Terms and Conditions
Membership categories
There are 2 categories of members: Associated Member (AM) and Full Member (FM).
Full Member affiliation is open to national bioenergy and renewable associations that ideally:
- Cover a whole country and are based in Europe (Russia and Turkey eligible if association based in European side).
- Address bioenergy globally, including the various feedstocks, technologies and end uses.
- Include market development, advocacy and communication as objectives.
- Represent the bioenergy sector in the country through membership.
There can be more than one FM per country and BIOENERGY EUROPE Board reserves the right to apply a transition period for new members from AM to FM.
Associated Member affiliation is open to all organizations which are not eligible to become Full Member.
The criteria to distinguish the categories and types of the members is decided by the Board of Directors.
Admission procedure
- Applications for membership must be submitted to BIOENERGY EUROPE Secretariat via our online application form.
- The application form must be dully completed with the requested information. The Business Development and Membership Department of Bioenergy Europe may request for clarifications of certain aspects of the application form before considering it eligible for the next steps.
- All eligible application forms are submitted for approval to the BIOENERGY EUROPE Board.
- The admission of new members is subject to a majority decision of the Bioenergy Europe Board. The Board may request for additional clarifications before reaching a decision.
- Bioenergy Europe reserves a right not to approve the application for membership without further explanation.
- Accepted members shall be notified by the Bioenergy Europe Secretariat within maximum 30 days after the board's decision.
- The effective date of affiliation is the date of payment of the first membership fee invoice.
- A member shall only enjoy its membership rights if its membership fees have been paid in full and in due time.
Membership fees
The annual membership fee of each member will be based on the most recent data available regarding its bioenergy turnover (e.g. sales of biomass, energy or services) or on its membership fees. In case there is no bioenergy related turnover, the fee will be negotiated with the secretariat on the base of another relevant criteria (e.g. sum of purchased biomass fuels).
The membership year runs from January 1st to December 31 of each year.
Membership fees are due annually upon the beginning of each membership year and are payable upon presentation of the membership fees invoice.
Membership fees are due in one payment for each started membership year and cannot be claimed back in case of termination of membership during the year.
Any application submitted before the 30th June of the financial year will imply the payment of 100% of the membership fees. Any application submitted after the 30th June of the financial year will imply the payment of 50% of the membership fees.
Membership rights and obligations
1. Members who have paid their membership fees will be entitled to participate and exercise their full membership rights.
2. Each BIOENERGY EUROPE member shall:
a) Act in a manner compatible with the vision, mission and values of BIOENERGY EUROPE.
b) Keep the relevant departments and people of its organisation fully informed of the work and progress made by BIOENERGY EUROPE.
c) Keep BIOENERGY EUROPE informed about any major changes in organisation. In case of company’s contact person change, please inform BIOENERGY EUROPE within a reasonable time.
d) Upon request, inform BIOENERGY EUROPE each year in a faithful manner its annual turnover and membership turnover in view of determining the membership category and the amount of the membership fees.
e) Provide the correct general information about your organization. This information will be used for the BIOENERGY EUROPE member’s directory.
3. Members that have not paid their annual membership fees will not be able to exercise their membership rights, notwithstanding their automatic exclusion in case of failure to pay after expiry of a fifteen days’ notice period.
Termination of membership
The membership is automatically renewed every year. Any member may resign and end its membership from BIOENERGY EUROPE at any time before 1st October by completing the online termination form in order for the resignation to take effect at the end of the same financial year.
Upon termination of membership, all membership rights will immediately and automatically cease, without prejudice to the obligation of the terminated member to pay any unpaid membership fees.
Membership fees that have not been paid remain due in full for the membership year in which the termination of membership (e.g. as a result of resignation or exclusion) occurred.
Membership fees already paid cannot be claimed back and will not be reimbursed, irrespective of the date of termination.
According to the Statutes, a member can be excluded from membership by the General Assembly:
a) In case of failure to pay their membership fees after expiry of 31 days notice period following reminders of payment.
b) If the General Assembly considers that the Member acts against the objectives of BIOENERGY EUROPE. Any Member can propose the expulsion of another one. The Member proposed for expulsion will be informed about the reasons for the proposed expulsion and has the right to explain its position to the General Assembly before the latter takes a decision.
In case of disagreement about Terms and Conditions, the Statutes and By-Laws prevail.
BIOENERGY EUROPE Board reserves the right to update the By-Laws of the Statutes about Membership Terms and Conditions.