Membership

The membership of Acquiris is:

Acquiris is a member-driven organization and recognizes the following types of membership:

Principal members
Associate members
Observers

Both principal and associate members are active in the industry of acquiring card transactions in a role for which terminal specification are instrumental, i.e. as acquirer host / processor or terminal vendors (principal members) who have implemented the C-TAP specifications, associate members are stakeholders in the payment industry, who have not implemented the C-TAP specifications, but have a genuine interest in the C-TAP community. Only principal and associate members have voting rights a ratio their annual contributions to the association.

Application for membership

Prospective members can apply for membership to the Board of Directors and submit:

A membership request form that will, next to administrative details, confirm in writing that the member is prepared to adhere to the company charter
A detailed description of the member’s activities
If any, a detailed description of the domains in which the member would project to contribute to organization’s activities.

Upon receipt of the required documents the prospective member will receive a confirmation of receipt. This date is also considered to be the start of the procedure.

Timeline

Within one month after the confirmation, the Board of Directors will examine the documents and decide on the prospective member’s acceptance in line with the eligibility criteria. The decision of the board will be communicated in writing to the prospective member, together with a statement on licensing rights and cost-sharing principles.

With respect to Observers, the Board of Directors will decide on a 2/3 majority basis on the acceptance. There are no specific eligibility criteria.

In both the case of a prospective member and prospective observer, the Board of Directors will not expound in their decision.

As part of their enrolment procedure, members will agree on their specific terms when joining the organization. The details of these terms will be shared with other members.

Joining Criteria

The Organization uses clear, transparent and non-discriminatory joining criteria for the admission of new members. The prospect member should:

Be a legal entity in and actively (planning to) doing business in the SEPA region;
Engage in relevant business in the context of the objectives of the Organization, i.e. be an acquirer or processor of card transactions or a terminal vendor or stakeholder;
Be an organization of good standing and reputation and at the time of application not engaged in criminal legal procedures or pending bankruptcy;
Willingness to accept the Acquiris membership conditions and rules associated with that. Existing members of the Organization can have no direct influence on the acceptance of new members for reasons of competition. It is however possible that members bring information to the attention of the Board of Directors which might be relevant in the consideration of their membership.

Duration and termination of membership

A membership is assumed to have an infinite duration. A membership terminates however:

by resignation of the member
the loss of the member’s legal registration
exclusion of a member
dissolution of the association