PWO - Statutes

The Philatelic Webmasters Organization is a non-profit organization, established on the Internet.

Its members are stamp collectors who actively contribute to the development of the stamp collecting on the Web, by writing philatelic articles and by creatively integrating them with philatelic images into their philatelic sites.

The Philatelic Webmasters Organization facilitates the relationships and the exchange of experience among its members, by encouraging direct contacts, by organizing on-line and off-line study groups, meetings, forums, competitions, common exhibitions and other activities.

To become member, a candidate applies on-line and is then included in the members' database. The President decides at a later time if the candidate becomes a member or if he cannot be accepted. The usual reason of rejection is that the candidate presents a purely commercial site or one of insufficient philatelic interest.

It is required that all PWO members strictly observe the provisions of present Statutes. All members have the right to privacy and shouldn't be spammed or contacted without good reasons.

The PWO support the Philatelic code of ethics for the use of UPU member counties. The President, assisted by the Executive Council, has the right to expel members who repeatedly violate the provisions of present Statutes.

The PWO membership is a lifetime one and it is obtainable for free. The members are required to update their data by communicated it by e-mail to the President.

To quit PWO it is necessary and sufficient to notify the President by e-mail. No reasons are required, but an explanation is welcomed. The records of members who have announced that they decided to quit PWO will be deleted from the database and won't appear on the Members' List.

The content of the database is published on the web. It displays the name of the site, its kind (Homepage, Commercial, Postal Authority, Philatelic Organization), the URL, the name of the author, the country and the e-mail address of the webmaster. In order to assure the privacy of our members, the e-mail addresses do not appear on the Members' List.

The PWO is led by a President. He is helped, when necessary, by a staff of Officers who compose the Executive Council.

The members of the Executive Council are co-opted by the Executive Council, either through an internal procedure, or due to a request of a PWO member. It is expected that a candidate presents a short dossier concerning hers/his activity on the Net, the address of her/his Web site(s), Web philatelic awards and references. The candidate will be informed by e-mail about the decision of the Executive Council. The number of executive council members is variable over time.

One future goal of PWO is to participate in the elaboration of regulations and rules for Web sites competitions, to help in the preparation of competent judges and to follow/comment how the competitions between the websites are organized.

PWO members are informed about the activities of the organization by articles published on this site and/or by e-mail along with information concerning updates of this site. If deemed necessary, a newsletter could also be published and distributed via e-mail.The President, assisted by the Executive Council, is responsible for the relationships with other philatelic organizations, like WADP, FIP, UPU, AIJP and ASCAT. He may establish special relationship between PWO and these organizations.The PWO actively supports the efforts of the World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) in its activity of philately promotion worldwide and in its fight against the illegal stamps. Information about illegal issues is published on a regular basis on the PWO site. It is explicitly forbidden to all PWO members to make publicity for or to sell these products through their sites. Those who become guilty will be expelled.The official languages of the PWO, used to communicate with the President, are English, French and German.

The English version of the PWO Statutes is the official one.

If necessary, the present Statutes may be changed or adapted by the President, assisted by the Executive Council, in order to assure the necessary flexibility in the functioning of the PWO. The PWO members will be informed about the changes through this site and/or by e-mail.