Bylaws for SM Bergen.

BYLAWS FOR SM Bergen

§1 Name

The name of the association shall be SM Bergen, abbreviated to SMB. The association is independent and based in Bergen.

§1.1

The association shall be registered in the Brønnøysund Register Centre. Board members have the right to opt out of registration.

§2 Purpose

SMB is an association whose purpose is:

§2.1

To work for safe conditions for BDSM practitioners and fetishists where members can come together to enjoy themselves, exchange experiences, and gain a good basis for closer acquaintances. SMB shall safeguard this environment anchored in the values of discretion, safety, respect, and care.

§2.2

To work informationally outward to create respect for the association and for BDSM and fetishism generally.

§2.3

To cooperate with associations with related sexual-political goals in Norway and abroad.

§3 Membership

§3.1 Admission

To become a member of SMB, one must be legally adult and have turned 20. One may apply for membership regardless of gender, sexual preferences, orientation, and religion. Persons convicted of sexual offences, stalking, or violent crime are unwanted in the association.

§3.1.1

All applications are treated equally, and all memberships are individual. All applicants must provide full name, address, telephone number, and email address when joining; this must be confirmed by presenting identification documents.

Joining is done by the individual applicant registering in Smartorg and paying the membership fee; if membership is rejected, the membership fee will be refunded.

This information shall not be shared with third parties unless this has been specifically agreed with the member. The board has a duty of confidentiality, except for exclusion decisions in relation to other partner organizations.

§3.1.2

All new members are accepted and followed up through a sponsor scheme, whose routines are prepared by the board. Major changes to the sponsor scheme are submitted to the annual meeting. In its membership guidelines, the board must make rules for how to handle inquiries from former or excluded members.

The board has the right to reject applications without giving a reason.

All new members receive trial membership for the first 12 months they are active. Breaches of the bylaws, event rules, and ordinary custom and practice may, after 1 warning during the trial period, ultimately lead to exclusion from SMB.

Exclusion during the trial period is final and cannot be appealed.

§3.2

Members are obliged to live up to the values of the association.

In BDSM relationships, imbalance in the power relationship is common and often desired, but such imbalance must not be abused.

§3.2.1

Members are obliged to show discretion with regard to other members’ identity, both internally and externally. This also applies to former members.

§3.2.2

All members are obliged to familiarize themselves with the rules and bylaws of SMB in force at any time. These bylaws shall be available at events and meetups organized by SMB.

§3.2.3

It is not permitted to break event rules or work against the organization. It may be working against the organization to tell outsiders the time/place of meetups.

§3.2.4

It is not permitted to tell outsiders who is at meetups and what happens there. This applies to both open and closed meetups.

§3.2.5

There is normally a prohibition against all forms of photo, video, and audio recording at all SMB events. The board may grant an exemption from the photo prohibition if special reasons exist, and everyone who is photographed consents. Individual photography / individual incidents are regulated in the event regulations.

§3.2.6

It is not permitted, via SMB forums, on the internet, in physical or social media, or in social contexts, to spread malicious rumors or smear SMB, any of the members, or others connected to the association, or otherwise engage in personal attacks.

§3.2.7

A participant at SMB events shall not in any way inflict lasting harm or burden on anyone, either physically or psychologically. Use of the safewords yellow and red shall be respected. One undertakes to use/listen to these at our events.

Members are obliged to familiarize themselves with SMB’s event rules in force at any time.

§3.3 Reporting

Reporting means bringing suspicion or knowledge of censurable conditions to someone who can do something about it. Censurable conditions means breaches of Norwegian law, SM Bergen’s bylaws and regulations, or serious breaches of culture and ethical guidelines. The breach may concern both personal conduct or organizational overreach carried out within the framework of the association.

§3.3.1

Reporting is a right and a duty

SM Bergen encourages everyone to report censurable conditions as early as possible because it may be positive for those involved to clear up a censurable condition as early as possible. SM Bergen is also not served by censurable conditions in the organization being kept hidden. The person reporting shall not face reprisals for this. You have a duty to report criminal conditions in the organization.

§3.3.2 Form

In its simplest form, a report may be given orally during an event. Other reports should be written and open. Open reporting will normally ensure the best case handling, and a better result for everyone involved. Who the reporter is shall nevertheless be handled confidentially unless the reporter wishes to be made known. The reporter shall receive feedback on further handling as soon as possible.

§3.3.3 Who should reports be made to?

As a starting point, simple matters may be reported to a monitor or the person responsible for an event, or by email to the board. The chair of the association shall - without delay - be informed after a report is received and will normally be responsible for handling, assistance, or consultation. If the reporter obtains no response, it may be required that the report be handled by the annual meeting, where the board of a partner association may assist.

§3.4

Handling and consequences of reports, conflicts, breaches of bylaws, complaints etc.

§3.4.1

Complaints/cases shall be sent to the board in writing, see reporting above.

Board members may also on their own initiative raise cases for handling.

§3.4.2

Members whom the case concerns have the right to be made aware of it. All parties in the case have the right to present their view, orally or in writing.

§3.4.3

Board members have a duty to declare themselves disqualified in cases where they may have special interests or are unable to be objective. This may be cases concerning close relationships or oneself.

In complaints against board members’ actions as board members, the board may choose to recommend that the reporter use §5 and §6.14 and close the case with that.

§3.4.4

Possible consequences for breaches of bylaws, event rules, and ordinary custom and practice:

Oral warning, written warning, temporary exclusion, permanent exclusion, loss of elected office/suspension and/or police report. Regardless of reaction form, all consequences shall be logged.

The board assesses consequence against action, seriousness, and frequency. Exclusion is considered for breaches of the point on discretion or working against the association’s activity or purpose. Excluded persons will be kept in the register for the duration of the exclusion. The board may also by ordinary majority decide on suspension from offices in the association until the next annual meeting.

§3.4.5

Simplified handling when removing a member

Board members or a person authorized by the board (event lead) may remove a member from any event for unwanted behavior.

§3.4.6

Exclusion cases shall always be handled by the board.

The board must be complete. If this is not possible even with use of deputies, or if the majority of the board is disqualified, the case shall be handled by the board of one of our partner associations. Exclusion cases shall be decided by qualified majority.

§3.4.7

All exclusion decisions shall be objectively justified and written reasons shall be sent to the excluded member upon request.

§3.4.8

The case may be reopened if new information has emerged. If not, the case may nevertheless within 4 weeks be appealed to SMil-Norge’s control committee. The board’s decision is given temporary effect; upon handling by SMil-Norge’s control committee, the decision is final. The case handling may nevertheless, after SMil-Norge’s decision, be appealed to the first coming annual meeting if one believes procedural errors have been committed and can present documentation of this. The case is then sent back to SMil-Norge for new handling.

§3.4.9

When the exclusion period is over or after 5 years, the person may apply for new membership. The application shall contain information about the exclusion and is handled by the board.

§3.5 Ordinary termination of membership

Membership may be terminated in writing - paid membership fee is not refunded. The board may consider membership terminated upon non-payment.

§4 Annual meeting

§4.1

The annual meeting is the association’s highest authority where all members with valid membership may attend. The annual meeting has decision-making authority with the number of members who attend.

To be entitled to vote, the membership fee must be registered as paid in Smartorg no later than 24 hours before the start of the annual meeting.

§4.2

The board is obliged to call the ordinary annual meeting with at least 1 month’s notice and before the end of March. Notice with agenda is given at minimum by posting on the association’s website and by email to registered members.

§4.3

Any member may demand that a matter be placed on the agenda.

Such a matter must be in the board’s hands by 31 December.

Case documents shall be available to members no later than 8 days before the meeting. Only matters included in the distributed agenda may be handled at the annual meeting. Matters may be rejected by the annual meeting by simple majority.

§4.4

All members with valid membership may be represented by another member. There is no upper limit on the number of proxies each member may have.

Proxy shall be sent from the member’s forum account to the board’s forum account no later than 48 hours before the annual meeting starts.

Advance votes are not accepted, but proxies may include voting instructions.

§4.5

The ordinary annual meeting shall be held according to at least the following agenda as described below in the specified order.

The board chair acts as meeting chair until the annual meeting elects a meeting chair.

1. Constitution of the meeting:
   • Information on number of voting members / proxies
   • approval of notice / agenda.
   • election of meeting chair
   • election of minute taker and 2 members to sign the protocol
   • election of vote counters
2. The board’s annual report
3. Presentation of accounts and auditor’s report
   • including any decision on discharge of liability for the board.
4. Any bylaw amendments
5. Election of: (term in parentheses)
   • board chair (2 years )
   • deputy chair (2 years )
   • treasurer ( 2 years)
   • 3 board members (2 years)
   • 5 deputy members in elected order (1 year)
   • auditor who is not a member of the board (1 year)
   • minimum 3 members to the election committee (1 year)
6. Information on work program and budget
7. Membership fee
8. Any submitted matters
9. Any information items

§4.6 Elections

§4.6.1

When electing chair and deputy chair/treasurer, this shall alternate so that one is elected in even-numbered years and the other in odd-numbered years to ensure continuity.

Correspondingly, when electing board members it should be ensured that at most half of the board is replaced each year.

§4.6.2

The election committee presents and gives reasons for proposals for all offices, except for a new election committee, which is proposed by the outgoing board. If there is a need to supplement offices during the period, the election committee should be involved in the process.

§4.6.3

Among the proposed board members, the election committee must ensure that, as far as possible, there are candidates for the offices the board considers appropriate to run the association responsibly.

§4.6.4

All members with paid membership fee are eligible.

§4.6.5

It is not necessary to be present at the annual meeting to be elected, but no one may be elected to office without having declared willingness before the election is held.

§4.6.6

If any attendee demands it, personal elections shall be held in writing.

§4.7 Bylaw amendments

§4.7.1

Bylaw amendments are adopted by 2/3 majority.

§4.7.2

Amendments are adopted/rejected as they were sent out.

§5 Extraordinary annual meeting

§5.1

The board is obliged as soon as possible to call an extraordinary annual meeting with 2 weeks’ notice if a majority of the board or at least 30 members demand it.

§5.2

The notice shall state the reason for the notice, e.g. no confidence or urgent matters.

§5.3

Routines for the ordinary annual meeting are followed as far as they fit

• the notice specifies the agenda.

§6 The board

§6.1

SMB is managed day to day by a board elected by the annual meeting, and is normally represented externally by the chair.

§6.2

The board constitutes itself with any directions given by the annual meeting.

§6.3

The board may enter into cooperation with other organizations with coinciding interests.

§6.4

It is the board’s responsibility to ensure that the association’s bylaws, purpose, and guidelines are followed and, if necessary, formulate guidelines (for example event and conduct rules) to achieve this.

§6.5

All members shall be made aware of the bylaws before or in connection with joining. The bylaws shall be available on the website.

§6.6

The board appoints a sponsor group, and may delegate responsibility for other activities as needed.

§6.7

The board holds meetings as needed after notice from the chair.

The board shall hold a meeting when one of the board members demands it. Notice with agenda must be in the board’s hands in good time before the meeting.

Deputy members shall also receive notice and have a duty to attend on equal terms with other board members

§6.8

The board’s treasurer shall ensure that the auditor receives necessary information to present an auditor’s report in good time before the annual meeting.

§6.9

All board decisions are minuted.

The protocol is normally approved by the following board.

Information from the board is posted online after each meeting.

§6.10

Board meetings require at least 3 participants to have decision-making authority.

The board makes decisions by simple majority.

In cases where there is no majority for any alternatives, the board chair is assigned a deciding casting vote.

Deputy members have the right to speak in all board meetings. A deputy member attending on behalf of a board member also has voting rights.

If a board meeting does not have decision-making authority, a later board meeting may, if needed, approve actions decided at the previous one. Caution must be exercised when using this rule.

§6.11

Board members are obliged to disclose possible disqualification, e.g. in cases affecting family or close friends. The majority of the board decides who is qualified.

§6.12

• Board members of SMB as well as deputies have free admission to SMB’s parties.,
  (this does not apply to open parties, playbar or special parties with their own price, cabin trips, workshops with limited places).
  This requires that the board member has been present at 2/3 of board meetings the board member/deputy member has been called to in the last year. Other registration applies in relation to space.
• Possibility to use the premises on weekdays if available, all other use that generates income has priority, until 24 hours in advance.
  This is so that board members and deputy members will be present for event leads and members at the events; sitting on a board entails obligations.

§6.13

The board can normally supplement itself.

If a member of the board resigns or takes leave between annual meetings, the board may by ⅔ majority in a complete board supplement itself with up to 2 new deputy members per period without having to call an extraordinary annual meeting. A deputy member elected at the last annual meeting then enters the board as an ordinary board member. If the chair leaves, the deputy chair has priority for the chair office; other changes are decided by election internally in the board. At least 2 weeks before a board meeting with election of supplementary deputy members, the club’s members shall be informed electronically and be given the opportunity to put themselves forward as candidates for the board. The board may use the election committee to find candidates. These changes apply only until the next ordinary annual meeting.

§6.14

The board may propose to the annual meeting free membership (honorary membership) for members who have especially deserved it.

Members who make a major effort for an activity / party may be given free admission to that activity or party by the board.

§6.15 No confidence in the board

Any member with valid membership may submit a motion of no confidence in the board or parts of the board to an annual meeting or extraordinary annual meeting.

The motion of no confidence requires written support from at least 10% of the members of SMB.

The proposal requires a 2/3 majority at an annual meeting with at least 20% of the members physically present to pass. Proxies are not valid.

A motion of no confidence must be included in the distributed agenda.

§7 Financial obligations

§7.1

The chair or the person appointed by the board may bind the association with their signature up to NOK 25,000. Otherwise the board controls the association’s funds in line with the annual plan / budget presented to the members’ meeting.

§7.2

The association is liable for its obligations with its assets alone.

§7.3

The association’s board has no independent right to incur debt on behalf of the association.

§7.4

The annual meeting may in specific cases, by 3/4 majority, authorize the board to incur debt, and to buy or sell real estate.

§8 Dissolution of the association

§8.1

Proposals for dissolution shall be handled at two consecutive annual meetings at least 6 weeks apart, where both times a 3/4 majority among those present is required for it to be valid.

§8.2

Upon dissolution, the final annual meeting is obliged to decide distribution of any surplus funds after all debt has been settled.

Change log

Adopted by the annual meeting 4 March 2010; revised by authorization of a committee consisting of PoML, Tyst, Adastra and Lizz 24 May 2010 valid until the 2011 annual meeting; §6.6 (addition: notice to deputies), §6.9 (clarification of deputy rights), and change in election order added by the annual meeting 10 March 2011; §1.1 (brreg), 6.1.1 (treasurer) and 8. (financial obligations) added by the annual meeting 26 February 2012; no change annual meeting 4 March 2013; §2.1 (include fetishists) and §3.1 (minor clarifications new members) changed by the annual meeting 4 March 2014.; §4.5 (deputy order) and §8 (financial obligations) changed by extraordinary annual meeting 2015-06-13; §1.1 (organization no / name in brreg), §3.2 (address at registration), §4.5 (number of board members and treasurer’s role) changed and §6.1.1 (limitation in treasurer’s voting rights) removed by the annual meeting 27 February 2016. §4.5 Treasurer changed term from one to 2 years in line with deputy chair/chair by the annual meeting 11 February 2017; Change of §4 exclusion rules / reporting and membership and administrative change §1 adopted by the annual meeting 10 February 2018; Change of term for board members, changes in §3.1,1, §3.11, §4.6 adopted at the annual meeting 24 May 2020; Change of §2.3 - added text "coinciding interests", added the word "minimum" before number in election committee and deputy members in §4.5(5), §7.1 - increase amount from 8 to 25,000.- adopted at the annual meeting 18 February 2022. Added §6.12 "The board can supplement itself" and shifted existing §6.12 "honorary members" to new §6.13; adopted at extraordinary annual meeting 23 October 2022. 223 added benefits for board members §6.12 (6.12-13 moved to 13/14 Change in text §3.1 and §3.2.5 to §3.2.7 at the annual meeting 9 March 2024 Changes in several paragraphs annual meeting 15/3.2025 Changes March 2026 §4.6.3 election committee, and membership fee increased to 500.-