Legal Working Group

Coordinator: Jan TYMOWSKI
Contact: info@apeee-eeb1.org

Jan TYMOWSKI

The role of the APEEE's Legal Working Group is to provide legal advice to the APEEE on a range of issues: statutory questions; reviews and interpretations of EEBI and European School regulations; and guidance for operating in the Belgian legal context. The Legal Working Group also includes an adviser on data protection, Emese SAVOIA KELETI, and continues to oversee this matter with the APEEE Secretariat. In addition, members of the Legal Working Group have been called upon to assist pupils (and their parents) who face disciplinary procedures as well as to provide legal guidance and to support families in difficult meetings with the school.

General scope of action

Dormant for several years, the Legal Working Group started afresh in 2017. As the group’s role is to provide advice, it is necessarily reactive and deals with issues as they arise. Its main files to date have included:

  • Development of APEEE financial procedure to award funding for projects (adopted in Autumn 2018)
  • Update of the APEEE statutes to better reflect the status of the Berkendael site and its representatives (adopted in January 2019)
  • Review of the proposed APEEE/APEEE Services Convention with the school (ongoing)
  • Input on the school’s Drug Abuse, Addictions and Prevention Policy (?)
  • Preparation of new APEEE statutes to align them with recent changes in Belgian law on associations and to integrate the internal rules and practices – in the framework of a contract with external lawyers (ongoing)

Participation and working methods

The group is composed of Board Members and parents with a legal background. The work is carried out mainly via email exchange and occasional meetings . The group or its members may also communicate to relevant interlocutors such as school authorities on individual files under the auspices of the APEEE Board; it periodically reports to the Board on its activities.

The group can be solicited on a wide range of issues, and as a response has created three separate clusters:

  1. Disciplinary issues
  2. Statutory issues (APEEE and APEEE Services and their relation with the School)
  3. General legal issues (into which other issues, such as Belgian law considerations, could fall)

If you are interested in one or more of these activities, please contact our Secretariat at: info@apeee-eeb1.org

 Mandate of the APEEE's Legal Working Group (January 2023)

2023 Priorities

In 2023, we will continue to provide legal advice on a range of issues and to support parents/pupils in disciplinary matters and other meetings with the school. In particular, we will:

  • Closely follow the school’s work related to the Child Protection Policy and the supporting policies (e.g. Bullying/Cyber-Bulling; Drug Abuse and Prevention Policy) and procedures needed to implement it, including first and foremost formal Reporting and Complaints Procedures.
  • Guide the APEEE Board and General Assembly in the preparation and adoption of new Statutes.
  • Cooperate with the APEEE’s Pedagogical Working Groupin efforts to update the Rules of Procedure for the EEBI Education Councils (CE).
  • Continue to provide input, if the work on them continues, to the proposed APEEE/APEEE Services Convention with the school.
  • Monitor the developments related to changes to the General Rules of European Schools recently adopted by the Board of Governors, and concerning the responsibility for organising additional activities (thus affecting mainly APEEE Services).

With regard to data protection – we will work closely with the APEEE's DPO and the Secretariat staff to ensure a fully compliant Data Protection/Privacy Policy and data management schedule.

See related issues and positions: Child Protection Policy and Drugs and Addictions

Last update: 13/02/2023