6. Membership

1. The association has contributing and active members.

2. Active members have the active and passive election right in the general assembly. They have to are expected to participate in all votings, to hand in justified positions before the voting and moreover to participate publicly (according to ability) as well as and to shoulder a certain responsibility area within the association. If for a good reason they violate one of these burdens then they lose voting rights and become contributing members. Normally each member decides for him/herself whether he/she fulfills these requirements. But the general assembly also can decide on person-independent judgment criteria.

3. Contributing members do not have election right in the general assembly. But they may put forward proposals and they are informed as well as active members on all resolutions of the association.
4. Members of the association can be natural persons or organisations. But the rights of an active member can only be represented by a natural person. Organisations may become active members by endowing a natural person with active membership for a continuous period of at least two years.

5. The founders are members of the association. The board decides on new membership after written application. The decision is communicated to the applicant and all members. New members are contributing members at least until the general assembly.

6. A member is granted active status by the general assembly. An active member becomes a contributing member if the member so wishes. The general assembly may also revoke active status from active members if they are not fulfilling their obligations as active members. The status change becomes effective immediately, thus the number of members with right to vote may be changing during the general assembly.

Justification: The current statutes, notably the current 6.2, are vague and pose several problems. When is the decision about being active made? As soon as the board decides on the new member perhaps? Can a member decide to change their status afterwards? If yes, doesn't this need to go through some kind of approval? If an active member violates their burdens, how is their status lowered? Is it the board or the assembly who decides? Does such a decision freeze the member to a contributing status until a further board or assembly decision? If not, why can't the member decide they are active again? What does "the membership assembly can also decide on person-independent judgement criteria" mean? Does it mean that the assembly decides the criteria? Or does it also decide on status of specific members? If an active member does not show up in a general assembly, should they become contributing, as the "have to participate in all votings" seem to imply?

The proposed changes specify simple, straightforward procedures for answering these questions. The board only decides on new members, and new members are contributing. Only the assembly can grant or revoke active status, and thus voting rights, to members; this is to prevent a corrupt board from taking over the assembly. It does not mean that a member can't be actively involved before being labeled as active; any member may exercise the obligations of an active member. It is only the rights of voting and being elected that need to wait for a general assembly. Since these rights anyway are only exercised during the assembly, there is nothing to lose from this wait.

The proposed changes also attempt to word the obligations of active members in a less restrictive way, being more of the form of guidelines rather than inflexible requirements.