The Global Cooperation Alliance of Science Centers (GCASC，the Alliance) is an alliance of science centers, national laboratories and science cities around the world. It is an international non-governmental, non-confidential and non-profit alliance for scientific and technological collaboration. The Alliance shall act for peaceful ends only.

The Alliance was proposed at the first and second conference of Global Cooperation of Science Centers hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the City of Beijing. Dozens of representatives of science centers and laboratories around the world attended the conferences and agreed to work towards establishing the GCASC, and jointly drafted the Charter of the Alliance, which was modified and approved prior to signing of this document.

Article 1. Name of the Alliance: Global Cooperation Alliance of Science Centers (GCASC，the Alliance).

Article 2. Nature of the Alliance: International non-governmental, non-confidential and non-profit organization for scientific and technological collaboration.

Article 3. Purpose of the Alliance: Cooperation and communication, promotion of mutual development, utilization of complementary strengths, and discussion of scientific topics of common interest with particular emphasis on medium- to large-scale research infrastructures. The Alliance shall act for peaceful ends only.

ALBA Synchrotron, Spain; Dalian Coherent Light Source, China; Diamond Light Source, UK; European Spallation Source ERIC, Sweden; European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility GmbH, Germany; FELIX Laboratory, Stichting Katholieke Universiteit, more particularly Radboud University, part of which is the Faculty of Science, part of which is FELIX Laboratory, Netherlands; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany; Guangdong Songshan Lake Science City (Neutron Spallation Source), China; Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Germany; Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany; Huairou Comprehensive National Science Center, China; Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, China; National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Accelerator in Lanzhou, China; Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland; Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany; SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre at Jagiellonian University, Poland; Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center, China.

(1) To promote the exchange of experience among members of the Alliance in the planning, construction, management, and operation of science centers;

(2) To further promote scientific and technological cooperation among members of the Alliance;

(3) To encourage members of the Alliance to collaborate on large-scale international scientific research projects and other cooperation programs for scientific and technological facilities through discussion and planning;

(4) To promote the exchange of scientific and technical personnel among members of the Alliance, and to encourage and facilitate their participation in collaborative projects among the Alliance members;

(5) To promote scientific and technological research and educational cooperation with universities closely related to the Alliance members through student exchange programs.

(6) All above promoted tasks, collaborations, joint projects etc. are subject to separate written agreements between (each) concerned member(s) of the Alliance and, if applicable, third parties.

Article 6. The members of the Alliance are represented by the General Assembly (GA). Each member shall be represented in the GA by a director or a duly-appointed representative of the member institute/center. All elections and decisions by the GA require a majority vote of 50 percent of all members of the Alliance, if not specified otherwise.

Article 7. The GA shall elect a chairperson and a chairperson-elect of the Alliance. The term of the appointment shall be one year. Reelection is possible. The chairperson shall preside over the annual GA meeting, at which members shall be responsible for making decisions on all major issues concerning the Alliance, except for issues regarding financial obligations. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 5(6) of this Charter, decisions which might result in financial obligations for (a) member(s) and decisions to change the wording of this Charter need to be based on an explicit written approval of each individual member signed by the legal representative of that member. For the avoidance of doubt: For those members for which the current power of attorney for their representative to attend and represent the respective member in the GA does not explicitly cover accepting financial obligations and changing the Charter, an additional power of attorney for this representative or signature of the authorized legal representative has to be obtained.

Article 8. A Secretary General shall be nominated by the hosting organization of the next GA meeting, and approved by the current GA meeting.

Article 9. The Alliance shall hold a GA meeting annually. A director or a duly-appointed representative from each member organization of the Alliance shall attend this meeting. The chairperson, chairperson-elect and secretary general of the Alliance shall be jointly responsible for organizing and convening the meeting. The GA meeting shall be convened in written form (including email) by an invitation to each member at least half a year prior to the meeting. The agenda of the meeting shall be sent with at least four weeks’ notice.

Article 10. All science centers and national laboratories dedicated to the development of science and technology as well as global economic development towards peaceful ends may apply to join the Alliance. Each new organization wishing to join the Alliance shall apply to the Secretary General of the Alliance. Upon approval by the GA with a two-third majority vote of the members, the new organization shall become a member of the Alliance while signing a corresponding declaration of its accession to the present Charter.

Article 11. Each member of the Alliance shall appoint a special liaison officer who shall be responsible for coordinating and working with the Secretary General of the Alliance.

Article 12. Should a member wish to withdraw from the Alliance, that member shall send a note of withdrawal in writing to the Secretary General who will notify without undue delay all other members. Within four weeks after this notification to the Secretary General, the withdrawal becomes effective. A serious violation of the Charter of the Alliance by a member may result in removal from the Alliance with immediate effect following a two-third majority vote of the Alliance members excluding the member with the violation.

(1) To consciously abide by the Charter of the Alliance;

(2) To protect the interests and reputation of the Alliance;

(3) To participate in the work and activities agreed upon within the Alliance. Without prejudice to the provisions of article 5(6) and the‘for avoidance of doubt’stated in article 7; any work and activities which might result in a commitment to funding or other financial obligations for a respective member are subject to member organizations’ usual authorization and approval processes and procedures.

Article 14. Members of the Alliance shall have equal rights in the management of Alliance affairs, as well as rights in participating in meetings and related cooperation and exchange activities. Members of the Alliance shall jointly assume the responsibility of developing and strengthening the Alliance. Furthermore, members of the Alliance shall have the following rights:

(1) The right to vote and the right for their directors or duly-appointed representatives to be elected (cf. Articles 7 and 8).

(2) The right to participate in meetings, policy discussions, research projects, information exchange sessions, internal and external cooperation, and other activities organized by the Alliance;

(3) The right to access services provided by the Alliance;

(4) The right to provide suggestions, criticism, and supervision to the Alliance;

(5) The right to freely withdraw from the Alliance.

Article 15. Each member covers its own expenses. The Alliance shall jointly seek additional funding.

Article 16. The annual GA meeting of the Alliance shall be supported by funding from the hosting organization of the GA meeting.

Article 17. The final interpretation of these Articles of the Charter shall rest with the annual GA meeting of the Alliance.

Article 18. The Charter of the Alliance shall take effect from the date of establishment of the Alliance. Any amendments or changes to the Charter shall be signed by all its members.

Article 19. Any activities of the members of the Alliance under this Charter are subject to the competent authority granting any approval. With regard to its own activities under this Charter any member of the Alliance is independently responsible to be in compliance with the applicable export control law and regulations.

 

October 17, 2019 Huairou, Beijing, China