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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en" class="en no-js "> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"> <meta name="viewport" content='width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"'> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <link rel="stylesheet" media="all" href="/look/fsfe.min.css?20230215" type="text/css"> <link rel="stylesheet" media="print" href="/look/print.css" type="text/css"> <link rel="icon" href="/graphics/fsfe.ico" type="image/x-icon"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/graphics/touch-icon.png" type="image/png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/graphics/touch-icon.png" type="image/png"> <link rel="alternate" title="FSFE " href="/news/news.en.rss" type="application/rss+xml"> <link rel="alternate" title="FSFE " href="/events/events.en.rss" type="application/rss+xml"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="en" lang="en" href="/about/legal/legal.en.html" title="English"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="es" lang="es" href="/about/legal/legal.es.html" title="Español"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="fi" lang="fi" href="/about/legal/legal.fi.html" title="Suomi"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" lang="fr" href="/about/legal/legal.fr.html" title="Français"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="it" lang="it" href="/about/legal/legal.it.html" title="Italiano"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="nl" lang="nl" href="/about/legal/legal.nl.html" title="Nederlands"> <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" hreflang="pt" lang="pt" href="/about/legal/legal.pt.html" title="Português"> <meta name="description" content="When the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) was founded in 2001 there was no way to set up a European wide legal body. 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Therefore FSFE was set up as a c..."> <meta property="og:type" content="article"> <meta property="og:site_name" content="FSFE - Free Software Foundation Europe"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://fsfe.org/graphics/logo-text_square.png"> <meta property="og:locale" content="en"> <meta property="og:url" content="https://fsfe.org/about/legal/legal.html"> <meta property="og:title" content="Legal Structure - FSFE"> <meta property="og:description" content="When the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) was founded in 2001 there was no way to set up a European wide legal body. Therefore FSFE was set up as a c..."> <script src="/scripts/jquery-3.5.1.min.js"></script><script src="/scripts/modernizr.custom.65251.js"></script> <title>Legal Structure - FSFE</title> </head> <body> <nav id="translations" class="alert"><a class="close" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#translations" href="#"> × </a><a class="contribute-translation" href="/contribute/translators/index.en.html">Translate this page?</a><ul> <li>English</li> <li><a href="/about/legal/legal.es.html">Español</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/legal.fi.html">Suomi</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/legal.fr.html">Français</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/legal.it.html">Italiano</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/legal.nl.html">Nederlands</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/legal.pt.html">Português</a></li> </ul></nav><header id="top"><div id="masthead"><a id="logo" href="/index.en.html"><span>Free Software Foundation Europe</span></a></div> <nav id="menu"><p>Go to:</p> <ul id="direct-links"> <li id="direct-to-menu-list"><a href="#menu-list">Menu</a></li> <li id="direct-to-content"><a href="#content">Content</a></li> <li id="direct-to-page-info"><a href="#page-info">Page info</a></li> </ul> <input type="checkbox" id="burger"><label for="burger"><i class="fa fa-bars fa-lg"></i></label><div id="menu-list"> <ul><li id="menu-donate"><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate?referrer=https://fsfe.org/about/legal/legal.html"><i class="fa fa-heart-o fa-lg"></i> Donate</a></li></ul> <ul id="menu-sections"> <li><a href="/about/about.en.html">About</a></li> <li><a href="/activities/activities.en.html">Activities</a></li> <li><a href="/contribute/contribute.en.html">Contribute</a></li> <li class="visible-xs"><a href="/news/news.en.html">Latest News</a></li> <li class="visible-xs"><a href="/events/events.en.html">Upcoming Events</a></li> <li class="visible-xs"><a href="/news/podcast.en.html">Podcast</a></li> <li><a href="/press/press.en.html">Press</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li><a href="https://my.fsfe.org/"><i class="fa fa-sign-in fa-lg"></i> Login</a></li> <li id="menu-translations"><a href="#translations" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#translations"><i class="fa fa-globe fa-lg"></i> Change language</a></li> <li id="menu-search-box"><form method="GET" action="/search/search.en.html"><div class="input-group"> <div class="input-group-btn"><button class="btn btn-primary" type="submit"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button></div> <input placeholder="Search terms..." type="text" name="q" size="10" class="form-control"> </div></form></li> </ul> </div></nav></header><div class="topbanner"><div id="topbanner-border"><div id="topbanner-inner"> <div class="text-button-box"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-12"> <p> We are intervening in the Apple vs.EC litigation. Become a proud supporter of the FSFE and <a href="/donate/donate.html>">join us in defending software freedom from monopoly control!</a> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div></div></div> <div id="notifications"><div id="infobox"></div></div> <main><div id="content"> <p id="category"><a href="/about/about.en.html">About</a></p> <h1 id="id-legal-structure">Legal Structure</h1> <p id="introduction">When the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) was founded in 2001 there was no way to set up a European wide legal body. Therefore FSFE was set up as a <a href="/donate/donate.en.html#tax-deduction">charitable</a>, registered association ("e.V.") under German law with the following constitution:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/about/legal/Constitution.en.pdf">English (PDF)</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/Constitution.de.pdf">German (PDF)</a></li> </ul> <p>Its <a href="/about/people/index.en.html#general-assembly">members</a> hold annual meetings:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2023-10-21.en.pdf">Minutes from 2023-10-21</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2022-10-29.en.pdf">Minutes from 2022-10-29</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2021-11-27.en.pdf">Minutes from 2021-11-27</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2020-11-06.en.pdf">Minutes from 2020-11-06</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2019-10-12.en.pdf">Minutes from 2019-10-12</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2018-10-07.en.pdf">Minutes from 2018-10-07</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2018-05-26.en.pdf">Minutes from 2018-05-26</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2017-10-15.en.pdf">Minutes from 2017-10-15</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2016-10-09.en.pdf">Minutes from 2016-10-09</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2015-09-17.en.pdf">Minutes from 2015-09-17</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2014-11-09.en.pdf">Minutes from 2014-11-09</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2013-10-13.en.pdf">Minutes from 2013-10-13</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2012-04-29.en.pdf">Minutes from 2012-04-29</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2011-06-10.en.pdf">Minutes from 2011-06-10</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2010-06-18.en.pdf">Minutes from 2010-06-18</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2009-10-09.en.pdf">Minutes from 2009-10-09</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2009-06-19.en.pdf">Minutes from 2009-06-19</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2008-10-23.en.pdf">Minutes from 2008-10-23</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2008-06-06.en.txt">Minutes from 2008-06-06</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2007-06-30.en.txt">Minutes from 2007-06-30</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2006-05-27.en.txt">Minutes from 2005-05-27</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2005-05-07.en.txt">Minutes from 2005-05-07</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2004-05-15.en.txt">Minutes from 2004-05-15</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2003-06-21.en.txt">Minutes from 2003-06-01</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2002-05-25.en.txt">Minutes from 2002-05-25</a></li> <li><a href="/about/legal/minutes/minutes-2001-05-06.en.txt">Minutes from 2001-05-06</a></li> </ul> <p>Other documents:</p> <ul> <li> <a href="/about/legal/fsf-relationship-framework.txt">2005 FSF Relationship Framework</a> (currently under discussion)</li> </ul> </div></main><aside id="followup" class="subscribe-nl"><h2>Subscribe to our email updates</h2> <p>Our experts inform you about current news, events, activities, and how you can contribute.<span style="font-size:0.8em"> (<a href="/about/legal/imprint.en.html#id-privacy-policy"><span style="color:white; 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