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(established on February 10th and 11th, 1996 in Friedberg/Hessen (Germany)
1.1 - The aim of the SCEO is the promotion of co-operation, communication and mutual information between different working groups for the purpose of research on European orchids and their protection.
1.2 - The SCEO promotes international projects and research for the conservation of European orchids.
1.3 - The SCEO promotes the formation of new working groups in countries without working groups.
1.4 - The SCEO is politically and denominationally independent.
2.1 - The organisation is called "Secretariat for the Conservation of European Orchids", as abbreviation: SCEO.
3.1 - Members are working groups on European orchids, hereafter called member-groups.
3.2 - Working groups can be admitted to membership as follows:
3.2.1 - By agreement of all member-groups of their country.
3.2.2 - By the SCEO.
3.3 - International organisations, universities or authorities or individuals from countries in which no orchid working group exists can be admitted to the SCEO as observers.
4.1 - Members of the EC must be member of a member-group.
4.2 - The Executive Committee is in service of the SCEO for the fulfilling of everything related to and furthering the goal.
4.3 - The EC is formed by 3 persons: chairman, secretary/treasurer and 1 ordinary member. The EC or any member-group may propose to increase the number of ordinary members before each election. One of the members must function as a fund-raising officer.
4.4 - The term of office will be two years.
4.5 - A meeting has to be organised before elections. New candidates for the EC must attend the meeting. Voting takes place afterwards. For the meeting the EC has to offer two possibilities:
4.5.1 - A meeting in connection with a conference on European orchids.
4.5.2 - A meeting separately in the country of the chairman.
4.6 - The secretary is responsible for the bureau of the SCEO. He may appoint one or more assistants.
5.1 - All members of the EC shall be selected by the SCEO.
5.2 - The chairman shall not be elected for more than two terms.
5.3 - The number of votes per country is based on the number of inhabitants of that country (European key, appendix 2). The initial member-groups (with number of votes) are: SEMO and SOE (Belgium, 3); WEO (The Netherlands, 3); GIROS (Italy, 4); the AHO´s (Germany, 4); SFO (France, 4); Swiss working group (Switzerland, 2); EOSG (United Kingdom, 4). For new member-groups of additional countries the number of votes is given by the European key (appendix 2).
5.4 - The number of votes per country, calculated with the European key, shall not be exceeded. If there ist more than one member-group in a country, the number of votes must be shared e.g. according to the size of the groups.
5.5 - Admission of a new member-group of a country in which already one exists, shall lead to a redistribution of the votes of that country. The member-groups shall decide that matter amongst themselves, or in default the matter shall be decided by the SCEO.
5.6 - Observers have not the right to vote.
5.7 - Voting will be by a simple majority except for changes to the constitution which will be decided by a 2/3 majority.
5.8 - Voting will be by mail or fax. At a meeting voting will only be valid if there is a qualified majority.
5.9 - The decisions of the SCEO concerning financial terms are mandatory for the member-groups.
5.10 - All decisions except financial ones are recommendations to the member-groups.
5.11 - At meetings a member-group delegate may withhold his vote(s) and vote by mail or fax after the meeting.
6.1 - The working language of the SCEO will be English.
6.2 - Communications between the EC and the member-groups will be by mail, fax or e-mail. Member-groups shall notify the secretary of a contact person for communication and voting purposes and of the preferred means of communication.
6.3 - Frequently the bureau will inform all member-groups by means of a Communication Bulletin (CB).
6.4 - Appointments by the EC have to be announced in the CB.
6.5 - The EC-members meet as often as will be necessary.
6.6 - Annually a report of activities and finances of the bureau will be published.
6.7 - If a member or an institution raises a problem to the SCEO, it has to be accompanied by a suggestion for its solution together with appropriate information. In case the problem is of general interest, the EC will publish the problem and the suggested solution in the CB and all member-groups may send their opinion or suggestions to the EC. On the basis of the reactions, the EC formulates a proposal. This proposal will also be published in the CB.
7.1 - Proposals from member-groups or the EC to establish an ad-hoc committee of specialists will be determined by the SCEO.
7.2 - A committee reports at least annually on its activities to the EC. Reports will be published in the CB. Members of a committee are not necessarily members of member-groups and are merely chosen on the basis of their specific knowledge and experience.
8.1 - Each member-group is due to the annual fee to cover the expenses of the bureau.
8.2 - Because observers join in the communication by mail, fax and e-mail they are also due to an annual fee.
8.3 - Travelling expenses (e.g. for the EC and the committee-members) must be covered by other sources than the annual fees.
8.4 - Unless stated otherwise all functions are honorary.
8.5 - Two auditors shall be appointed by the member-groups. The treasurer shall submit annual audited account to the member-groups.
1 - Possible fields of work
1.1 - International co-operation - Schedule of meetings
1.1.1 - The SCEO compiles all dates of international meetings and makes this information available to all members and other interested parties upon request.
1.2 - International co-operation - Public relations
1.2.1 - All suggestions (e.g. leaflets for prospective members) made by the different membership groups are forwarded to the SCEO and can be distributed from there. As to their contents, the authors of such leaflets remain responsible. A publication under the name of the SCEO can be undertaken, if the members agree on the contents.
1.3 - Mapping
1.3.1 - Mapping is considered important and should be promoted. The SCEO acts as a mediator between those interested in field work and those interested in distribution studies. Support of and co-operation with international mapping projects such as "OPTIMA" or "Flora Europaea" is judged useful.
1.3.2 - The SCEO promotes contacts between people working on subjects concerning European orchids.
1.4 - Youth activities
1.4.1 - Youth activities are an important aspect in order to maintain a balanced age structure in the working groups on European orchids. Upon request the SCEO should exchange information between the different working groups concerning this aspect.
1.5 - Nature conservation
1.5.1 - The SCEO collects all European (in all EU-languages) and all national legislative acts and regulations concerning conservation and distributes these to its members upon request.
1.5.2 - The SCEO collects all information on illegal transactions, illegal cultivation experiments and digging up of European orchids and informs its members and, if necessary, the public authorities.
1.5.3 - Upon request the SCEO establishes contacts between its members engaged in conservation activities.
1.6 - Conservation of habitats
1.6.1 - The SCEO collects literature on nature conservation and addresses of experts on nature management and supports the exchange of experience between interested members of the SCEO.
1.7 - Organisations
1.7.1 - The SCEO promotes the co-operation and the contact with all organisations and institutions whose aims coincide with those of the SCEO.
1.8 - Publications
1.8.1 - The SCEO reports on their activities annually to its members, not later than two months after closure of the financial year.
1.9 - Training programme
1.9.1 - The SCEO compiles relevant didactic material and makes it available to its members, upon request.
1 - European key
1.1 - Population up to 4 million inhabitants: 2 votes (Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland). 1.2 - Population between 4 and 40 million inhabitants: 3 votes (Austria, Belgium, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden). 1.3 - Population more than 40 million inhabitants: 4 votes (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom).
