STACK (Sport Team and Competitive Kiting) shall promote, organise, oversee and encourage the sport of kite flying. It shall be run democratically and ensure that all events are run fairly, safely and to a uniform, high standard. It should enable kite flyers and national bodies to interact.
A member of STACK is defined as a member of a STACK approved national kiteflyers organisation or an International member.
The international officials of STACK shall be:
Together they will form the STACK International Executive Committee (SIEC). The SIEC shall administer and control STACK in line with the mission statement. All shall have a single vote within SIEC
The SIEC will seek to maintain contacts between all national bodies and to encourage and oversee international competitions. The SIEC shall appoint to the International Rulebook Committee (IRBC) two members, one of which shall be the IHJ. The second member of the IRBC may be any other STACK member.
Every country that SIEC recognises shall have a National Director (ND), who will act as the contact between SIEC and the national body, and a National Head Judge (NHJ). How each nation organises itself is left to their own discretion. No SIEC member can hold the position of National Director or National Head Judge.
( list of addresses of officials )
The Chairperson shall liase with any and all outside parties. In addition they shall be responsible for ensuring that all national bodies are working within and towards the STACK mission statement. They will chair STACK International meetings and produce both monthly and annual reports available to all members detailing the organisation's performance. The distribution of SIEC decisions, requests and statements will be their responsibility. They shall also keep all the files of the SIEC.
The Event Co-ordinator shall be responsible for the sanctioning of events under the process laid down by the SIEC and liasing with event organisers throughout Europe to try to avoid clashes of events. They shall be responsible for the production of a list of forthcoming events that shall be distributed as widely as is practical. They shall obtain the results of all STACK sanctioned events. They shall obtain the method of determining National Rankings from all ND's.
They shall solicit proposals for the European Cup that shall be put to the SIEC. Furthermore once the SIEC has decided the location of the European Cup they shall be responsible for liasing with the event co-ordinator to ensure that the event is run within the agreed guidelines.
The Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping the STACK books and producing a detailed STACK accounts report annually. They will be responsible for producing a complete membership list based on the information of each Nation twice year, before April 15th and before October 15th. They will send the new STACK membership cards and/or the validations for the existing STACK Membership cards to the ND's within two months after membership report has been given by ND and the membership fee has been paid.
The IHJ shall be one delegate to the IRBC and will have final authority on all matters relating to the appointment of judges for sanctioned competitions. They shall administer the Judges' Assessment Programme. They shall appoint the NHJ of each country and shall be responsible for appointing the Chief Judge (CJ) for each competition.
The Competitors' Representative shall be the spokesman for the flyers. They shall be consult with and report on the views from the competitors standpoint. They should assist other SIEC members if necessary, especially to collect topics for the online newsletter 'SNACK'. They will be responsible for taking minutes of face-to-face meetings.
The SIEC may increase or amend the responsibilities of any official from time to time as they feel fit. They will communicate openly and keep the ND's up to date.
Communication between the SIEC members will be ongoing. All general communications from the SIEC will be handled by the Chairperson.
There will be one face-to-face meeting per calendar year, which is recommended to take place at EuroCup. The quorum of any physical meeting shall be three persons.
Every expenditure from the STACK bank account requires the explicit approval of at least two other SIEC members.
Motions are passed by a simple majority of the elected officials (except where stated otherwise).
The SIEC can appoint non-executive officials as they see fit.
The SIEC can vote to terminate the appointment of a non-executive official.
One national body per nation will be recognised as being the representative of STACK in that country [(see Recognised National Bodies)]. A "nation" is defined within this charter as an individual country or, where suitable, a group of countries. That body need not use the name "STACK".
If a nation has a committee then, for the purposes of this charter the head of that committee shall be the formal contact between the SIEC and that country. The ND is the contact between SIEC and the membership of STACK in their country. They shall promote the sport of kite flying and STACK. They shall encourage membership.
If a national organisation has a charter (or its equivalent) then that charter should encompass the mission statement of the STACK Charter and must not conflict, in any manner, with the rest of the STACK Charter.
Where possible they should ensure that competitions and/or leagues take place within their country. If there are sufficient competitive flyers then a National Championship shall be held in order to determine who are the National Champions. The details of such a Championship are left to the ND to determined but they must be announced prior to the competition starting
ND's are required to send an annual report before April 1st each year to the SIEC. The report shall contain membership lists, a description how the Nation chooses their National Champion and details of the state of activity in their nation.
Ideally the following information should be given for each member:
Where possible the ND will provide the IHJ with up to three nominations for the NHJ each year. If the IHJ does not feel that any of the nominations has sufficient experience and ability to be NHJ then the IHJ may nominate an alternative to the ND. The IHJ will then appoint the NHJ. The ND may not be the NHJ.
The cost of STACK national membership is set by the ND for each country. A fee is payable to STACK International based on the number of members for a country of 3 euros ( ) per member per year. Lifetime members are fee exempted. Lifetime members can only be approved by a majority vote of the SIEC. The method of approval of expenses of the SIEC shall be decided by the SIEC from time to time.
Payment should preferably be made in the form of a direct payment in euros ( ) to the STACK bank account, the details of which will be notified by the Treasurer.
After the receipt of the amounts due the treasurer will send the new STACK membership cards and/or the validations for the existing STACK Membership cards.
STACK requires that officials shall be accountable to members and thus fair and democratic elections must be carried out. The members of the SIEC shall be elected every two years. All elections shall be conducted under "first past the post" (highest number of votes) system.
A Returning Officer shall be appointed by the SIEC and must not be a current member of the SIEC. The Returning Officer shall be responsible for arranging the elections and counting the votes. All members of STACK shall be entitled to vote
The Returning Officer must receive all nominations to the election by February 14th with the opening date for votes being cast being April 1st and the final date being April 15th. Results will be announced By April 21st. All nominations have to be proposed and seconded by STACK members. All nominees must signify their consent to the nomination. Any member shall be entitled to stand for any post with the SIEC.
If an SIEC leaves their post mid-term a replacement for the remainder of the term, may be accepted by the remaining members or the place may remain vacant and the duties handled by another SIEC member or committee. Any outgoing official will pass over all relevant paperwork, records and other material relating to STACK to the incoming official.
If an SIEC position has no nominees then the voted in SIEC members may appoint someone to that post or redistribute that position's workload.
Elections shall be carried out three months before the end of the term of the outgoing official. This shall not apply if the election has risen a s a result of a motion of no confidence (see Section 1). In the event of a tie then the present official shall have the casting vote.
If 75% of all ND's sign a motion of no confidence in any member of the SIEC then that member will be removed from their post. At least six months must pass from the date of election of the member of the SIEC before any such motion of no confidence may be submitted. The resigning official will be eligible for re-election at any subsequent election but may not be re-appointed by the SIEC. Any motion of no confidence must be sent to the Chairman unless it concerns the Chairman in which case it should be sent to the Treasurer.
Any event organiser who wishes to run a STACK sanctioned event must complete the current STACK sanction form and agree to run the event in line with the STACK Rules and Regulations. The form should be returned to the Event Co-ordinator in accordance with timings and conditions set out in the sanctioning form.
If they do not comply with the rules then sanctioning may be withdrawn. STACK sanctioned events will be open to anyone who is a member of STACK or a member of an organisation that the SIEC have recognised (AKA, AJASKA).
All judges shall be members of STACK or an organisation that STACK has recognised and shall be certified under the Judges' Assessment Programme.
The SIEC will only sanction events using the current International Rulebook, Compulsories Book and Judges Book but will seek to support any new forms of competition as they arise.
The SIEC will, from time to time, set up sub-committees to assist them. The SIEC will appoint a chairperson of such a committee and provide the sub-committee with aims, objectives and time scales. It is the responsibility of the chairperson of the sub-committee to provide regular reports to the SIEC as to progress. Furthermore they should, if necessary, provide a budget of estimated costs that must be approved by the SIEC prior to any expenditure. The SIEC can vote to terminate a committee or to remove the chairperson at any time. All information produced by a sub-committee is confidential to that sub-committee and the SIEC until it is approved by the SIEC. The copyright of any material produced by a sub-committee belongs to STACK.
If an approach is made to the SIEC from a country in which STACK does not have a National Organisation then the SIEC may recognise that body as the national representative of STACK. A new nation should contain at least 3 members.
Anybody wishing to be a STACK member may, at the discretion of the SIEC, join as an International Member. They will receive the STACK quarterly communications directly and enjoy most of the benefits of being a STACK member. The cost for such membership will be set by the SIEC.
The personal STACK membership card is the only document that grants permission to compete and/or act as an officer in STACK sanctioned events. Until the permanent membership card has been sent to the competitor a member is allowed to use a temporary membership card. A temporary membership card is issued by the nation. A temporary membership card should be in use for a maximum of one year. Within this time it has to be replaced by a regular membership card given by SIEC.
Temporary membership cards will be sent by SIEC to the nations in advance. This will be based on the respective ND's estimated requirements in the year. The payment for the temporary cards will be included in the yearly fees, but no pre-payment is due for having temporary cards sent.
UK: STACK UK
France: F‚d‚ration fran‡aise de vol libre (FFVL)
Germany: FLD e.V. / STACK Deutschland
Holland: STACK Nederland
Italy: STACK ITALIA
Finland: STACK Finland
Sweden: Svenska STACK
Malaysia: Kelab STACK Malaysia
The designated international language of STACK shall be English.
The Charter may only be changed by unanimous agreement of all members of the SIEC and a simple majority of the ND's.
The copyright of all relevant literature, papers and other materials produced by STACK , the SIEC and SIEC appointed committees (as opposed to any material produced by a National STACK ) rests with the SIEC. They may not be reproduced, electronically or otherwise, without the SIEC's written permission. They may not be stored on any storage system without the SIEC's approval.