Membership fee
The membership fee is a contribution in money , of the acquisition or maintenance of membership in a public corporation , a party , an association or a club used.
General
The membership fee is charged members due to a public statute (corporations, associations), private law statutes (parties, associations) or other social contract . The membership fee is used to self-finance these types of companies ( contribution -financed companies ). In addition to other benefits such as donations or subsidies , the membership fee is usually the main source of income. In the case of corporations in particular, the contribution is levied in the form of an allocation . The member can only be released from the obligation to pay a membership fee under special circumstances, which are also to be regulated in the statutes. This includes, for example, being awarded honorary membership .
species
Membership, i.e. the legal relationship of the members to an association of persons , is a prerequisite for the obligation to contribute . This legal relationship arises through a (written) declaration of membership and approval of membership by the association of persons (cf. § 15 GenG ). It is a recording contract. It is associated with certain rights , for example participation in activities specially planned for members , but also with obligations , such as the payment of fixed membership fees.
Memberships exist primarily in the following areas:
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Professional bodies :
- Tradespeople : Chamber of Industry and Commerce (in Austria Chamber of Commerce ) according to § 2 Paragraph 1 IHKG .
- Craft businesses are members of the Chamber of Crafts according to Section 90 Paragraph 2 HandwO .
- Professions : Pharmacists , Architects Association , Medical Association , Chamber of Agriculture , Chamber of Notaries , Patent Attorneys , the Bar Association , Chamber of Tax Consultants u. The professional members are compulsory members here .
- Chamber of Employees in Bremen and Saarland.
- The occupational pension is pension funds ensured the doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, artists, etc. (about Bavarian Ärzteversorgung ).
- Dyke associations: According to Section 4 (1) WVG, association members can be the respective owners of land and facilities, the respective leaseholders and owners of mining property (real association members).
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Deposit insurance :
- The precondition for the operation of the banking business is the compulsory membership of the credit institution in a deposit protection facility ( Section 23a (1) KWG ).
- For insurance companies ( life insurance , health insurance , property insurance ), membership in a security fund is compulsory in accordance with Section 221 (1) VAG .
- Authorities have (federal, state, local) Required members according to municipal code , namely the citizens with residence in the territory (§ 21 para. 1 GemO NRW).
- Cooperatives : Compulsory membership in the auditing association ( § 54 GenG) is a prerequisite for entry in the cooperative register ( § 11 Paragraph 2 No. 3 GenG).
- The owners of fields and forests , which together make up less than 75 hectares and belong to a communal hunting district , form a hunting association ( Section 9 BJagdG ).
- Organ members in organizational law are natural persons who perceive or exercise the tasks of an organ of legal persons or associations of persons provided for by the legal system .
- Compulsory insurances are insurance systems with compulsory membership as with social security and professional associations . Social insurance includes people who are insured by law or statutes ( compulsory insurance ) or on the basis of voluntary entry or voluntary continuation of insurance ( insurance entitlement ) ( Section 2 (1) SGB IV ). By ordering compulsory membership and compulsory contributions in a public-law association of social insurance, the legislature may not insignificantly restrict the general freedom of activity of the individual by restricting their economic requirements. Employees are compulsorily insured with the employers' liability insurance association ( Section 2 (1) SGB VII ).
- Political parties have party members whose admission and resignation as well as rights and obligations must be regulated by statutes ( Section 6 (2 ) PartG ).
- Compulsory student bodies (in Austria: Hochschülerschaft ) are compulsory bodies, except in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt, which are linked to matriculation .
- In accordance with Section 31a, Paragraph 1 of the German Civil Code, associations have association members whose membership in accordance with Section 38 of the German Civil Code is neither transferable nor inheritable . According to § 56 BGB, at least seven members are required . The German Olympic Sports Federation has about 27 million members, the largest association of persons in Germany.
- Pension funds consist of compulsory members for the civil service pension .
Organically organized organizations charge levies , the other organizations stipulate a contribution obligation in their statutes or are free of charge (board members). In private-law companies there are no members, but partners or shareholders .
Legal issues
Corporations under public law always have compulsory members with an accessory contribution obligation. For example, form the notaries , in a Oberlandesgerichtsbezirk are ordered according to § 65 , para. 1 BNotO a notary chamber (, a public body § 66 1 Abs. BNotO). In accordance with Section 73 (1) BNotO, it collects contributions from the notaries, insofar as this is necessary to fulfill their tasks. The legal question arose as to whether compulsory contributions of this kind are constitutional.
This has been clarified in the case of the chambers of industry and commerce . According to Section 2 (1) IHKG, they include natural persons , trading companies , other majorities and legal entities under private and public law who maintain an operating facility in the area of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (chamber members) and are subject to trade tax . Legal basis for the collection of membership fees is § 3 , para. 3 IHKG in connection with the under § 3. 2, sentence 1 IHKG to be adopted contribution order . It is resolved by the general assembly in accordance with Section 4 (1) sentence 2 No. 2 IHKG and requires approval by the supervisory authority in accordance with Section 11 (2) No. 3 IHKG. A limited liability company subject to trade tax had defended itself against its obligation to contribute because it saw this as a violation of the freedom protected under Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law and of the principle of democracy ( Article 20, Paragraph 1 and 2 of the Basic Law). The Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) considers the obligation to contribute according to § 3 Paragraph 2 and 3 IHKG to be justified because the underlying compulsory membership in the chambers of industry and commerce according to § 2 Paragraph 1 IHKG is based on a legitimate purpose. The chambers perform “legitimate public functions ”; the encroachments on the freedom of action of traders associated with the obligation to pay contributions according to § 3 Paragraphs 2 and 3 IHKG as well as membership in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce according to § 2 Paragraph 1 IHKG are proportionate. The judgment of the BVerfG applies accordingly to all other corporations under public law.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerhard Köbler , Etymological Legal Dictionary , 1995, p. 271
- ↑ BGHZ 101, 193
- ↑ Gunther Schwerdtfeger, Individual and Collective Freedom of Coalition , 1981, p. 54
- ↑ Thorsten Franz, Introduction to Administrative Science , 2013, p. 47
- ↑ Most hunting license holders are now organized in the German Hunting Association (DJV). The Reichsjagdgesetz (Reichsjagdgesetz) stipulated in section 56 that the hunting license holders were united in the Reichsbund "Deutsche Jägerschaft".
- ↑ BVerfGE 97, 271 , 286
- ↑ Alexander Weichbrodt, Das Semesterticket , 2001, p. 64
- ↑ BVerfG, decision of July 12, 2017, Az .: 1 BvR 2222/12 and 1 BvR 1106/13 = BVerfG NJW 2017, 2744
