WORDING OF THE NEW R.W.A. RULE NO.5 ON FINANCE, INCORPORATING THE PROVISION FOR THE LEVY

5 FINANCE
        (a)    The Association shall have the power to raise such finance as may be required for its operation.
        (b)    In accordance with the Rules for Competition of U.K.Athletics, the Association shall be the Permit Issuing Authority for race walking within England, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey and its Dependencies and shall have the power to make such charges as may from time to time be determined by General Committee for the issue of such Permits.
        (c)    From the 1st January, 2008, the organisers or promoters of any event held under a Permit from the Association, with the exception of the events listed in Rule 5(f), shall be liable to pay to the Association a levy of 50p for each entry fee received. Organisers shall be at liberty to fund this levy by any means that they may choose, including, but not exclusively, by adding the levy to the entry fee and by providing the relevant sum from their own resources.
        (d)    The income raised by the entry fee levies shall be remitted to the Association and shall be disbursed by it as follows:
                One half to the Association’s central funds;
                One sixth each to the Midland, Northern and Southern Areas of the Association.
        This disbursement shall take place quarterly.
        (e)    The Area Committees of the Association shall be free to use these disbursed sums for such purposes as they see fit, within the constraints of their duty to promote and develop race walking within their Areas.
        (f)    The following events held under Permit from the Association shall not be subject to the levy: National Championships: Area Championships: events for which the entry fee is not at the discretion of the promoting body: events for which no entry fee is charged: such other events as may from time to time be determined by the General Committee. For the avoidance of doubt, when a National or Area Championship is held in conjunction with an Open Event, that Open Event shall be subject to the levy.
        (g)    In any particular instance, the General Committee shall have power to excuse payment of the levy or to reach an equitable arrangement with any event promoter where undue hardship may be caused.
        (h)    In the event of the dissolution of the Association or of the amalgamation of the Association with any other body, the disposal of the funds and assets of the Association shall be determined by a ballot of members attending an Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting to which a motion proposing the disposal is put. In order for any motion concerning such disposal to be adopted, there must be in favour of the motion two thirds of the members present and voting at the General Meeting.
        [In order to be adopted, this Motion must receive at least two thirds of the votes cast.]

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        [Explanatory Statement, not forming part of the motion.
        It is necessary for the Association to provide a sound foundation for its future finances and, in the absence of any foreseen regular income not tied by its provider to a specific purpose, the Association must take steps to provide itself with funds. Entry fees for walking events are very low compared with those for road, track and cross-country events and it is not believed that the addition of a modest sum such as 50p will cause any undue hardship.
        The sum expected to be raised from the levy is between £2,500 and £3,000 annually, so that the Areas may expect something of the order of £400 to £500 each. There is, of course, nothing to prevent the raising by the Areas of any additional sum that they may require; they may themselves, for example, wish to increase the Area Championship fees, which will not be subject to the levy.
        It is expected that the sums raised will be spent not only on administrative costs but also on the provision of, for example, coaching or development initiatives, where appropriate in conjunction with other bodies, such as the Regions of England Athletics.

        All changes to the Association’s Rules become effective immediately, but it is appreciated that some events will already have been advertised with fees determined without the levy, and in these cases the General Committee will use Rule 5(g) to excuse payment.
        The method of operatinging the levy system will be that each Permit will be accompanied by a return form, which the event promoter will use to remit to the Association the collected levies; the form will be kept as simple as possible and will be returned by the promoter in an envelope provided at the same time as the Permit.
        The quarterly interval for disbursement by the General Committee is chosen in order to get the money back to the Areas as quickly as possible without overburdening the National Officers.]


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