<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi all,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Belgium has a law dedicated to international associations: <a href="https://uia.org/belgianlaw" class="">https://uia.org/belgianlaw</a>. Might be worth considering, given the lobbying objective.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Cheers,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">St.<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">Le 19 juin 2021 à 23:24, Tomasz Ganicz <<a href="mailto:polimerek@gmail.com" class="">polimerek@gmail.com</a>> a écrit :</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">Have you considered Estonia?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Estonia is probably the most easy-going country to register and maintain anything in EU. Is it possible to do all paper (or rather electronic) work on-line. No problem communicating in English. <br class="">No need to be Estonian citizen to establish Foundation or Association. No income tax for NGO's if they do not share profit with members but use for its statutory needs. Very fast process of registration. See:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.lawtrend.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Rukovodstvo_eng_fin-web_estonia.pdf" class="">https://www.lawtrend.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Rukovodstvo_eng_fin-web_estonia.pdf</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Plus - there are a number of Estonian companies which helps to register NGO, just examples I googled:<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://estoniancompanyregistration.com/nonprofit-organisation-registration-in-estonia" class="">https://estoniancompanyregistration.com/nonprofit-organisation-registration-in-estonia</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="http://finbaltconsulting.eu/non-profit-organization-registration/" class="">http://finbaltconsulting.eu/non-profit-organization-registration/</a></div></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">sob., 19 cze 2021 o 19:34 Guillaume Rischard <<a href="mailto:guillaume.rischard@osmfoundation.org" class="">guillaume.rischard@osmfoundation.org</a>> napisał(a):<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word;" class="">Hi all,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The OSMF board is considering relocating the OSMF to the EU. We haven’t taken our decision yet, and would like to first consult its membership for feedback, advice and whether we’ve missed anything.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There is not one reason for moving, but a multitude of paper cuts, most of which have been triggered or amplified by Brexit:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">• One important reason is keeping <i class="">sui generis</i> database rights (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sui-generis-database-rights-after-the-" target="_blank" class="">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sui-generis-database-rights-after-the-</a>transition-period) in the EU. We still have other protections, but this is a solid one and has been useful in the past.<br class=""></div>• Banking, finance and using PayPal in the UK is becoming more and more complicated and expensive.</div><div class="">• We might be able to get charity status, and make our donations tax-deductible. We paid about £6000 in tax in the last fiscal year, but this will increase geometrically as we raise money for iD and the senior reliability engineer job.</div><div class="">• We would be allowed to keep our .EU domains ourselves</div><div class="">• We could more effectively lobby the EU, EU governments and have more of an impact, especially in countries where there is no local chapter.</div><div class="">• Managing membership could become easier</div><div class="">• We could more easily employ people in the EU</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The negative side is that it would mean a <i class="">lot</i> of work, and cost time and money.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Some points to consider when moving:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span>• Asset transfer, especially intellectual property</div><div class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span>• Will this have an effect on the contributor agreement? </div><div class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="" class="">• </span>Porting the AoA to another legal system – adding maybe asset locks and takeover protection mechanisms.</div><div class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="" class="">• </span>Change membership? Does every member need to agree?</div><div class=""><div class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="" class="">• </span>Would donations be tax-free EU wide?</div><div class=""><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;" class=""> </span><span style="" class="">• </span> Move the whole foundation? A hybrid approach – keeping the “main” OSMF in the UK and having a sister OSMF in the EU – might reduce the effort or even work better.</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We are not focusing on a certain country yet, but have instead made a list of criteria:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Requirements (Must)<br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Retention of current license and contributor terms<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Legal successor to OSMF corporation if/when the OSMF is dissolved<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Formal non-profit status so we don’t pay income tax<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• No requirement for any director to be resident in country of incorporation (this excludes Ireland)<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Relevant laws permit bank accounts to be held by resident non-profits with non-resident members and directors<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Communication in English with banks and local authorities is possible (this probably excludes France)</div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Democratic control. One-person-one-vote<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Ability to have “members”/directors from all (nearly all?) countries<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• EU sui generis database protection<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div>Highly desirable (Should)<br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Tax-deductible donations<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Low cost of transferring assets from the UK<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Minimal overhead and reporting requirements<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Legal structure easy to understand for community members, donors, and the public<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Ability to employ people<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• AoA can be written in English<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Accounting can be done in English<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Banking available in EUR, GBP and USD<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Banking available fully in English<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Low non-profit maintenance costs<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Ability to take donations from 501c3 charities in the US</div><div class=""><br class=""></div>Desirable (Could)<br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• English-language legal system<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Low incorporation cost<br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="white-space:pre-wrap" class=""> </span>• Corporate address can be maildrop for forwarding</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">What do you think? Is there anything we’ve missed? Have we missed easier ways of solving some of our issues?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Guillaume (treasurer) and the rest of the OSMF board</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all" class=""><br class="">-- <br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz<br class=""><a href="http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek" target="_blank" class="">http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek</a><br class=""><a href="http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/" target="_blank" class="">http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/</a><br class=""><br class=""></div></div></div>
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