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Articles of Association of DONCASTER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND ENTERPRISE

Updating the Memorandum and Articles of Association of Doncaster Chamber of Commerce (M&A)

As part of their work of updating the strategy of the Chamber, the Board of Doncaster Chamber has recently commissioned a full review of the M&A.  Legal firms in membership of the Chamber were invited to tender for this work and the task was awarded to Andrew Best of HSR Law.  The updated draft M&A will be presented to the Members of the Chamber for their approval at the forthcoming AGM on 24th November.

While successive Boards have reviewed the M&A on several occasions, the Board took the view that a full thorough-going review was now advisable for a number of reasons, including the following:

•    The Companies Act 2006 has made a number of changes to the requirements for the way companies organise their governance and how these are embodied in the M&A and it is necessary to address this with our own M&A.  One example is the new requirement for the objects of the company to be included in the Articles rather than a Memorandum.
•    Definitions in the M&A have been made clearer, for example, the distinction between a Member of the Chamber (which is a business entity rather than an individual person) and an Eligible Person (who is a person working within a Member and who meets the conditions for being elected to the Board).
•    Doncaster Chamber is unusual among Chambers of Commerce in that its Board is elected by a direct vote of the Members rather than with the involvement of an electoral college (often a Chamber Council) and, moreover, by doing this through a “postal” system of voting in advance of the AGM.  The M&A have been revised to make this process clearer and more streamlined, including paving the way for electronic voting as a matter of course.
•    The number of Board positions elected by the Members has been set at a fixed number of 10 rather than the less specific wording in the previous version.
•    A much clearer process has been put in place for the term of office of the President and the election of a Vice President, who will now in due course succeed automatically to the role of President.

Click here to view the proposed Articles of Association in full