STATUTES

CHAPTER TWO: MEMBERSHIP

ARTICLE 3 : MEMBERS

3.1 - The founding members are the signatory agencies of the Tunis Declaration, and precisely : Anadolu Ajansi (AA), Agence France Presse (AFP), Agence Mauritanienne d'Information (AMI), Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), Algerie Presse Service (APS), Agenzia EFE (EFE), Al Jamahiryah News Agency (JANA), Agencia de Informacao (LUSA), Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), Middle East News Agency (MENA), Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP), Palestinian News Agency (WAFA).

3.2 - Mediterranean News Agencies which did not take part in the Tunis meeting and consequently were not signatories to the Tunis Declaration can apply to the General Assembly for membership.

3.3 - A candidate agency must first fulfill the following requirements:

a)    It shall formally accept and undersign the Tunis Declaration and the Statutes of the Alliance.

b)    It shall be recognized as the agency representative of the internationally-recognized country in question.

c)     It shall represent a country belonging to the Mediterranean area or a country having continuous and privileged relations with the Mediterranean basin.

d)    Its Statutes and activity shall not carry any religious or racial contents.

e)    A candidate agency must answer a questionnaire for application for membership.

3.4 - The Alliance can admit observers. At the time the Statutes were adopted observers were the Federation of Arab News Agencies and the Inter Press Service.

      New observers can be an Alliance/Federation/Union/Association of    

      newsagencies.

      New observers can be admitted by a resolution of the General Assembly.

      Observers can take part in General Assemblies without the right to vote; they   

      cannot be elected to the Follow-up Committee.

3.5 - The application for admission must be addressed to the Follow-up Committee, which will proceed to submit it to the next General Assembly.

3.6 - A resolution of the General Assembly for the admission of new members and observers requires a three quarters majority of the members present.

ARTICLE 4 : LOSS OF MEMBER STATUS

Every member can withdraw from the Alliance by addressing a written communication to the Follow-up Committee.

The General Assembly, upon request of the Follow-up Committee, can decide to exclude a member or to suspend his member rights in case of:

      - Loss of conditions required for admission;

      - Serious violation of the Statutes;

      - Delayed payment of the membership fee.

The relevant resolution of the General Assembly requires a three quarters majority of the members present.

ARTICLE 5 : MEMBERSHIP FEES

5.1 - The General Assembly, may fix the amount of the annual membership fee according to the different categories of members, as specified in article 3.1.

5.2 - The Alliance can accept on approval of the General Assembly donations from member news agencies and international organizations.

5.3 - Membership fees and donations will be kept in a bank account opened in the name of the Alliance, in the country of the Secretary General, in a convertible currency.