Present:
Mr. Eric Reijers (President and in the Chair)
Mrs. Penny Bydlinski (General Secretary and taking the Minutes)
Mr. Leo van de Haterd (Treasurer)
Mrs. Annette Sjödin (Vice-Secretary)
1. The President opened the meeting at 9.30 a.m.
Apologies had been received from the Vice-Treasurer who was unable to attend because of family matters.
2. Matters arising from previous Minutes
a) The Vice-President, Mr. Karl Preiss (AT) had resigned from the board with effect from the 1st June, 2004.
b) Although it had been decided some time before, the decision to pay compensation for use of storage space if required, had not been minuted. This was necessary since the board were responsible for a large amount of stock of Jubilee Books and Colour Charts as well as the blue and red binders; they were currently stored with different members of the board.
3. Correspondence
3.1 A letter had been received from the FIFe lawyers stating that the amended Statutes had been lodged at the Luxembourg’s Company Registry and the FIFe was therefore duly registered. There is still a lack of clarity over the situation, which will be investigated.
3.2 An approach to the Ministry of Agriculture in Luxembourg was postponed until the next board meeting when further information would have been obtained.
3.3 FFF had written protesting the decision made by the General Assembly regarding shows in Andorra and Monaco. FFF would have to bring this matter to the next General Assembly.
3.4 Letters from both ANFI (IT) and FFH (CH) concerning individuals wishing to change membership were referred to the Disciplinary Commission.
3.5 A letter from SVERAK concerning the seat of FIFe was postponed to the next board meeting when more information would be available.
3.6 A letter from SVERAK concerning non-active Judges was referred to the Judges Commission.
The General Secretary to send to the Judges Commission
3.7 A letter from SVERAK concerning the Auditors’ report to the General Assembly was referred to the Disciplinary Commission.
The General Secretary to send to the Disciplinary Commission
3.8 A letter had been received from Mrs. Eveline Preiss (AT) as the delegate of KKÖ, requesting from the Disciplinary Commission information on the KKÖ appeal and on the vote of mistrust in Mr. Karl Preiss (AT). This had been forwarded to the Commission and a reply had been received and passed on to Mrs. Preiss.
3.9 Mrs. Eveline Preiss (AT) had written to request inclusion in the Minutes of the General Assembly some of the remarks she had made concerning the internal problems in the FIFe board. These remarks had been minutes as requested.
4. Financial
The Treasurer had received a quotation for supplying flags. It was decided to purchase 50 flags in the size 1.50 m x 2.25 m. One would be given free of charge to each Member of the FIFe and the Member hosting the World Show would get one extra one. The Treasurer had also looked into the price of bunting and had received a quotation for lines of 10 metres in length holding 25 flags. These would be very decorative for the World Show and a quantity of 30 lengths would be ordered. The flags would be ready for the current World Show.
Most Members were up to date with their payments to FIFe. The Treasurer would contact any that were in arrears.
An official letter would be sent to AMIL (IL) since they had not paid their membership fees for two years. The board decided to suspend them from FIFe activities and bring the matter to the next General Assembly.
The General Secretary to write to AMIL
The General Secretary reported that in accordance with the instructions of the board, the FIFe archives had been stored at Chatham Archive, a professional firm in north Kent. The few that were held elsewhere would be collected and sent to Chatham Archive. There was an annual fee of approx. euros 450.00. The firm also provided a retrieval service of 24 hours and carried all the necessary security and insurance.
5. Co-option of a 6th Board Member
The board discussed the possibility of co-opting a sixth member but decided not to do so at this stage. However, it recognised the fact that assistance is needed and it was decided that such assistance could be obtained as and when required at which time compensation would be paid.
6. Commission Matters
a) The board ratified the permission it had given to Dr Sierra to attend a Genetic Conference at UC Davis, California on 28th August. Dr Sierra had agreed to submit a full report for publication on the FIFe web site.
b) The board had asked the LO Commission to inspect the LO book of Felix Estonia. The inspection had been carried out by Mrs. Alva Uddin and Mr. Ole Amstrup on 30th August and the board had received their report. The inspection had gone well and it was confirmed that apart from some mistakes which had been pointed out and would be rectified, Felix was keeping its LO book in a proper manner.
c) As the Judges & Standards Commission had not appointed a Chairman, the board decided to make a provisional appointment of Mrs. Eva Porat as she had been nominated by three of the Commission members. Mr. Fabrice Calmès was the Secretary.
d) The Judges & Standards Commission and the LO Commission would be asked if they were prepared to accept the abbreviation of Judges & LO in the case of matters which concerned both Commissions.
The General Secretary to contact the Commissions
e) A number of Items were to be referred to the Judges Commission for their recommendations.
The General Secretary to contact the Commission
7. Members’ Matters
a) The board ratified a decision taken concerning a Felis Britannica (GB) member who had two cattery names; it was agreed that one of them would not be used in future.
The General Secretary to write to FB
b) Information had been received from ÖVEK (AT) concerning a member who had been expelled for consistent breach of the rules. This information would be noted.
c) It was once again noted that the Malaysian Member had held shows without notifying the board with the result that the shows were not on the official Show List and were, consequently, not FIFe shows. The board would like all judges to check the official list before accepting an invitation to a show. The General Secretary would write to the Malaysian Member.
The General Secretary to write to the Malaysian Member
d) NRR (NO) had enquired if the decision to waive the licence fee of the World Show and to present the organisers with a FIFe flag free of charge would also apply to the Scandinavian Winners Show, the board decided that this fee would also be waived and a flag presented.
e) The board had received a request for cattery names to be available on line. It was felt that this would have to come in the form of a proposal to the next General Assembly.
f) An announcement from SVERAK concerning vaccination of cats had been circulated to all members as requested.
g) An enquiry concerning Bengal breeding from NRR had been forwarded to LO Commission for its recommendation. This had been received and the General Secretary would write to NRR.
The General Secretary to write to NRR
h) The board had received a request from Brazil asking that the fees for their shows in the current year should be waived as they had been for Argentina when they had serious financial problems. It was pointed out that the situation was different to that of Brazil as Argentina had always observed the rules and kept the board informed. The board decided that for the time being it would leave these shows fees outstanding and review the situation at the end of the year. Brazil had made an agreement with the board to pay the outstanding monies in instalments and had promised to stick to the rules about announcing shows on the FIFe list and providing the board with a catalogue after the show.
The General Secretary to write to Brazilian Member
i) The board decided that the Minutes of the GA 2004 would not include the report of one of the Auditors as this had only been supplied to the GA in one language and was therefore not valid.
7.1 Potential new members: Requests had been received from the following countries and the General Secretary would write to them all with information.
a) Indonesia
b) Singapore
c) Panama
The General Secretary to write
7.2 Ratification of Dispensations:
a) Permission was given to NRR (NO) to organise a show with a different format in July 2004
b) Dispensation to KKÖ (AT) for show in Schladming on 12/13.06.04 to be held with 120 cats.
c) Dispensation to Felis Britannica (GB) for show in Northallerton on 1.06.04 to be held with 100 cats.
d) Dispensation to ÖVEK (AT) for show in Oberwart on 18.07.04 to be held with less than150 cats.
e) Dispensation to NRR (NO) for show in Harstad on 3/4.07.04 to be held with 120 cats.
f) Dispensation to NRR (NO) for show on 24/25.07.04 in Bodo to be held with 120 cats.
g) Dispensation to NRR (NO) for show on 14/15.08.04 in Tromsø to be held with 120 cats.
h) Dispensation to CSCH-SCHK (CZ) for show in Ostrava on 4/5.09.04 to be held with 120 cats.
i) Dispensation to NRR (NO) for show on 4/5.09.04 in Kristiansund to be held with less than 150 cats.
j) Dispensation to MFF (Malta) for a show 07.11.04 in Malta to be held with less than 120 cats.
8. Judge’s Matters
8.1) The following people had passed their examinations:
Mrs. Tetyana Boyko (UA) in category I.
Mrs. Olga Komissarova (EE) in category I.
Mr. Marc Crastucci (FR) in category I.
Mrs. Marie Westerlund in category II.
Mrs. Anne-Gro Edstrøm (NO) in category I, making her all-breed.
8.2) The following had been given permission to take their examinations and these were ratified:
Albert Kurkowski (PL) in category IV with Mrs. Jitka Kytlerova (CZ) and Mrs. Alva Uddin (SE) in Helsinki (FI) on 21.08.2004. Successfullly passed.
Gianfranco Mantovani (IT) in category II with Lili Anciau (PT) and Loredana Fanelli (IT) in Livorno (IT) on 11.09.2004.
Angelika Kneifel (DE) in category III with Eric Reijers (CZ) and Gianfranco Mantovani (IT) in Nice on 17.09.2004.
Gina Grob (LI) in category III with Alfred Wittich (CH) and Bohumir Mahelka (CZ) in Näfels (CH) on 02.10.04.
Margarita Grigorieva (RU) in category I with Rolf Voehringer (CH) and Marina Knobler (RU) in Krasnodar on 2,10.04.
8.3) New applications to take examinations had been received from the following:
Liisa Forss (FI) in category I with Françoise Milcent (FR) and Evelyn Preiss (DE) in Lahti (FI) on 30.10.04.
Sebastian Pruchniak (PL) in category I with Veikko Saarela (FI) and Annette Sjödin (SE) at the show in Odense (DK) on 20.11.04..
8.4) The examination of Robert Lubrano (FR) on 05.09.04 had been temporarily postponed.
8.5) The board agreed to the request of the Argentinian Member that Mr. Jorge Flechter would be granted permission to act as an international judge for South America in category III.
The General Secretary to notify Argentina
8.6) Beat Rettenmund (ARG) had passed all the necessary stages and was now an all-breed judge.
The General Secretary to notify Argentina
8.7) NRR had cancelled its proposed Judge’s Seminar.
8.8) Special permission had been given to a Czech club to have two Australian judges function at their show although there were not enough FIFe judges.
8.9) Permission was given for an individual to start judge training with less than 5 years FIFe membership. This was because the person concerned had been active as a breeder, steward and show manager for many years with another organisation and also with the FIFe member for four years.
The General Secretary to inform the Member
8.10) The application of SRK to hold a Judge’s Seminar was refused as it was received too late to conform with the rules.
9. GA 2005
SVERAK reported that the the venue was booked. The interpreters and equipment had also been booked They were getting sponsorship from Royal Canine and more details would be available later.
Lorraine Shelton would be coming to the Judge’s Seminar and Royal Canine would also bring more speakers.
10. New Standards
It was agreed that the new standards should now be printed. It was planned that they would be available for the World Show. They will be printed in A4 booklet form divided into three booklets: one for the general part, one for categories I and II and one for categories III & IV. The EMS list would also be printed in A4 format as it was too small to read in A5 format.
11. Breed Councils
It was decided that the secretaries of each BC would be asked to compile a list of those of their members who wished to renew for 2005. These lists should be sent to the General Secretary who would then inform the treasurer who, in turn, would issue an invoice to the relevant Member.
The General Secretary to contact BC Secretaries
12. Any Other Business
a) The President would contact the Italian Member further with regard to the possibility of holding the 2006 GA in Italy.
President to contact ANFI
b) It was decided that a complete list of Members of Breed Councils should be sent to the LO Commission.
The General Secretary to send list to LO
c) It was decided that the two-letter country codes from ISO would be adopted for the FIFe Member countries.
The General Secretary to implement this decision in all lists
d) The board discussed the possibility of FIFe giving some support for research and it was decided that a proposal would be brought to the next GA.
e) The General Secretary would be away on holiday from 14th to the 29th October. Only urgent matters should be referred to the President or the Vice-Secretary.
f) Concern was expressed concerning individuals moving other FIFe members. All Members should ensure that the individual concerned had the permission of the FIFe board before accepting them. The board recommended those FIFe Members, which are organised as federations, to ensure that the federation itself would be responsible for the acceptance of individuals from other countries; this would not be left to the affiliated clubs which may not be precisely aware of the rules.
13. Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting would take place on 5/6 November in conjunction with the Felikat Show in the Netherlands where three board members would be judging. The board expressed its gratitude to Felikat for making this possible.
The meeting closed at 6 p.m.
Eric Reijers, President
Penelope Bydlinski, General Secretary