Legal Matters

Being a swiss association with international membership, it is important to be very clear about our legal situation and have our allies in the field.

Our legal status oikos International is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit association based in St.Gallen, Switzerland. We therefore follow the requirements according to Swiss law, article 60. of the Swiss Civil Code (see constitution). We are a membership organisation, with full members (our Full Chapters) being responsible for voting and deciding over the turn of the organization. Working with a remote team, and an international community, there are several cases where we have to consider International Law as well.

How we address legal questions

Every now and then, we stumble upon legal questions that affect either us as a Swiss association in the context of an employer, or an international network with membership organizations. Our main approach is to gather all of our questions on the following list and, one after another, prioritized by urgency and importance, reach out to our pro bono partners to address them.

Who’s responsible for legal matters and where do we get help?

Currently, the Vice President in charge of Legal Matters (and his/her team) is responsible for the modification and general overview of the legal documents that are supporting the legal basis of our organization, and for addressing legal questions. This person doesn’t need to have specific knowledge or practice law, but rather maintain contact with the experts in the field, always looking for advice and support if needed.

Our partners in the Law Clinic and others are there to support us on a pro bono basis. They help through thoroughly reviewing legal documents and finding answers to relevant questions based on Swiss and/or International law. See legal matters field guide.

Our governance structure - navigating our complex organization Governance - that sounds pretty abstract and difficult - but we at oikos believe that it is something that can give us orientation and help us navigate in this ever-changing world. In order to make this possible, we have 3 layers of governance with different degrees of detail and change-ability: The constitution outlines the necessary base needed for oikos as a Swiss legal entity and doesn’t give a detailed insight into how oikos is currently working. Building up on the constitution, the organizational guideline (this document) is a more comprehensive roadmap of all organisation-related topics. The guideline serves to create an overview for everyone who wants to learn more about oikos. It contains summaries and abstracts, linking to related documents, our field guides, that offer more detail: The 3rd layer of our governance, consisting of field guides, is meant to give the most detailed documented insights into how oikos International is working at the moment. They create clarity about the status quo, and the nature of processes. They are living documents, adapting to contexts and other developments. Field guides describe specific processes and topics in detail and provide more guidance. Find out more in the governance field guide.