Status: March 8, 2016
1. Introduction
The CAWA was formed in September 1990 to provide an organisation for operators of climatic automotive wind tunnel facilities in Europe.
2. Objectives
The broad objective of the organisation is “to provide at the operational level a means of communication, interchange of ideas, techniques and solution of problems”.
The general area of interest will include, but not be limited to:
a) Design, performance and economics of test facilities.
b) Physical measurements, measurement methods, instrumentation, data handling and reduction.
c) Facility operation and maintenance.
3. Organisation
3.1 Officers
The officers shall consist of an Chairman, the next Meeting Host, the Secretary and a group of three Members (Supporting Group) drawn from the CAWA member companies. Only the Chairman needs to be an official representative of a member company/facility.
The elected officers should ideally represent the variety of member countries of CAWA.
3.2 Election of Officers
Officers shall be elected at the regular meeting.
Nominations of officers should not be closed until at least two names have been entered.
Officers shall be elected by a secret ballot by a simple majority, with each official representative from each member company/facility (as defined in section 3.6.c and 3.6.h) having one vote.
3.2.1 Election Period
The election period for Chairman, Secretary and Supporting Group will be 3 years.
The Meeting Host will not be elected. The Meeting Host will be by definition the host of the next CAWA meeting. The Meeting Host automatically joins the Supporting Group making a total of 4 persons in the Supporting Group.
Newly elected officers shall take over their duties one month after their election.
It shall be the responsibility of outgoing officers to complete current business including the secretary’s reporting of minutes of meetings to the membership and any other matters requiring early action and to further advise incoming officers of all matters requiring their future attention.
If the Chairman or Secretary have to be substituted within an election period, an elected person from the Supporting Group should take over this responsibility until the next CAWA meeting takes place.
3.3 Duties of Officers
a) The Chairman shall, supported by the Secretary and the Supporting Group
(1) Provide visions and suggestions for future strategies for the work of CAWA.
(2) Prepare an agenda for, and preside over the business meeting.
(3) Handle official correspondence including invitation of guests and presenters.
(4) Co-ordinate and ensure progress of the ongoing activities of working groups.
b) In case of absence of the Chairman the Supporting Group has to determine a person to take over the responsibility of the Chairman for the time being.
c) The Secretary shall keep minutes of the business meetings and in co-operation with the Host, provide members with copies of these minutes.
3.4 Voting
Voting on all matters including revisions of the Constitution shall be based on a simple majority with each official representative from each member company/facility (as defined in section 3.6.c and 3.6.h) having one vote.
3.5 Meetings
a) Regular meetings shall be held annually on a rotating basis at one of the members facilities; however, the Supporting Group shall have the right to call additional meetings at any time when in his opinion there appears to be sufficient interest by the membership to justify such a meeting.
b) The host facility shall select for each meeting a program based on the objectives outlines in Paragraph 2 above. The program shall provide the participants with a brief-description and inspection of the host facility.
c) Each regular meeting shall include elections (when due), consideration of a new admissions, selection of future hosts, and any other discussions of a business nature.
d) There shall be no limitation on the maximum number of people from any member company that may attend the meetings; the normal number shall be two representatives.
e) The Host location/facility shall have the right to limit the total attendance should sufficient space not be available to accommodate all those desiring to attend.
f) Permission for representatives of non-member organisations wishing to attend meetings may be granted by the Chairman with the concurrence of the host location/facility. Non-members shall be permitted to attend a part of the meeting session to present their application, but shall not be permitted to participate in the meeting itself or be present during voting.
3.6 Membership
a)
(1) Membership shall be limited to European companies which have and operate climatic automotive wind tunnels [definition] of sufficient size to do, or engage in doing, significant research and development work.
(2) A provisional membership may be granted to a group planning a climatic automotive wind tunnel of sufficient size to do, or engage in doing, significant research and development work. Such membership shall not carry voting privileges and shall be reviewed at the end of three years to determine if the membership should be extended to “full”, continued as “provisional”, or withdrawn.
b) Organisations directly or indirectly involved in the commercial design and/or fabrication, operation, of climatic facility equipment shall be ineligible for membership.
c) Representation: Each member company/facility may have up to two members, one of whom will be the official representative at this location. The official representative at each location will inform the Chairman, in writing, of the names of the two members. All correspondence to the member facility shall be addressed to this official representative. However should the official representative change position within his or her company during the year and hence have no further involvement in CAWA, then he or she must notify the Chairman of the change and inform the Chairman of his or her replacement.
Should the official representative leave his or her company then the same rules apply as stated above.
d) Following each meeting each official representative, (or his or her nominated deputy), will be requested to sign an official document asking for confirmation of the official representative, and that his or her company still comply with this constitution. This document will be stored with the Secretary.
e) A company wishing to apply for membership shall
(1) Send a letter to the Chairman from a responsible official, requesting membership and agreeing to abide by the constitution; and
(2) Furnish the Chairman with sufficient information to enable the members to determine whether the applicant fulfils the membership requirements.
f) Voting for admission of new members shall be by secret ballot and by a simple majority, with each offical representative from each member company/facility (as defined in section 3.6.c and 3.6.h) having one vote.
g) Membership can be terminated by a letter to the Chairman from a responsible official of the member company.
h) Companies which have independent facilities at separate locations may apply for additional membership for each location/facility. This facilities will be allowed to have an official member/representative (as defined in section 3.6.c) and as such have voting rights.
i) Members failing to attend two consecutive regular (annual) meetings shall be notified in writing by the Chairman that failure to attend the next regular meeting may result in the forfeit of their membership.
4. Policy
All voting and participation in office by representatives is recognised as the response of an individual rather than the response of the company and/or location/facility member.
