Soil Association Charity Membership Terms and Conditions
The following are the membership terms and conditions of the Soil Association Charity (the “Charity”) and you should read them carefully as they set out your rights and obligations as a member of the Charity. These terms and conditions are based on our Articles of Association.
The Soil Association is a registered charity: number no 206862 in England and Wales; number SC039168 in Scotland.
Eligibility
Membership of the Charity is offered to the public and to licensees of Soil Association Certification Limited.
Public membership
These terms and conditions apply to the following current public Charity memberships: Individual, Joint, Soil Friend, Soil Circle and Producer.
The terms and conditions also apply to holders of the following public Charity memberships that are no longer actively offered by the Charity: Family, Concessionary, Life and Honorary.
All these public memberships have Company Law membership rights.
Licensee membership
Licensees can be either full members of the Charity with Company Law membership rights, Associate members without Company Law membership rights or decide to have no relationship with the Charity.
For the avoidance of doubt there is no requirement for a licensee of Soil Association Certification Limited to have any kind of membership relationship with the Charity. Licensees who are members of the Charity may terminate their Charity membership at any time and this will have no impact on their relationship with Soil Association Certification Limited.
These terms and conditions apply to the following current licensees of Soil Association Certification Limited: Organic food producers, Organic food processers, Health & Beauty and Textiles, providing they were licensed prior to 5th November 2015 and unless they have opted out of full Charity membership.
These terms and conditions apply to the following current licensees of Soil Association Certification Limited: Organic food producers, Organic food processers, Health & Beauty and Textiles, who were licensed from 5th November 2015 and who have opted in to full Charity membership.
The Charity will grant the status of Associate member to eligible licensees who either opt-out of or choose not to take up full Charity membership. Associate membership of the Charity does not convey Company Law membership rights or obligations. With the exception of the section entitled “Charity membership rights and obligations”, these terms and conditions also apply to Associate Members.
Eligible licensees and any other customers of Soil Association Certification Limited offered Associate membership by the Charity, are free to opt out of or may choose not to take up such Associate membership.
Your details
You are responsible for informing the Charity of changes to your personal details. If you are provided with individual passwords for access to our on-line services these must not be shared with anyone else.
All members agree that postal addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and other personal details provided to the Charity may be used for administrative purposes and to fulfil your Charity membership. As part of your membership the Charity may also send you information about our work and our fundraising where we feel this would be of interest to you. We may contact you by post, telephone and/or email where you have provided these to us.
You can of course opt-out of communications from us at any time, save that we are legally required to communicate with members who hold Company Law rights and obligations on certain matters governed by Company Law for as long as you remain such a member of the Charity. Any such member joining the Charity after 10th August 2015 will be provided with Company Law information by means of our website unless the member contacts us to request that such information is sent to them directly.
The Charity takes great care of your personal information. If you would like to see full details of how we process your data, or to change how we communicate with you please see our Privacy Policy.
Charity membership rights and obligations
The Charity is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee: company registration number 00409726. As a member of the Charity you have certain rights and obligations laid down in Company Law and our Articles of Association.
As a Charity member your rights include, the right to:
Attend the Annual General Meeting of the Charity
Receive the Annual Report and Accounts of the Charity
Vote in elections for Charity Trustees
Vote on company resolutions
As a member of the Charity you accept a limited liability to contribute up to £5 towards the Charity’s debts and liabilities should the Charity be wound up. This obligation continues for one year from when you cease to be a member but only to the extent that those debts and liabilities existed at the time your membership ceased.
Full details of your Charity membership rights and obligations are available in our Articles of Association. All members of the Charity are bound by the Articles of Association and in the event of any conflict between these terms and conditions and the Articles of Association the Articles shall take precedence.
Termination of your Charity membership
Members can resign their membership of the Charity at any time. Members need to give the Charity written notice of their resignation which can be done by post or by email.
There are also a number of circumstances in which the Charity can terminate membership or the membership terminates automatically. These are set out in our Articles of Association.
Membership of the Charity is not transferable.
Changes to Charity membership terms and conditions
Our Articles of Association provide the Charity Trustees with the power to make and amend Rules for the administration and management of the Charity. These rules include the power to set subscription and other criteria for the admission and expulsion of members.
These rules are binding on the Charity, the Trustees and members. Any Rules made or amended by the Trustees must not be inconsistent with any of the provisions of the Articles of Association and the Rules must be made available to any member on request made to the Charity.
If there is any inconsistency between these Rules and the Articles of Association, the Articles shall take precedence.
Further Information
If you would like to discuss any aspect of these terms and conditions, please contact us.
