The EDF Executive Director is enabled to sign contracts and other documents on behalf of the European Disability Forum (Article 29 of the statues, there is the following: “Within the framework of daily management, the Association shall be validly represented vis- à-vis third parties and with regard to all deeds by the Director.”)

The Director seeks approval from the Executive Committee for all important contracts which bring obligations on EDF – mainly related to projects and partnerships. An MoU, however, is not a contract and usually only indicates the intention to cooperate with another organisation and the guidelines that govern this cooperation.

Initiation

EDF does not require an MoU to collaborate with another partner; therefore the procedure is often initiated at the request of the partner.

Assessment

The EDF Management Team assesses the purpose, need and content of the MoU, particularly if a draft has already been proposed. When reviewing the content, attention is paid to the purpose of the collaboration and the relevance of the text.

Key components of the MoU

• Description of the partners and the rationale behind the cooperation 
• Who is responsible within both organizations for coordinating the cooperation 
• Which activities will take place 
• Which resources will be allocated to complete the activities (financial, human, etc)
• The duration of the MoU – ideally for new partnerships we should keep this as low as possible, for example two years, so our engagement is not extended too long in the case that it is not producing any results . Ideally, it should also state when and if the cooperation will be reviewed.
• A clause which explains how we can cancel the MoU with ease 
• Shared commitments to accessibility, inclusion, safeguarding and data protection 
• The proposed ongoing communication both between the partners and in public 

It is important for the Executive Committee to be aware of and guide our external partnerships, as these are commitments from EDF. Once the MoU is agreed upon within the Management team, it is discussed with the EDF President and the executive committee member that serves as focal point for the topic of the cooperation, if such person has been designated. The EDF Executive Director can sign the MoU once it is agreed by the President, and the person acting as focal point, and once the full Executive Committee is informed. In line with our transparency and accountability policy, EDF publishes all partnerships on our website and in our annual report. While the names of the partners are mentioned, the MoUs themselves are not published.

If there are any doubts about the usefulness of this MoU during this process, these concerns should be duly discussed and, if necessary, the procedure will be stopped. Not signing an MoU does not prevent EDF from pursuing further informal or formal collaboration with the other organization or body.