NEC Constitution

There are three ways to view the proposed new NEC Constitution on this site:

Simple pdf formatted version, which is basically what was submitted to the Charity Commission in 2021.
Simple interactive view. This reads like the formatted document, but is in html and includes links that you can click for further explanation. This is the 2021 document which was used to help inform the Session delegates.
Latest (25 Oct 2022) detailed working document with model comparison. This is the document that the NEC Constitution Committee came up with on 23 October 2022. Note that they only got up to the first section of Bylaw 2, so it is a work in progress. If you want to explore and understand this document please read the explanatory information below.

The NEC Constitution Committee began working on revising the 2012 constitution in the first half of 2019. The final version of their working document basically consisted of the General Conference Model Conference Constitution side by side with their proposed new NEC Constitution. Although this final proposed document was voted down at the 2021 NEC Session, it is still a very useful document for understanding the changes that are being proposed. There are notes in a third column and an explanation of the structure at the end of the document. Before looking at this working document there are some important points to note, as follows:

Structure. The General Conference Model Conference Constitution follows the typical American structure for a constitution, with articles and bylaws. In the UK constitutions do not usually have bylaws, they simply have a list of articles. This may be to avoid confusion with 'byelaws' (note the slightly different spelling), which are 'laws of local or limited application made by local councils or other bodies, using powers granted by an Act of Parliament, and so are a form of delegated legislation'. However, the General Conference Model Mission Operating Policy, whilst very similar to the Model Conference Constitution, is structured differently, and only has articles. So, in structuring the proposed new NEC Constitution we have gone with the content of the GC Model Conference Constitution, but the structure of the GC Model Mission Operating Policy. A chart of how this has been done is at the bottom of the working document.
GC Annual Council Amendments. General Conference Working Policy is updated every year at their Annual Council, which is usually held in October. often these are very minor, but they still need to be taken into account.
BUC Constitution. The British Union Conference Session should have been held before the NEC Session in 2021, but due to COVID it actually came a month afterwards. The BUC Constitution Committee had been working on the proposed new BUC Constitution at the same time that the NEC Constitution Committee was working on the proposed new NEC Constitution, and the documents were very similar. Both were aligned closely to the respective General Conference models. In the event, the proposed new NEC Constitution was voted down, but the proposed new BUC Constitution was accepted. Given the close similarity of the documents, the NEC Constitution Committee needs to investigate and understand the reasons why the NEC delegates chose not to accept the proposed new NEC Constitution.
Colour Coding. To help make the working document more readable, some coloured highlights have been added. What was originally bold in the GC Model Conference Constitution is now highlighted in yellow. Changes to the bold (now yellow) sections of the GC Model Conference Constitution are highlighted in purple, and these will need to be approved by the General Conference before they can be presented at the NEC Session.