ECA Congress 1997

EUROPEAN CANOE ASSOCIATION.
MINUTES OF THE 3rd CONGRESS PLOVDIV BULGARIA
7th JULY 1997.

1.CON.3.97. OPENING OF THE CONGRESS

The President Albert Woods welcomed all the Delegates to Plovdiv and introduced Ivan Slavkov the President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and Member of the IOC who welcomed all the delegates and thanked the ECA for the award of the European Racing Championships to Plovdiv at a time of great difficulties in Bulgaria.

The President thanked Mr Slavkov for his kind words and then welcomed a representative from Albania who were seeking membership of the ICF and ECA and invited him to remain in the Congress as an observer and wished Albania all the best for their future in the sport of canoeing.

The President also welcomed Mr Andre Vandeput the ICF Treasurer to the ECA Congress.

2.CON. 3.97. ROLL CALL OF DELEGATES and ESTABLISHMENT OF QUORUM.

The following Federations were confirmed as represented at the Congress.

AUT.BEL,BLR,BUL,CRO,CZE,DEN,ESP,FIN,GBR,GER,GRE,HUN,IRL,ISR,ITA,LAT,LTU,POL,
ROM,RUS,SUI,SVK,SWE,UKR,JUG.

TOTAL OF 26 FEDERATIONS

SIMPLE MAJORITY 14 VOTES

2/3rds MAJORITY 18 VOTES

3.CON. 3.97. ACCEPTANCE OF NEW MEMBER FEDERATIONS.

The Secretary General Franco Conforti reported to the Congress that Cyprus Canoe Federation had applied for membership of ECA. The Congress members voted unanimously that they be accepted into membership of ECA.

4.CON.3.97. APPOINTMENT OF SCRUTINEERS FOR THE CONGRESS.

Two Scrutineers were appointed.

5.CON. 3.97. PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY GENERAL’S REPORT ON BEHALF OF THE AAAAAAAALLBOARD OF DIRECTORS

The President referred the Congress to the written report (attached to the Congress papers). There were no questions and it was proposed and seconded and voted unanimously that the report be accepted.

6.CON. 3.97. BALANCE SHEET.

The Balance sheet was presented to Congress by the Secretary General Franco Conforti. He pointed out that there had been income from the Member Federations and the only expenditure was the bank charges for currency exchanges.
He had written to all the Federations to remind them that all bank charges should be covered by the individual Federation sending its subscription to the ECA Bank.
He also informed the Congress that $12000.00 US had been received from the ICF towards administration costs and thanked the ICF for their kind help.

7.CON. 3.97. AUDITORS REPORT.

The Honorary Auditor Tomislav Krsnik said that the accounts and balances had been checked and were acceptable.
The Report was proposed and seconded and voted unanimously that the Auditor’s Report should be approved.
The President also thanked the Secretary General for his work in producing the Accounts.

8.CON. 3.97. AMENDMENTS TO THE ECA STATUTES.

a. The motion from the SWE Federation to amend article 5.2. of the ECA Statutes to enable elections for the ECA board to be brought into line with the ICF system. Therefore at the 1999 Congress the following would apply to conform to the new Statutes- President 4 Years

One of the Vice Presidents 2 Years
One of the Vice Presidents 4 Years
Secretary General 2 Years
Three Board Members 4 Years
Two Board Members 2 Years.

Therefore at subsequent Congresses one part of the ECA Board would be Elected for four Years and at the next Congress the other part would be elected for four Years.

This was put to the Congress and was passed with 22 Votes in favour and 3 against.

b. The motion from the SWE Federation to age limit European Championships in Senior Racing was withdrawn by the SWE Federation on the understanding that the ECA Board would look into the matter and produce a proposal to the next ECA Congress after consultation with the Federations.

An open Forum debate on this subject took place after the end of the formal business of the 3^rd ECA Congress.
c. The motion from the SWE Federation to change Article 5.4. of the ECA Statutes as follows "All Congress shall be held under the Chairmanship of an elected Chairman " was lost with 8 votes in favour.

"The ECA is the exclusive owner of the TV and advertising rights of European Championships."

Was passed with 23 Votes in favour.

It was noted that these rights would not be unreasonably withheld from the organising Federations. Contracts would be produced in the future and the financial situation of the Championships would be taken into account.

9.CON. 3.97. ECA SUBSCRIPTION 1997/1998.

It was proposed by the Board of Directors that the ECA Subscription for 1997/1998 should remain at $100.00 US. This was carried unanimously.

10.CON. 3.97. BUDGET 1997-98.

The Budget statement attached to the Congress papers was accepted by the Congress with 23 votes in favour.

11.CON. 3.97. EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2000-2003.

Before discussion took place on the championships it was necessary to discuss the
problems of the Portuguese Federation.
Up to the time of the Congress there had been no reply by the Portuguese
Federation to any communications not only from ECA but also ICF. Also on the technical side no reply had been given to the ECA technical delegate for Marathon Jorn Cronberg concerning the proposed Marathon European Championships in 1999 in Portugal.
The Congress was very sympathetic to the problems in the Portuguese Federation
and hoped that they would be resolved in the near future.
However the Congress felt that there was uncertainty as to the organisation of the
Marathon Championships in 1999 and because of this unanimously voted to take the 1999 ECA Marathon Championships away from the Portuguese Federation.
It was hoped that when the Portuguese Federation overcame its problems that
future ECA Championships in Portugal would be welcomed.
It was further agreed by the Congress that Poland be awarded the 1999 ECA Marathon Championships.

THE CONGRESS AGREED THE FOLLOWING CHAMPIONSHIPS.

DISCIPLINE	2000	2001	2002	2003
SENIOR SPRINT RACING		ITA MILAN		POL POZNAN
JUNIOR SPRINT RACING	LTU TRAKAI		CRO ZAGREB
SENIOR SLALOM	ITA MEZZANA		SVK BRATISLAVA
JUNIOR SLALOM		SVK BRATISLAVA		GER HOHENLINBURG
SENIOR WILDWATER		ITA VAL DE SESIA		NO APPLICANT
JUNIOR WILDWATER		ITA VAL DE SESIA		NO APPLICANT
MARATHON RACING		BEL DINANT		NO APPLICANT
CANOE POLO		NO APPLICANT		NO APPLICANT

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THESE EVENTS WERE GRANTED BY CONGRESS SUBJECT TO THE ECA TECHNICAL APPRAISAL.

12.CON. 3.97. CLOSING OF THE CONGRESS.

The President thanked the Congress for their hard work , good humour and understanding which had enabled the business of the Congress to be conducted in an efficient manner. He also thanked the instant translators for their hard work and diligence.
Thanks were also given to the Bulgarian Canoe Federation for providing the facilities for the Congress.
Finally he thanked the delegates for their attendance and officially closed the 3^rd ECA Congress.

ALBERT WOODS	FRANCESO CONFORTI
ECA PRESIDENT	ECA SECRETARY GENERAL