[pp.int.general] Court of Arbitration rules of procedures

[Marco Confalonieri]

Following sentence 2011-1-A, the Court of Arbitration issues the
following provisional rules of procedure. These rules are to be
considered temporary until ratified or rejected by the next meeting of
the General Assembly, which has the power to approve internal
regulations according to art. (X) paragraph (h) of the Statutes.

The actual procedure has been to accept external complaints, to begin a
self-initiated procedure and to pass rulings when a simple majority of
four members was reached.

These rules are also available on:
http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_CoA/Rules_of_Procedure


PROVISIONAL RULES FOR THE CoA


COMPLAINT PROCEDURES

Complaints must be presented to the Court by email at the
address <coa at pp-international.net>.
Requests outside the boundaries of the following descriptions will be
treated on a case-by-case basis.
The Court will, if needed, begin a self-initiated procedure,
acknowledging the board and the members of PPI through the pp-leaders
mailing list if such a need arises.

<Complaints against PPI organs, PPI members or PPI officers>
In case of complaints against a PPI organ, member or officer, the
complaint shall be sent to the Court and CCed to the board and the PPI
address of the interested person and, if known, to his personal email
address. Complaints can be filed by a PPI member or a PPI organ and must
contain or give a direct link to the complete description of the
complaint and the relevant documents.

The Court of Arbitration acknowledges the reception of the complaint
within two days after any of its members has read it. The Court of
Arbitration can issue a motivated reject of the claim within one week
from this acknowledgement. The Court of Arbitration must issue a rule
within thirty days since the complaint was acknowledged.

<Anonymous complaints>
Anybody can contact either the Court of Arbitration or one of its member
by the channel of his choice to issue a complaint about the functioning
of the PPI or the PPI by itself, provided they are suspected of a
violation of the PPI Statutes, of the Pirate Party movement core values,
or would be victims of such a suspected behaviour.

The Court of Arbitration then decides whether the claim
seems well-grounded, and if so can initiate an own intended procedure
without the need of disclosing the identity of the complainant. This
decision is sent to both the complainant and the PPI officers, organs or
members the complaint is referring to, and is subject to the same time
limits applied to regular complaints.

<Requests for opinions, declarations or rulings on legal acts of PPI
organs>
Requests regarding declarations on matters of fact or rulings regarding
the validity of legal acts of PPI organs can be requested by a PPI
officer, a PPI organ or a PPI member. In case of rulings on legal acts
of PPI organs, the interested organ must be CCed.
Opinions can be requested by anyone, but the Court will issue such an
opinion only if considered relevant for PPI and its members.
If the opinion requested is considered particularly relevant to PPI the
Court may decide to open an own-initiated "request for declaration on a
matter of fact".

<Requests for mediations>
Requests for mediation can be sent by one or more PP members and all
the involved parts must agree on the requests.


COURT PROCEDURES

When a case is brought to the Court, two members of the Court will
be appointed to be the coordinator and the secretary for the ongoing
proceeding.
At any point of the procedure, a majority of the Court of Arbitration
members can change the coordinator or the secretary for a case, and
cancel any decision they have taken.

<Complaints>
In case of complaints against persons or PPI organs, the coordinator
will solicit, if needed, a defensive script and a reasonable period of
time to reply, that cannot be less than five days in case of urgent matters.
If needed, the coordinator also set up in the same conditions a period
of time for the discovery of evidence and the hearing of testimonies.
When the coordinator declares a discussion on a case finished,
a ruling will be issued.

<Mediations>
In case of requests for mediation the appointed coordinator will
request the PPI members for a list of Mediators willing to help. The
coordinator will ask the parties to elect the mediators they accept. In
case more than one is accepted by all the parties, they can ask the
coordinator to extract one of them.
In case the mediation is declared failed by any of the party and
they agree on requesting a Court ruling, the matter will be discussed by
the Court members.

<Rulings>
The  secretary will write a ruling draft and send it to the rest of the
Court of Arbitration for review. Any member of the Court of Arbitration
can suggest modifications to the draft.
Once the text has been fully approved by a majority of the Court of
Arbitration members, a deadline is fixed for the remaining  members to
either  approve, abstain or express a dissenting opinion. This deadline
should be of at least two days, but in case of emergencies this delay
can be shorter.
A ruling will contain the date of the ruling, the description of the
case, and both the ruling of the majority of the Court and the
dissenting opinion(s), if any. It will be published on the PPI wiki, on
the PPI general mailing list and sent to the interested parties, PPI
members and the PPI board. The ruling will become enforceable
immediately, if a different lapse of time is not specified in the ruling
itself.

<Power delegation>
A member of the Court of Arbitration can delegate his power to another
member of the Court of Arbitration, for each and every vote described in
the current rules of procedure. A member of the Court of Arbitration
shall not be delegated more than one power at a time.




-- 
Marco Confalonieri
Pirates Parties International - Court of Arbitration