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Statutes

Article 1

Name, headquarters and duration

1. The association adopts the name “Associação IUS OMNIBUS” (hereinafter “Association”).

2. The Association is headquartered at Second Home Lisboa, Mercado de Ribeira, Avenida 24 de Julho, 1200-479 Lisbon, borough of Misericórdia, municipality of Lisbon.

3. The Association is established for an indefinite period.

Article 2

Purpose

1. The Association is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to defend consumers in the European Union, with the specific goal of increasing consumers’ welfare, and the general goal of promoting the rule of Law, the environment and economy of the European Union.

2. For the purposes of the previous number, defending consumers is understood as safeguarding and promoting the rights and interests of consumers who are European Union citizens or who are citizens of third States residing within the European Union, and including, but not being limited to, the consumers who are members of the Association.

3. The Association protects the rights of consumers which are granted to them by the legal orders of the European Union and of the Member States of the European Union, including those deriving from Consumer Law, rules on standard contractual clauses, Advertising Law, Competition Law, Unfair Trading Practices Law, Regulatory Law, Environmental Law and Privacy and Data Protection Law, including the General Data Protection Regulation.

4. In pursuing the goals mentioned in the previous numbers, the Association is empowered to carry out all legal acts required for the purpose, including:

a) Cooperate with authorities of the Member States and of the European Union whose competences affect, directly or indirectly, the interests and rights of consumers;

b) Intervening, in accordance with applicable laws, as an interested third party in administrative or judicial proceedings which affect the interests and rights of consumers;

c) Promote the active participation of consumers in the promotion and defense of the Association’s goals;

d) Organize and submit petitions and other initiatives corresponding to the exercise of citizens’ political rights, in accordance with applicable laws, to authorities of the Member States and of the European Union, with the aim of pursuing the Association’s goals;

e) To the extent allowed by applicable laws, exercise the rights deriving from the statute of social partner in issues concerning consumer policy, including the representation of consumers in public consultation and auditing procedures;

f) To the extent allowed by applicable laws, exercise the right to receive clarifications on the mechanism for arriving at prices for goods and services;

g) To the extent allowed by applicable laws, exercise the right to participate in procedures aimed at regulating prices of supply of goods and services of general interest and request clarifications on adopted tariffs and on the quality of the services;

h) Arrive at extrajudicial settlements with persons who have infringed consumer rights, so as to ensure compliance with the law and/or to obtain compensation for damage caused to consumers as a result of a violation of their rights and/or individual and collective interests;

i) Promote and file judicial claims, or resort to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, to defend European Union consumers’ rights and collective and individual interests, to the extent allowed by applicable laws, namely by resorting to representative proceedings in the “opt-in” or “opt-out” models (including “popular action”), or any other procedural means of defending the rights and diffused, collective or homogeneous individual interests of consumers, with the possible goals, among others, of obtaining the declaration of the existence of rights and obligations, of behavioural injunctions and/or of compensation for damage caused to consumers as a result of a violation of their rights or interests;

j) Enter into agreements and partnerships with other persons with the aim of promoting the Association’s goals;

k) Organize information campaigns, conferences, seminars and training actions and to promote studies and research projects relevant to the pursuit of the Association’s goals;

l) Apply to and be the beneficiary of sources of public or private funding which do not jeopardize its decision-making independence and are compatible with the pursuit of its goals;

m) Exercise any other competence awarded to it by the rules of the European Union or of its Member States.

Article 3

Federations and delegations

1. The Association may decide to associate or federate itself to/in national or international non-profit organizations whose goal it is to defend the rights and interests of consumers;

2. The Association may decide to set up delegations or other forms of representation within the territory of the European Union by decision of the Board of Directors.

Article 4

Resources

The Association’s resources include:

1. Membership fees which may be set by the General Assembly;

2. Income deriving from the Association’s assets and proceeds from the Association’s activities;

3. Donations accepted by the Association;

4. Subsidies granted to the Association by national or foreign public or private entities;

5. Other sources of financing obtained by the Association in the public or private sector.

Article 5

Languages

1. The Association adopts Portuguese and English as work and communication languages, members being entitled to choose to receive correspondence and to interact with the Association in either language.

2. The Association may decide, by decision of the Board, to adopt additional work and communication languages, in general or for specific cases

Article 6

Membership

1. Membership of the Association is open to any natural person who is a European Union citizen, or is a citizen of a third State residing within the European Union, and who agrees with and wishes to promote the goals of the Association.

2. The Board of Directors decides on the admission of new members.

3. Membership may be terminated:

a) by decision of the respective member communicated to the Board of Directors;

b) by decision of the Board of Directors justified with the adoption of behaviour or demonstration of objectives incompatible with the Association’s goals;

c) in the case of non-payment of Association fees, when imposed, for a period in excess of one year, thirty days after having been requested in writing by communication to the mail or email address indicated in their registration;

4. Members may be suspended by the Board of Directors, all their rights and obligations as Members being suspended:

a) upon request from the Member concerned, for a maximum duration of 90 days;

b) in the case of non-payment of Association fees, when imposed, for more than 90 days;

c) pending procedures to determine facts which may lead to the termination of the Membership, in particular, facts associated to the adoption of behaviors or demonstration of objectives incompatible with the aims of the Association, including a violation of the duty of loyalty and respect for the aims and object of the Association.

5. Within the limits set by the present articles of association, the General Assembly may deliberate on the specification of conditions for admission and exclusion of members, their categories, rights and obligations.

6. In the absence of a deliberation to the contrary by the Board of Directors, membership in the Association is free.

7. A member has a valid membership in the Association if his/her membership was confirmed by the Board of Directors and was not terminated, and if he/her has paid the required membership fees, if these have been set by the Board of Directors.

8. Members may be hired as service providers by the Association, as long as they do not intervene, directly or indirectly, in any decision of the Association’s bodies relating to the hiring, management and termination of the services in question.

Article 7

Bodies

1. The Association’s bodies are the General Assembly, the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Council.

2. If a member of the Presidium of the General Assembly, of the Board of Directors or of the Supervisory Council renounces the office, or he/she must be replaced for any other reason, the term in office of the new member elected by the General Assembly shall be limited to the missing duration of the incomplete term in office.

3. While a new holder of the office is not appointed according to the previous number, the body in question may co-opt any Member to provisionally exercise the functions.

4. The members of the Board of Directors, of the Presidium of the General Assembly and of the Supervisory Council are freely elected by universal and secret ballot by all members with a valid membership at the time of the elections.

5. The members of the Board of the Board of Directors, the Presidium of the General Assembly and of the Supervisory Council are appointed for a term of four years.

6. The members of the Board of Directors, of the Presidium of the General Assembly and of the Supervisory Council of the Association may be reappointed.

7. The exercise of functions in the bodies of the Association is not remunerated.

8. The members of the Association’s bodies may provide services and enter into other contracts with the Association, but are prevented from taking part in any Association decision relating to the service or contract in question.

9. The members of the Association’s bodies may be members of bodies of other legal persons, including those with the same aims and activity.

10. Voting in any body of the Association may be exercised by representation, as long as it participates in the meeting one member designated as a representative, in possession of a document proving the attribution of the respective right of representation. 

11. General Assembly and Board meetings may be held by telematic means, and the Association shall ensure the authenticity of the declarations and the security of communications, registering its content and its actors in terms similar to those of Article 377(6) (al). b) and Article 410(8) of the Commercial Companies Code.

Article 8

General Assembly

1. The General Assembly is made up of all members with a valid membership for over one year at the time of the summons.

2. The powers of the General Assembly and its procedural rules are those set out in the Portuguese Civil Code, namely in articles 170 and 172 to 179.

3. The General Assembly is presided over by three members, one President and two Vice-Presidents, who direct the meetings of the assembly and the draft the respective minutes.

4. The General Assembly is summoned by the Board of Directors.

5. The General Assembly is summoned by publication of the respective summons in the manner foreseen in the law for the acts of commercial companies.

Article 9

Board of Directors

1. The Board of Directors, elected by the General Assembly, is composed of five members, one President, two Vice-Presidents and two Members.

2. The Board is entrusted with the social, administrative and financial management of the Association, and with its representation in court and before any public or private persons.

3. It is up the Board, in particular, to:

a) set the amount of fees to be paid by Members;

b) decide upon the creation, modification or closing of delegations and local representation, in Portugal and abroad.

4. Its procedure is governed by article 171 of the Portuguese Civil Code.

5. The Association is bound by the intervention of two members of the Board, with the possibility of delegating powers onto one member of the Board.

Article 10

Supervisory Board

1. The Supervisory Board, elected by the General Assembly, is made up of three members, one President and two Vice-Presidents.

2. The Supervisory Board supervises the Board of Directors’ administrative and financial acts, and issues opinions on acts which imply an increase of expenses or decrease in resources.

3. Its procedure is governed by article 171 of the Portuguese Civil Code.

Article 11

Amendment of the Articles of Association

The amendment of the present Articles of Association requires a favourable vote of at least three quarters of the members participating in a General Assembly convened explicitly with this purpose.

Article 12

Termination

If the Association is terminated, the destination of its assets, which are not assigned to a specific goal and have not been donated or left to it with some specification, shall be decided by the members.

Article 13

Transitional provision

During the first year of existence of the Association, all members with a valid membership at the time of the summons may participate in the General Assembly.

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