By-law of the State Culture Capital Foundation

Issued pursuant to
Section 2, Paragraph two
of the State Culture Capital Foundation Law

I. General Provisions

1. The State Culture Capital Foundation (hereinafter - Foundation) is a public foundation established on the basis of the Culture Capital Foundation Law.

2. The Foundation shall be under the supervision of the Cabinet. The Cabinet shall implement the supervision of the Foundation with the intermediation of the Minister for Culture.

3. The purposes, tasks and rights of the Foundation shall be determined by the Culture Capital Foundation Law.

II. Council of the Foundation

4. The Foundation shall be managed by the Council of the Foundation (hereinafter - Council). The Council shall:

4.1. approve a medium-term operational strategy for the Foundation;

4.2. determine annual priorities for cultural projects;

4.3. announce and organise project competitions;

4.4. distribute the resources of the Foundation for the implementation of cultural projects and for lifetime grants;

4.5. choose the bank in which to store the resources allocated by persons;

4.6. control the utilisation of the resources of the Foundation;

4.7. approve the annual draft budget of the Foundation;

4.8. approve the reports of the Foundation, as well as the public report of the current year;

4.9. establish sectoral expert commissions; and

4.10. fulfil other functions specified by the Law and by these Regulations.

5. The chairperson of the Council shall manage the Council. The chairperson of the Council shall have a deputy. The deputy chairperson of the Council shall replace the chairperson of the Council during his or her absence. Council members shall elect the chairperson of the Council and his or her deputy from amongst the Council members for the term of office of the relevant Council member.

6. The Council may remove the chairperson of the Council or his or her deputy from office on the basis of a justified reason (gross violation in the performance of duties, exceedance of authority, non-fulfilment of duties or inadequate fulfilment, as well as a commitment of harm to the interests of the Foundation).

7. The Council shall take decisions at Council meetings. Council meetings shall take place not less than once a month, and such meetings shall be convened, chaired and the chairperson of the Council shall determine the agenda.

8. The chairperson of the Council shall convene a special meeting if such meeting is requested by not less than half of the members of the Council. The initiators of the convention of the special meeting shall indicate in the request the reasons for the convening of the meeting and the agenda thereof.

9. Minutes shall be taken at Council meetings. The following shall be indicated in the minutes:

9.1. the name of the Foundation;

9.2. the place and time of the meeting

9.3. the participants of the meeting;

9.4. the issues of the agenda;

9.5. the procedures and process of the discussion of the issues;

9.6. the results of voting, indicating the vote taken by each Council member on each decision ("for", "against" or "abstain"); and

9.7. the decisions taken.

10. Council members shall receive remuneration for the fulfilment of the duties of office. The Council shall determine the amount of remuneration.

III. Sectoral Expert Commission

11. A sectoral expert commission shall:

11.1. evaluate the cultural projects and submissions for lifetime grants submitted to the Foundation and provide an opinion to the Council regarding the allocation of resources;

11.2. evaluate the reports of the director of the Foundation regarding the process of implementation of the projects supported by the Foundation and the utilisation of the resources of the Foundation;

11.3. submit proposals to the Council regarding the subsequent termination of projects supported by the Foundation if the implementation of a project does not comply with the purpose or tasks of the Foundation; and

11.4. fulfil other functions specified by the Law and by the decisions of the Council.

12. The Council shall establish an expert commission of a sector (hereinafter - commission). Specialists who have special knowledge or work skills in the relevant cultural sector shall be included in the commission. The Council may establish several commissions.

13. In establishing commissions, the Council shall take into account the guidelines of State cultural policy, as well as shall evaluate the balanced and useful representation in the Foundation of the specialists of a sector and the compliance of the activities of a commission with the purpose and tasks of the Foundation.

14. A commission shall be comprised of seven members. Five members of the commission shall be appointed by the Council by invitation to tender, observing the condition that one of the members of the commission shall be the representative of the educational field of the relevant sector. Two members of the commission shall be appointed by the Council on the basis of a recommendation of the Minister for Culture. The members of the commission shall be appointed for a single term of office. The term of office shall be two years.

15. The Council shall establish a competition commission. The competition commission shall be comprised of independent assessors recommended by the Minister for Culture. The number of members of the competition commission shall comply with the number of commissions .

16. A commission shall be managed by the chairperson of the commission. The chairperson of a commission shall have a deputy . The chairperson of a commission and his or her deputy shall be elected from amongst the members of the commission, as well as withdrawn, by the commission.

17. The meetings of a commission shall be convened, chaired and the agenda thereof shall be determined by the chairperson of the commission. During the absence of the chairperson of a commission, his or her duties shall be fulfilled by the deputy chairperson of the commission.

18. Minutes shall be taken at commission meetings. The commission members present shall sign the minutes of a meeting

19. A commission shall have a quorum if more than a half of the commission members are present at a meeting thereof.

20. A commission shall take decisions by a simple majority vote. In the event of a tied vote, the vote of the chairperson of the commission shall be the deciding vote.

21. If the interests of the Foundation are in a conflict with the interests of a commission member, his or her spouse, relative or brother-in-law or sister-in-law, measuring kinship to the second degree and affinity to the first degree, the interested commission member does not have the right to take part in the discussion of the issue and also does not have voting rights, and such facts shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. The commission member has a duty to notify the commission regarding such interests prior to the beginning of or during a meeting of the commission. If the commission member has not notified regarding such interests, the commission shall examine the issue of a cancellation of the relevant decision.

22. If there is a justified reason, the Council may withdraw a member of a commission prior to the end of a term of office.

23. A gross violation in the fulfilment of duties, exceedance of authority, non-fulfilment of duties or inadequate fulfilment thereof, as well as a commitment of harm to the interests of the Foundation shall be considered a justified reason.

24. Commission members shall receive remuneration for the fulfilment of the duties of office. The Council shall determine the amount of remuneration.

25. Specialists and experts may be involved in the work of a commission. The Council shall determine the size of the remuneration of specialists and experts.

IV. Director of the Foundation

26. The director of the Foundation (hereinafter - director) shall be the administrative head of the Foundation. The director shall:

26.1. manage the administrative operations of the Foundation;

26.2. represent the Foundation without a special power of attorney;

26.3. handle the resources of the Foundation within the amount specified by the Council of the Foundation;

26.4. notify the relevant commission regarding the process of the implementation of a project supported by the Foundation and regarding the utilisation of the resources of the Foundation;

26.5. ensure openness of the operations of the Foundation;

26.6. prepare the reports of the Foundation, as well as the public report for the current year;

26.7. ensure the accounting records of the Foundation;

26.8. give orders to the employees of the Foundation;

26.9. fulfil the decisions of the Council and the orders of the chairperson of the Council; and

26.10. take administrative decisions and issue internal regulatory enactments.

27. The director shall be subordinated to the Council.

28. The Council shall choose a director in an open competition. The chairperson of the Council shall enter into a contract of employment with the director.

29. A director shall be removed from office by the chairperson of the Council. Before the taking of such decision, the approval of the Council is required.

30. A director may have a deputy. A deputy director shall be appointed and the competence thereof shall be determined by the director. The employees of the Foundation shall be subordinated to the director or the deputy thereof in accordance with the allocation of functions specified by the Director .

31. The Council shall determine the amount of remuneration of the director and other Foundation employees.

V. Procedure for Utilisation of the Resources of the Foundation

32. The property of the Foundation shall consist of:

32.1. monies allocated by the state;

32.2. gifts, donations and other financial assistance;

32.3. movable and immovable property owned by the Foundation; and

32.4. monies obtained from the economic activities of the Foundation.

33. The Foundation shall be liable for its obligations with all of the property thereof.

34. The resources of the Foundation for project competitions and lifetime grants shall be distributed in accordance with the provisions of the project competition that are approved by the Council.

35. A person who presents a submission for the receipt of the resources of the Foundation shall observe the provisions of the project competition.

VI. Internal Audit of the Foundation

36. The director shall be responsible for the carrying out of an internal audit.

37. An internal audit of the Foundation shall be carried out by the internal audit unit .

38. The activities of the internal auditors of the Foundation shall comply with the requirements specified by the Internal Audit Law.

VII. Mechanism for Ensuring the Lawfulness of the Operations of the Foundation

39. The Council shall provide to the Minister for Culture a report regarding the fulfilment of the functions of and the utilisation of the resources of the Foundation not less than once a year, as well as upon the request of the Minister for Culture - not later than within a time period of 21 working days.

40. Upon the request of the Council, the director of the Foundation shall provide to the Council information regarding any aspect of the operations of the Foundation and the utilisation of the resources that are at the disposal thereof.

41. A person may appeal to a court the administrative acts issued by the Foundation and the actual activities performed by the officials and employees of the Foundation .

VIII. Liquidation of the Foundation

42. The Foundation shall be liquidated on the basis of the Law.

43. If the activities of the Foundation are terminated, the property of the Foundation shall be transferred into the ownership of the State.

IX. Closing Provision

44. In order to ensure the continuous operation of the Foundation, a change of the members of a commission, in accordance with Paragraph 14 of these Regulations, shall be performed for the first time in the following manner: the Council shall dismiss three members of a commission by means of a lot one year after the establishment of the commission, but after another year - such members of the commission who have been in the composition of the Commission for two years shall be dismissed.

Prime Minister E. Repše

Minister for Culture I. Rībena

Translation © 2005 Tulkošanas un terminoloģijas centrs (Translation and Terminology Centre)