those deemed to be cast against; and
(b) in the case of any other Proposed Change, the number of votes deemed to be cast in favour exceeds the number deemed to be cast against; and
(c) in the case of any Proposed Change to the Class Rules, it has been approved in writing by ISAF.
  9.8 After the postal ballot has been completed and the voting returns received from National Associations, the Secretary of the Federation shall promptly notify all members of the Federation of the outcome and of the date on which the change will take effect.
  9.9 Subject always to clause 9.10 and provided that the postal ballot has been completed and the voting returns received not later than 31 August, a change to the Class Rules which has been adopted by the Federation will take effect on 1 March next; but if the voting returns have not been received by 31 August then the effective dates shall be extended by one year.
  9.10 Changes to the Class Rules shall take effect not more frequently than three-yearly (commencing with the rules effective from 1 March 1996) unless:

(a) the change is proposed for administrative purposes only and in no way affects the boat, spars, sails or equipment; or
(b) the change is necessary to correct a typographical error or omission or a miscalculation in the Class Rules; or
(c) the change is a Technical Change which is urgently needed and has been proposed by the Council on the recommendation of the Technical Committee.
 
10. Definitions
  10.1 In this Constitution:
“Officer” means the Treasurer, any Secretary and any other named officer appointed by the Council for a term not exceeding that of the current Commodore to assist the Council for a particular purpose in the discharge of its functions.
 
11. Adoption of Constitution
  11.1 This Constitution was adopted by the Federation in place of its original constitution and takes effect as from 1st July 1998.

Reprinted …… August 2004

12OCT2004RMSFINAL

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