HOW THE ACADEMY OPERATES

Text of our past president Jean-Paul Schroeder

published in the n° 161 – 3° quarter 1999 – of "Documents Philatéliques"

« Just as the majority of societies of this type are non-profit making, its statutes have conformed from the start with the Law of 1st July 1901.

These statutes, and the internal rules that establish the conditions, have changed over the years; The Academy consists of forty titular members and the same number of corresponding members and an indeterminate number of associated foreign members. Honorary members can be added to this (former titular members or correspondents unable to regularly follow the work of the Academy) and also honorary members (selected personalities)

Only titular members have the right to vote, both for elections and for approval of texts submitted to general meetings.

A candidate for the Académie de Philatélie must be proposed by two sponsors; If he obtains the number of votes required, he is elected corresponding member, he can be French or foreign.

It is obligatory for a titular member to be chosen from the French corresponding members of at least eighteen months standing; Once again he must be proposed by two sponsors and the vote should take account of his activity within the Academy during the time he has been a corresponding member.

Foreign associate members are chosen from foreign philatelic personalities whose place of residence does not allow them to attend meetings of the Academy on a regular basis.

The administration of the Academy is carried out by a managing committee, called « the committee » and is composed of nine to eleven members, elected through a secret ballot by the titular members in a general meeting for a mandate of three years, renewable.

This committee consists of a president, one or two vice presidents, a general secretary and his assistant, a treasurer and his assistant, and members responsible for the operation of the Academy

Amongst those who contribute to the good order of the Academy, the president has a particular role with responsibility from a legal standpoint and also for the vitality of the association .It is he who fixes the direction the Academy is to take and it is his voice that is preponderant at the time of voting. He is chosen by the committee amongst its members but this choice has to be approved by the majority of titular members and failing this is null and void. He is elected for the duration of his mandate within the committee and he can be re-elected as many times as his colleagues consider to be useful.

Note: from January 2011 the foreign associate members have been called associate members