1. Name and domicile of the Association

The name of the Association is Suomen kielipalveluyritykset ry in Finnish, Finlands språktjänstföretag rf in Swedish, and Finnish Language Service Providers in English, and is abbreviated as SKY /skaɪ/ in all languages. The domicile of the Association is Helsinki, Finland.

2. Purpose and nature of the Association’s activities

The purpose of the Association is to represent the interests related to its members’ language service activities, promote the recognition and visibility of the industry as well as collaboration within the industry, and improve the common operational prerequisites of the industry.

To achieve its purpose, the Association actively monitors the economic developments of and legislation related to the industry, creates motions and propositions that are related to these, and provides statements. The Association guides and advises its members in matters related to language services by arranging meetings, organising advisory and training events as well as by providing statements related to the field whenever necessary.

To achieve its purpose, the Association:

• provides statements on matters related to language service activities
• organises information, publication, networking and training activities
• communicates about its work
• collaborates with other actors in the language service industry
• participates in national and international projects and events

To support its activities, the Association may:

• organise paid training events and seminars
• publish paid advertisements on its communication channels
• accept financial contributions, donations and wills
• own immovable and movable property that are necessary for its activities.

3. Members

Based on an application, the Board can approve as a member of the Association a registered company that operates in Finland and accepts the Association’s purpose, rules and ethical guidelines and undertakes to comply these and that has been providing language services for at least a year as a central part of its business activities, employs more than one person and whose latest confirmed turnover for its language service activities is at least 100,000 euros.

The Board will review the membership application and vote on whether the applicant is to be accepted. If the application is rejected, the applicant will be notified of the reason for the rejection and can reapply for membership two years after being rejected at the earliest. The Board of the Association can, when necessary, inspect the applicant’s office. The Board monitors the activities of its member offices.

Any achieved membership rights are retained.

4. Resignation and dismissal of a member

Members have the right to resign from the Association with a written announcement to the Board or its President or by announcing their resignation in a meeting of the Association to be recorded in the minutes.

The Board may dismiss a member from the Association if the member provided false or misleading information when they joined the Association, if the member has not paid their overdue membership fee or otherwise has not fulfilled the obligations they committed to when joining the Association, if the member’s actions in the Association or outside it have caused considerable harm to the Association, or if the member no longer fulfils the membership criteria specified by law or in the Rules of the Association.

5. Membership fee

The Autumn General Meeting decides on the amount of the annual membership fee that is to be collected from the Association’s members.

6. Board

The matters of the Association are handled by the Board that includes the President and at least three and at most eight other regular members who are selected at the Autumn General Meeting.

The term of office of the Board is the calendar year. The term of office of the President is two calendar years.

The Board selects from amongst its members a Vice President and a Secretary, and the Board also selects a Treasurer as well as other necessary personnel from amongst its members or from outside the Board.

If a member of the Board resigns or is dismissed from the Board, a new member will be selected at a meeting of the Association to replace them.

The Board convenes at the invitation of the President or, if the President is unavailable, the Vice President, when they deem it necessary or when at least half of the members of the Board demand it.

The Board constitutes a quorum when half of the members of the Board as well as the President or Vice President are present. Votes are decided by absolute majority. If the votes are tied, the President will cast the deciding vote, except in elections where tied votes are decided by drawing lots.

7. Signing authority for the Association

The Board’s President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer may sign on behalf of the Association, each separately.

8. Accounting period and performance audit

The accounting period of the Association is the calendar year.

The financial statement and necessary documents as well as the Board’s annual report must be provided to the performance auditors at least one month before the Spring General Meeting. The performance auditors must provide their written statement to the Board at least two weeks before the Spring General Meeting.

9. Meetings of the Association

The Association holds two General Meetings annually.

The Spring General Meeting of the Association is held between January and May and the Autumn General Meeting between September and December on the date specified by the Board.

An additional meeting is held when the meeting of the Association so decides or when the Board deems it necessary or when at least one tenth (1/10) of the Association’s members who are eligible to vote request it in writing from the Board for the purpose of processing a specific matter. The meeting must be held within thirty days of when the demand for holding the meeting was presented to the Board.

In the meetings of the Association, each member has one vote.

The decision of the meeting of the Association is, unless otherwise stipulated in the rules, the opinion that received over half of the votes that were cast. If the votes are tied, the chairperson of the meeting will cast the deciding vote, except in elections where tied votes are decided by drawing lots.

10. Convening the meetings of the Association

The Board must convene the meetings of the Association at least 14 days before the meeting by email.

11. General Meetings

The following matters are handled at the Spring General Meeting of the Association:

1. opening the meeting
2. selecting the chairperson, secretary, two examiners for the minutes, and two vote counters
3. establishing the legality and quorum of the meeting
4.  approving the agenda for the meeting
5. presenting the financial statement, annual report and statement from the performance auditors
6. deciding on the confirmation of the financial statement and granting the Board and other responsible persons the freedom from liability
7. handling the other matters mentioned in the meeting invitation.

 

The following matters are handled at the Autumn General Meeting of the Association:

1. opening the meeting
2. selecting the chairperson, secretary, two examiners for the minutes, and two vote counters
3. establishing the legality and quorum of the meeting
4. approving the agenda for the meeting
5. approving the strategy, income and expenditure estimate, and the amount of the membership fee for the next calendar year
6. selecting the President and other members of the Board
7. selecting one or two performance auditors and their deputies
8. handling the other matters mentioned in the meeting invitation.

If a member of the Association wants to include some specific matter in the agenda of the Association’s Spring or Autumn General Meeting, they must notify the Board of this in writing sufficiently in advance so that the matter can be included in the meeting invitation.

12. Changing the rules and dissolving the Association

The decision on changing the rules and dissolving the Association must be made in a meeting of the Association by a majority of at least three quarters (3/4) of the votes given. The meeting invitation must mention that meeting will include a motion to change the rules or dissolve the Association.

If the Association is dissolved, its funds will be used to advance the purpose of the Association in the manner specified by the meeting that decided to dissolve the Association If the Association is abolished, its funds will be used for the same purpose.