I. Authority
The Gulf Petrochemical and Chemicals Association (hereinafter “GPCA” or the “Association”) was formed on March 1, 2006. To fulfill GPCA’s mission and to achieve its aims and objectives, the GPCA Board of Directors (hereinafter the “Board”) is authorized under the GPCA Articles of Association to do all lawful things which may be conducive to the attainment of its aims and objectives. Because many actions of various governments, the public and other industries impact GPCA members, the Board has chosen to create the Advocacy Committee (hereinafter the “Committee”) to aid in meeting GPCA’s aims and objectives.
II. Scope of the Committee
The scope of the Committee shall be the public policy issues that come before the association in areas related to international trade matters, import licensing, technical barriers, non tariff barriers and world trade organization (WTO) issues affecting the members of the GPCA. But not limited to business.
III. Adherence to GPCA Antitrust/Competition Policy
The Committee shall in all of its activities respect and follow the GPCA policy to assure its activities are in compliance with all applicable antitrust and competition policy laws and regulations. The GPCA policy is available on the GPCA website.
IV. Purpose and Functions
The Committee shall support the Board of Directors by:
- Discussing and analyzing international trade matters, WTO implications that comes before GPCA but not limited to anti- dumping. Requests to address various issues that may originate within the Board or the Committee, from other GPCA committees, from staff, from GPCA members, or from outside the Association.
- Developing GPCA positions on such issues for Board review and approval. In developing such positions, the Committee will adopt practices to assure any positions taken represent a substantial consensus of GPCA full members.
- Create educational and awareness workshop for GPCA members and be a platform for knowledge sharing
- Safeguarding and lobbying with the governmental entities.
- Promote the industry image at national and international levels and initiate necessary communications with the government through GPCA secretariat.
- Coordinate the addressing of public policy issues with the Working Committees of GPCA if issues fall within their scope of activities.
- Recommending to the Board actions GPCA should take to effectively address all public policy issues it judges worthwhile pursuing on behalf of GPCA. Such recommendations should be cost effective that would be required to achieve a favorable outcome for GPCA members.
- Creating such workgroups from the Committee membership or from other GPCA committees as is necessary to effectively fulfill the Committee’s responsibilities.
- Monitoring public policy positions taken by government bodies and other associations and recommend the formation of coalitions with other groups if the Committee determines that such efforts would aid in effectively addressing issues.
V. Membership
- The Committee shall consist of no more than eight (8) members from GPCA full member companies. Nominations for the Committee shall be made by the Board. No company shall have more than one representative on the Committee.
- Members should be a managerial level of GPCA full members.
- Committee members are appointed for a term of two (2) years and may be reappointed to serve additional consecutive terms of two years. The Board may review the make-up of the Committee on an annual basis and implement any changes deemed appropriate including appointment of new members to replace old members to assure all full members have an opportunity to be represented.
- The Chairman of the Board shall appoint a member of the Committee to serve as Chairman. A Vice Chairman is appointed by the Committee Chairman upon the advice and counsel of the Board. The terms of office for the Chairman and Vice Chairman shall be two years.
- The Secretary General of the GPCA shall act as a non-voting member and he may act or designate an alternate staff to serve as secretary for the committee.
VI. Responsibilities
The Chairman is responsible for:
- Reporting to the Board on Committee activities as necessary.
- Working with the Secretary to establish a time and place for each meeting of the Committee.
- Developing with the Secretary an agenda for each meeting which will be available to all Committee members at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting.
- Presiding at meetings of the Committee.
- Appointing members to serve on special task forces as may be required for the conduct of business.
- Assuring the Committee is aware of and is following the GPCA Antitrust/Competition Policy and assuring that the business of the Committee is conducted according to all other applicable legal guidelines of GPCA.
The Vice Chairman is responsible for :
- Assisting the Chairman in carrying out his duties.
- Presiding at meetings when the Chairman is absent.
- Performing such other duties as the Chairman may assign.
Committee members are responsible for:
- Attending and participating in meetings of the Committee. If unable to attend, the member should inform the Secretary in advance of his absence and indicate who will represent him at the meeting. Failure to regularly attend meetings may result in dismissal from the Committee by the Chairman of the Board.
- Recommending items for Committee meeting agendas.
- Participating in all activities of the Committee including chairing and serving on task forces and developing position papers and other documents as necessary.
- Keeping their companies informed of Committee activities and assuring they have their company’s approval for the level of participation required.
- Reviewing and commenting on Committee agendas, minutes and other Committee work products as requested.
The Secretary is responsible for:
- Keeping the Committee calendar and roster and advising the Committee of upcoming meetings and other Committee business. Communications can occur via e-mail or any other system deemed appropriate by the Secretary.
- Assisting the Committee Chairman in the preparation of meeting agendas and transmitting approved agendas to Committee members.
- Assisting the Chairman in carrying out his duties.
- Handling the Committee's correspondence both internal and external.
- Assuring timely preparation and distribution of minutes and other records of the Committee.
- Reserving meeting rooms and making necessary arrangements for Committee meetings including teleconferencing if the members agree to meet in that manner.
- Assuring that a quorum of at least five (5) members will be present for meetings. If a quorum cannot be obtained, the Secretary shall inform the Chairman and other members and cancel and/or reschedule the meeting.
- Advising and communicating with the Chairman and members on matters of particular interest to the Committee.
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