Council Directives of the Christmas Tree Growers Council of Europe (Resolution was passed on February 10, 2009 in Wenzendorf, Germany.)

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1. Name
Christmas Tree Growers Council of Europe 
Conseil des Producteurs de Sapins de Noël d’Europe 
Rat der Europäischen Weihnachtsbaum- und Schnittgrünproduzenten 
The official shortcut of the association is in all languages CTGCE.

2. Address of the administration of the CTGCE 
The official office of CTGCE is the country which chairs the member countries. Name and Address of the chairman can be found at this website: www.ctgce.com

3. Objectives 
a) Removal of unfair trading terms by the establishment of fair and equal conditions within the European Union. E.g., taxation, pesticide controls, etc. The CTGCE should have the means to lobby at the level of the European parliament and the European Commission. 
b) The promotion of sales of natural Christmas trees in order to expand the market for natural Christmas trees within the European Union. 
c) To improve the quality of natural Christmas trees, and to define quality levels in order to support fair trade. 
d) To affect governments, particularly within the European Commission to establish regulations, which support the economic and legal framework for production, trade, and marketing of natural Christmas trees. Furthermore CTGCE aims to affect the change or withdrawal of rules, which hinder these developments. These lobbying activities should primarily be undertaken through consolidated interventions at the respective national representations in the particular member countries.

4. CTGCE Membership 
All European Union countries can be represented. Countries outside of the European Union can also be represented in the CTGCE with the agreement amongst a majority of the members. Each country can be represented in the CTGCE by two representatives. The Christmas tree growers from each country choose these representatives democratically. These representatives have to represent the association of the respective country, or in case of absence of a national association, they have to be member of a regional association. If there are no such associations available, only then individual growers of this country can become members. However they do not have a vote in the CTGCE.

5. Application of Members 
All applications are subject to the agreement of the CTGCE. New members must prove that their national representatives have been elected in a democratic choice procedure of the Christmas tree growers of the respective country(s). Each country can leave CTGCE at any time, but without the right of refund of the annually advanced paid membership fee. The CTGCE can terminate memberships with a two-thirds majority vote at anytime.

6. Subscription
The subscription amount for each country is 500 Euro per year; free of charges. The subscription is to be paid after request (billing) by the respective president at the beginning of each year. If a country fails to pay the invoice amount or does not pay it in time then a fine of 10% will be assessed. The respective member country will be excluded after three payment requests. New members are not required to pay the subscription of the current year.

7. Organisation of CTGCE 
The leadership of CTGCE is compiled of a president and a vice president. They are voted in from the members of CTGCE, and serve a term of three years under the premise that every year they are democratically elected by their own nation. They must be of different nationalities. The president needs to privately be affirmed every year. The vice president assumes the presidency if the president is removed from his position for whatever reason. The president has the authority to lead the conversations/conference in his native language and his conversations have to be translated into English from an interpreter. The translation costs are paid by CTGCE. The CTGCE meets at least twice a year. The places of the meetings are decided in the preceding sessions. One of these meetings should take place in a member country. All members of the country organizations are invited to these meetings. The CTGCE discusses all Christmas tree market issues including the European Christmas tree market. They also discuss legal issues and rules influencing the production and marketing of Christmas trees, as well as public relations, advertising, quality criteria, trends in cultivation, production and research needs. Each country has one vote in meetings. If the votes are equally distributed, then voice of the president’s vote is vital. The quorum for each meeting is fulfilled by at least one representative of half of the members. Minutes of the meeting time must be sent out only in English to all members. There are compulsory email newsletters. At the beginning of every year, upon request, every member country has to present a report to the president regarding selling conditions (quantities, prices, business trends, problems, etc.). This data is then combined into an annual report. The annual report can be shared in between the members of each national organization. CTGCE can have the authority to approve the admittance of experts (regarding such data) to the meetings at any time. However these experts are strictly present for data analysis, and do not have the right to vote in the meetings.

8. Annual meetings 
Each year the CTGCE will invite a represented country to organize a conference. The host country is responsible for inviting all members. It is advisable that the invitation is also passed on to all members of the regional organizations. The host country is responsible for financing of the conference, assessing a conference fee, and procuring suitable accommodations. The conference should also contain a specialized program with field trips to Christmas tree growers. The inviting country should arrange translation into the most important European languages (English, German, French, etc.) The president should be informed of the arrangements.

9. Administration 
The president is responsible for the procedure, the administration, and the financial control of the activities of the CTGCE. The president has to provide an annual report on finances of the CTGCE.