[OSM-talk-be] Openstreetmap Foundation: the Belgian Chapter

[Kenny Moens]

Hello guys,

To sketch some context, I can give some background from my experience of a
VZW which I'm part of as Secretary and my knowledge of VZW-law in Belgium.

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:57:54 +0200 (CEST), ivom
<ivo.vdmaagdenberg at pandora.be> wrote:

> To be clear, the page might probably need to be translated in French, to
> be 
> comform with the Belgian low for vzw/asbl organisations, but I don't
know 
> precisely. Maybe, we even could write the whole thing in English and get
> that 
> submitted, but I don't know if that is allowed.


Belgian Law requires that the statutes are defined in one of our national
languages. Basically you can use Dutch, French or German(? unsure about
this one ?) for that. English is certainly not accepted at all. There is
also no requirement to publish it in both Dutch and French, officially one
language is enough. Technically I would just it better to have language
only to prevent 'translation errors'.

Please note that the VZW-law in Belgium is quite complex and you have to
satisfy several conditions to officially set it up. The following document
gives a fairly good and easy to understand overview of the law:
http://www.locomotief.be/files/publicaties/Chiro_VerZameldWerk.pdf

Also note that nothing is free-of-charge in VZW-law, for example
publishing the statutes costs around 100 euro (if I'm not mistaken). So
also take into account that you somehow need to collect this money.


> Please note that I am not a Lawyer, and the text is in draft. The
official 
> document or documents (nl-fr) describing and launching the vzw/asbl,
> should 
> preferably be proof-read by someone knowledgable in the field of the
> applicable 
> law which applies in Belgium.
> 
> And, even if you don't fancy becoming a member of the vzw/asbl, you
could
> help 
> here too, by involving yourself or somebody that knows about the
vzw/asbl
> law 
> in fine detail and help out that way.


Although not free either, there is an organisation that helps in setting
up the VZW in Belgium, its called VSDC. They provide these kind of
services
of legal advise and such, but it costs money.

Kind regards,
Kenny