Article 5 of the Alliance Charter

Article 5 of the Alliance Charter (abbreviated A5) is the fifth official article of the Alliance Charter.

Section 1.	The Webmaster
P1.01	The Webmaster of the Alliance is defined as the member of the Alliance who has ownership of the Alliance’s website, domain, and web hosting plan, and bears ultimate responsibility for the same.

P1.02	The Webmaster shall be a permanent administrator with the following special privileges: P1.03	The Webmaster shall be tasked with the following special responsibilities: P1.04	If the Webmaster is unable to perform their duties, or if the Alliance staff cannot contact him for a significant period of time when their services are needed, or if they resign from their office, the Committee of Trustees shall vote to replace him with a new Webmaster. Their decision shall not take effect unless confirmed by a majority of voting members in the Senate.
 * C1.02(a)	They shall be exempt from all requirements related to activity, so as to maintain their membership and administrative office as long as they remain the Webmaster.
 * C1.02(b)	They shall be a permanent member of the Committee of Trustees.
 * C1.02(c)	They shall have access to the site’s FTP backend and control panel.
 * C1.02(d)	They shall have power to advise the Executive Council in its decisions, but not to vote on said decisions.
 * C1.03(a)	They shall ensure that all of the site’s web hosting and domain name registration bills are paid in a timely manner, in pursuit of which they may, at their discretion, request voluntary donations from the other members of the Alliance.
 * C1.03(b)	They shall perform maintenance and repairs on the website as necessary, including updating the forum and wiki software as new versions of each become available.
 * C1.03(c)	They shall refrain from running for, or holding, any elected executive office, unless such an office would otherwise remain vacant; and they shall not compel any other members to refrain from running for executive office, except for those members whom Alliance law forbids from holding executive office.

P1.05	 Except under the circumstances given in the preceding paragraph, the Webmaster shall continue in their office indefinitely.

Section 2.	Alliance Staff
P2.01	Preferably, there should be a total of five (5) administrators: the Webmaster, the President of the Alliance, the Vice President of the Alliance, and two permanent administrators who shall be appointed by the President on the advice and consent of the rest of the Executive Council from qualified applicants. All other administrators shall be subordinate to the President of the Alliance, who shall be the chief administrator.

P2.02	All administrators shall be responsible for the strategic development of the Alliance website, including the forums and wiki, and for the everyday technical aspects of running the same, including (but not limited to): adding and removing forums as necessary, maintaining and updating the forums’ and wiki’s appearance, activating new user accounts, preventing spammers from registering, improving the site’s functionality, and implementing the Executive Council’s rulings and sentences for violations of the site rules.

P2.03	In addition to the administrators, there shall be a maximum of two (2) global moderators, who shall assist the administrators in tasks specific to moderation of the forums, wiki and chatrooms. Said moderators shall be subordinate to the Vice President of the Alliance, who shall be the chief moderator. P2.04	The administrators and global moderators shall collectively be termed the staff of the Alliance. Any reference to staff, Alliance staff, or any reasonable variation thereupon, shall be understood to implicitly include both administrators and global moderators, to the exclusion of all others.
 * C2.03(a)	All global moderators shall have full moderation privileges over the forums, as well as only those administrative privileges which are necessary for the global moderators to perform their duties.
 * C2.03(b)	All global moderators shall be appointed by the Vice President on the advice and consent of the Executive Council from qualified applicants.

P2.05	All administrators and global moderators may be dismissed from their staff positions by the Executive Council in a public statement for violating the site rules, or for an unannounced period of inactivity (using the definition of inactivity given in Article 1 of the Charter). P2.06	All administrators and global moderators may be dismissed from their staff positions by a successful vote of no confidence brought against that staff member in the Senate by any Alliance member who does not hold an executive office, or by a vote of the Committee of Trustees.
 * C2.05(a)	Depending on the nature of an offense against the site rules as specified in Article 3 of the Charter, staff members dismissed from their positions as a result of a rule violation may be disqualified from ever again serving on the Alliance staff in any capacity, whether temporary or permanent. The Executive Council shall specify whether such a disqualification applies to a dismissed staff member in its public announcement of said staff member’s dismissal.
 * C2.06(a)	In this event, the Executive Council shall appoint a replacement for the dismissed staff member no more than 21 days after the vote of no confidence has concluded.
 * C2.06(b)	Motions of no confidence against the Webmaster must name a successor to be valid.

Section 3.	Executive Council
P3.01	The Executive Council (whose members may also be referred to as executives) shall consist of the administrators and the Speaker of the Alliance. Its chairman shall be the President of the Alliance, and its vice-chairman shall be the Vice President of the Alliance. P3.02	The President shall be the chief administrator, and shall also: P3.03	The Vice President shall be the chief moderator, and shall also: P3.04	 Both the President and Vice President shall be able to: P3.05	The Speaker of the Alliance shall only hold administrative powers over the Senate and the General Assembly, and shall: P3.06	In the event that the President resigns before the normal expiration of their term, the Vice President shall serve as acting President until a new President has been elected. Likewise, if the Vice President resigns before the normal expiration of their term, the Speaker of the Alliance shall serve as acting Vice President until a new Vice President has been elected. P3.07	Any member who has held membership in the Alliance continuously for at least six (6) months prior to taking office, and who does not simultaneously hold membership in any other Alliance, may run for any executive office, unless that member is disqualified under Article 1 of the Charter. All members seeking executive office shall be elected under the terms of Article 3 of the Charter, and shall serve terms no longer than twelve (12) months, as specified therein.
 * C3.01(a)	The Webmaster’s position on the Executive Council shall be strictly advisory, with no voting powers.
 * C3.02(a)	lead the development of the forums;
 * C3.02(b)	fill vacancies in the Committee of Trustees by appointment and ensure that all Trustees can be contacted whenever necessary;
 * C3.02(c)	consult other members on the strategic direction of the Alliance, or on any issue which they shall deem important to the stability or long-term survival of the Alliance.
 * C3.03(a)	convene and organize Alliance events,
 * C3.03(b)	oversee the management of the Alliance Council and all its subdivisions (excluding the General Assembly), and
 * C3.03(c)	assist the President in any of their duties when the need arises.
 * C3.04(a)	ban Alliance members or other site users on the advice and consent of the Executive Council,
 * C3.04(b)	shut the Alliance website down as needed for a specified period, and
 * C3.04(c)	address the Alliance on topics as they see fit.
 * C3.05(a)	ensure the effective running of the Senate and the General Assembly;
 * C3.05(b)	put actions to vote after sufficient debate on them has occurred and the bill’s author has requested a vote;
 * C3.05(c)	announce the results of voting on actions and whether they passed or failed;
 * C3.05(d)	move actions and laws to different sub-forums as appropriate;
 * C3.05(e)	keep the Index of Current Laws and the Archive Index up to date;
 * C3.05(f)	ensure that all members follow all active laws and report violations of the same to the Executive Council;
 * C3.05(g)	oversee the General Assembly in a strictly non-roleplay capacity; and
 * C3.05(h)	manage votes of no confidence against other staff members.
 * C3.06(a)	If the President and the Vice President resign within seven (7) days of each other, the Committee of Trustees shall appoint two of its members to serve as acting President and Vice President; and they shall serve in said offices until by-elections for both offices have concluded.

P3.08	Members may serve on the Executive Council for a maximum of three (3) consecutive terms in the same office. There shall be no limit on the total number of terms served across positions.
 * C3.08(a)	If a member is elected to an executive office between general elections, the term during which they were elected shall not count toward the above limit.
 * C3.08(b)	Members may serve an unlimited number of terms in the same executive office, as long as no more than three (3) terms are consecutive in any period. At least one full, twelve-month term must pass before a member who has served three (3) consecutive terms in one office may serve in the same office again.

Section 4.	Committee of Trustees
P4.01	The Committee of Trustees shall have five (5) members, the last three (3) of whom shall be appointed by invitation of the chair: P4.02	Any Trustee may request a meeting of the Committee at any time, but the Committee shall not meet at any other time.
 * C4.01(a)	its chair, the President of the Alliance;
 * C4.01(b)	the Webmaster of the Alliance;
 * C4.01(c)	the Speaker of the Alliance;
 * C4.01(d)	one (1) administrator, who shall represent the views of senior members and execute the Committee’s decisions;
 * C4.01(e)	one (1) other member in good standing, who shall represent the views of junior and new members, and shall be appointed by invitation of the chair after their election to the presidency, preferably a Director or moderator

P4.03	The Committee shall be charged with leading the Alliance during times of crisis, if the Executive Council is unable to do so due to having been disbanded as specified in Section 5 of this Article, or if a conflict of interest prevents the Executive Council from functioning effectively as the Alliance’s normal leadership.

P4.04	The Committee shall also have power to do the following if a majority of Trustees vote in favour of doing so: P4.05	The Committee shall conduct all of its meetings in a private sub-forum on the Alliance website.
 * C4.04(a)	to ban a forum user (other than the Webmaster) permanently;
 * C4.04(b)	to replace the Webmaster for any of the reasons if confirmed by a majority of voting members in the Senate;
 * C4.04(c)	to collect voluntary donations from the Alliance members for the upkeep of the Alliance website;
 * C4.04(d)	to hear appeals of disciplinary action taken by the Executive Council if the defendant requests an appeal,
 * C4.04(e)	to hear appeals of other administrative actions taken by the Executive Council if a staff member disagrees strongly with said actions; and
 * C4.04(f)	to disband the Executive Council if necessary.
 * C4.05(a)	While the publication of closed cases as described above is a legal requirement, there shall be no punishment for failure to do so in a timely manner.

Section 5.	Senate
P5.01	The Senate shall be the Alliance’s legislative body for all bills and motions (collectively actions) which cannot be made in character, or which affect strictly administrative or non-roleplay aspects of the Alliance. The two different types of actions shall be defined as follows: P5.02	All members of the Alliance shall have equal membership in the Senate, with one vote per member; and new members shall automatically gain membership in the Senate upon the passage of their applications.
 * C5.01(a)	Bills are actions which have a permanent effect on the Alliance as a whole, or on one member state. The modification implemented by a bill shall take place after the successful passage of the bill. Examples of bills include, but are not limited to: changes to the Alliance Charter, major retroactive changes to member states, and proposals for new Alliance events.
 * C5.01(b)	Motions are actions which have a temporary effect, and which may apply to either the whole Alliance or a part thereof, including one or more specific members. Examples of motions include, but are not limited to: confirmations of the Committee of Trustees’ choice for a new Webmaster, and motions of no confidence against a staff member or government group, as specified elsewhere in this Article.
 * C5.01(c)	The above types of actions shall be subject to the same legislative standards and procedures, as described in this Section and in Article 3 of the Charter.

P5.03	No member shall be able to veto any measure under consideration by the Senate.

P5.04	The Senate shall consist of a single chamber, due to its being composed of all of the Alliance’s members, and its forums shall be divided as follows: P5.05	All actions passed by the Senate shall take effect immediately following their approval by an executive, unless they specify a different date of enactment within their text; and no measure shall have retroactive effect on any member, or on the Alliance as a whole, except for retroactive changes to member states.
 * C5.04(a)	New actions shall be posted in the Senate Chamber, where members shall discuss them, propose changes to them, and argue their positions on them. Once actions have received a suitable number comments, and there is a general consensus that no further changes to them are necessary, they shall be put to vote in the same sub-forum, and they shall remain there until voting on them has concluded.
 * C5.04(b)	Actions which have met the conditions for passage given in Article 3 of the Charter shall be moved to the Approved Bills sub-forum.
 * C5.04(c)	Bills which have a permanent impact on the Alliance as a whole shall be moved to the Law Library subforum; their titles shall be edited to replace the word Bill with Act; and their Articles shall be added to the Index of Current Laws, along with those portions of the AIN Charter in which they have been codified.
 * C5.04(d)	Actions which have not met the conditions for passage, and whose authors have abandoned them, shall be moved to the Failed Actions sub-forum and locked.
 * C5.04(e)	Any act which has been repealed or superseded by a later act shall be moved from the Law Library to the Law Archives subforum (which shall be a subforum of the Law Library). Such an act shall be stricken from the Index of Current Laws, and shall be added to the Archive Index with a notation of which act repealed or superseded it.

P5.06	 Members may bring motions of no confidence against a staff member, the Executive Council as a whole, or the Committee of Trustees, subject to the restrictions given in the preceding Sections.
 * C5.06(a)	Such motions shall be posted in the Senate Chamber and shall present the author’s argument for the motion, listing such reasons for the staff member/body’s dismissal as the author deems appropriate.
 * C5.06(b)	The motion’s target may post a defence in the course of the debate on the motion, which debate shall continue until substantial comments have been posted by members other than the author.
 * C5.06(c)	Motions of no confidence shall be subject to the same requirements for passage as all other actions, as given in clause 4(b) above.
 * C5.06(d)	Successful motions of no confidence shall take effect immediately, resulting in the dismissal or disbandment of the motion’s target.

Section 6.	Alliance Charter
P6.01	The Alliance of Independent Nations' Charter of Laws (henceforth referred to as the Alliance Charter) is established as the collection of most supreme laws in the Alliance.

P6.02	The Alliance Charter shall be stored on the Alliance's wiki, in its own category, and on a series of pages which shall be protected such that only wiki administrators can edit them. Each article of the Alliance Charter (see next paragraph) shall have its own page.

P6.03	The Alliance Charter shall be organized by topic into a series of articles, each of which shall be further divided into: Sections, paragraphs, clauses, and (if necessary) sub-clauses.

P6.04	It shall be the responsibility of the Alliance staff to organize the Alliance Charter and to keep it up to date as new laws are passed. �

Section 7.	Non-Roleplay Committees
P7.01	While there will be no formal member recruitment committee, any member with a presence on an alternative city-building website, such as Simtropolis.com, may conduct advertising of the Alliance on the secondary website.

P7.02	No specified committee will be tasked with updating the Alliance map, although the holder of the map is expected to update the Alliance map at the needed times.
 * C7.02(a)	The official map of the Alliance of Independent Nations shall use the Mercator projection and be large enough to show all AIN member states in reasonable detail.

Section 8.	AIN Wiki
P8.01	The Alliance of Independent Nations Wiki (henceforth AIN Wiki or wiki) is the repository of all official information pertaining to the AIN, its government, and its member states.

P8.02	All administrators, Global Moderators, the Director of Economics and the AINSI Commissioner, and any other member which the President and Vice President approve, shall have admin and bureaucrat user rights on the wiki. P8.03	Those with admin and bureaucrat user rights on the wiki are responsible for the following:
 * C8.02(a)	Any member with admin rights on the wiki shall be responsible for ensuring data on the wiki is up to date and within the bounds of realism.
 * C8.02(b)	Any member can alert an admin member on the wiki as to data which is old or unrealistic.
 * C8.03(a)	Managing the content of the AIN Wiki,
 * C8.03(b)	Keeping said content up to date,
 * C8.03(c)	Reviewing new requests for wiki accounts and acting on them as appropriate for each request.

Section 9. 	Constitutional Committee
P9.01	 The Constitutional Committee is the only interpretative body of the Alliance Charter, and has the ability to make binding interpretations on the Charter’s content.
 * C9.01(a)	 The Constitutional Committee can declare any measure passed by the Senate to be incompatible with the Charter. With that ruling, an Action must be moved to the ‘Failed Actions’ sub-forum.

P9.02	Constitutional Committee Members are appointed by the President, on the advice of the Executive Council, and are approved by a motion in the Senate.
 * C9.02(a) Any member, except the President, Vice President or Speaker of the Alliance, may be appointed as a Constitutional Committee Member, and the motion to approve them shall be conducted in a swift manner.
 * C9.02(b)	 Every Constitutional Committee Member has security of tenure, and a vacancy shall only occur if a Constitutional Committee Member leaves the Alliance, or if they resign their position on the Constitutional Committee.
 * C9.02(c)	 The number of Constitutional Committee Members will be 3, each with equal voting rights in any Ruling.

P9.03	 The Constitutional Committee may only adopt a case after a member posts their concern in the Constitutional Committee sub-forum. The Constitutional Committee is not obligated to adopt every case, though this is encouraged.
 * C9.03(a)	 After a member has posted their concern and the Constitutional Committee has adopted, then the deliberations of the Constitutional Committee may take place in the Constitutional Committee sub-forum, which available only to Constitutional Committee Members.
 * C9.03(b)	 A Ruling must be made by a majority of Constitutional Committee Members.
 * C9.03(c)	 Once a verdict has been reached, a formal Ruling must be posted which establishes legal precedence henceforth. A Ruling may only be overturned by a subsequent ruling, or an amendment to the relevant section of the Charter.
 * C9.03(d)	 If a Ruling voids an Act of the Senate, a post must be made on that Act, stating that a Ruling of the Constitutional Committee has voided the act.

Source
Article 5 of the Alliance Charter