Membership

Within this guide, there are the following sections:

Participant categories
This section describes the three different categories of Participant: Contracting Parties, Sponsors, and Limited Sponsors.

Joining a TCP
This section contains step-by-step instructions for the membership process and includes templates for the various letters. This section also includes a special how-to guide regarding China, which has a slightly different internal process.

Withdrawal
This section covers the process to withdraw from a TCP and includes relevant template letters.

There are three possible categories of participants in TCPs. In general, governments and other public institutions normally join as Contracting Parties, while private organisations typically join as Sponsors. The Limited Sponsor is a new participant type create in 2020 that is open to private organisations on a limited basis focused on carrying out a single Task.

If you are uncertain which category of membership should apply, please contact TCP.legal@iea.org.

A Contracting Party may be:

• the government of a country,
• the European Commission,
• an intergovernmental organisation, or
• an national agency, public organisation, private corporation or other entity desingated by one of the above to participate on its behalf.

Under the IEA Framework, there are two options for a government to participate in a TCP. 

Option 1: A government may participate in a TCP directly, in its own name and on its own behalf, usually through a government ministry or a government department.

Option 2: A government may designate a different entity to participate on its behalf, which may be governmental/government owned (e.g. a municipal or other subnational government, a public research laboratory, or a state-owned enterprise) or non-governmental (e.g. a private company or university). 

A Sponsor may be:

• entities of any country that are not designated by the governments of their respective countries to participate in a particular TCP, or
• non-intergovernmental international entities.

Under TCP Framework, there are two ways that an entity that is not a government ministry can participate in a TCP. First, a government ministry can designate an entity to participate on its behalf. In this case, the entity would join as a Contracting Party. Alternatively, if the government does not wish to designate the entity to participate as a Contracting party, some TCPs allow direct participation by non-government entities as “Sponsors.”

In general, Sponsors have similar rights to Contracting Parties. However, some TCP Implementing Agreements do place certain limits on Sponsors with respect to voting rights or the ability to serve as Chair or Vice-Chair.

In recent years, there has been a growing desire by TCPs to increase participation from industry in their activities. However, there are examples where industry representatives have been unwilling to undertake the full process to officially join as a Sponsor on an ongoing basis. To respond to this, the Framework created the Limited Sponsor category of Participation within a TCP.

A Limited Sponsor may be:

• entities of any IEA Member, Accession or Association country that are not designated by the governments of their respective countries to participate in a particular TCP.

Under TCP Framework, participation by a Limited Sponsor is subject to the following limits:

1.     They cannot appoint a representative to the ExCo.
2.     They may participate in only one Task or sub-Task.
3.     They may not participate for a period longer than three years.

Note that the Limited Sponsor category was created by the Framework adopted by the Governing Board on 6 April 2020. Until your Executive Committee has amended your Implementing Agreement to incorporate the new Framework, the ExCo will not be authorised to invite Limited Sponsors.

First time participation in a TCP by a non OECD member country or international organisation requires approval by the Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT).

If a non OECD member country is interested in joining your TCP or of interest to the TCP, and does not participate in any TCP, please contact the IEA Secretariat at TCP.legal@iea.org to discuss the procedure. 

1. The TCP unanimously votes to invite a Government to join the TCP as a Contracting Party
2. The TCP Executive Committee (ExCo) Chair sends a letter to the Government formally inviting it to join the TCP as a Contracting Party
3. The Government sends a letter to the IEA and TCP ExCo Chair accepting the invitation (Note: If the government intends to designate an entity to participate in the TCP on its behalf then acceptance is a two stage process)
4. In this case the Government sends a letter to the IEA and the TCP ExCo Chair designating the chosen entity to be the Contracting Party on its behalf
5. The designated entity then sends a letter to the IEA and TCP ExCo Chair accepting the designation, confirming which Annexes/Tasks that it will participate in, and identifying the person authorised to sign the TCP legal text (Signature Page) and who will represent the entity at TCP ExCo meetings
6. On receipt of the acceptance letter, the IEA Legal Office sends an TCP Signature Page to be signed and dated. Participation in the TCP becomes effective from the date of signature of the Signature Page. It is possible to provide the acceptance letter and the signature page at the same time. 

All letters should be provided as electronic copies except the original signed signature page which must be sent in the post to the IEA Office of the Legal Counsel at:

IEA Office of the Legal Counsel

9 Rue de la Federation

75015, PARIS, FRANCE

All Chinese TCP memberships must be approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

Please use the China specific template letters available.

Contact the IEA Secretariat at TCP.legal@iea.org if you have any questions about the templates or the process.

1. The TCP unanimously votes to invite the Government of the People’s Republic of China to join the TCP as a Contracting Party, and has identified a Chinese entity to invite
2. The TCP Excecutive Committee (ExCo) Chair sends a letter to the Chinese entity formally inviting it to join the TCP as a Contracting Party
3. The Chinese entity applies online to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for approval, attaching the letter of invitation and the letter of acceptance 
4. MOST, the MOST Liaison Office, and other relevant Chinese entities review the proposed application and interview the Chinese entity
5. If participation is approved by MOST, MOST sends a letter of designation to the IEA Secretariat
6. On receipt of the designation letter from MOST, the IEA Legal Office sends an TCP Signature Page to the Chinese entity to be signed and dated. Chinese participation in the TCP becomes effective from the date of signature of the Signature Page. 

Under the IEA Framework, a government may participate in a TCP directly, in its own name and on its own behalf, or by designating an entity to participate on its behalf.A participating government is free to change the way it participates in a TCP at any time. There are three types of change, the process differs for each, as set out in the template.

1. The TCP unanimously votes to invite an entity to join the TCP as a Sponsor
2. The TCP Executive Committee (ExCo) Chair sends a letter to the entity formally inviting it to join the TCP as a Sponsor
3. The entity sends a letter to the IEA and TCP ExCo Chair accepting the invitation, confirming which Annexes/Tasks that it will participate in, and identifying the person authorised to sign the TCP legal text (Signature Page) and who will represent the entity at TCP ExCo meetings
4. The IEA Committee on Energy Research and Technology (CERT) approves the Sponsor membership in one of its plenary meetings (held three times a year in Paris)
5. Following CERT approval, the IEA Legal Office sends an TCP Signature Page to be signed and dated. Participation in the TCP becomes effective from the date of signature of the Signature Page. It is possible to provide the acceptance letter and the signature page at the same time. 

For CERT approval, the IEA Secretariat will request a copy of the minutes in which the ExCo decided to invite the relevant entity, the letter of invitation and the letter of acceptance.

All letters should be provided as electronic copies except the original signed signature page which must be sent in the post to the IEA Office of the Legal Counsel at:

IEA Office of the Legal Counsel

9 Rue de la Federation

75015, PARIS, FRANCE

1. The TCP unanimously votes to invite an entity to join a specific Task as a Limited Sponsor
2. The TCP Executive Committee (ExCo) Chair sends a letter to the entity formally inviting it to join a TCP Task as a Limited Sponsor, and listing the specific terms and conditions
3. The entity sends a letter to the IEA and TCP ExCo Chair accepting the invitation, confirming that it accepts the terms of the Limited Sponsorship and designating a point of contact to represent the entity in the Task
4. The IEA sends a receipt confirmation specifying the effective date. 

All letters should be provided as electronic copies.

A participant may request, in writing, to withdraw its participation from a TCP, citing the reasons for the withdrawal.

Most TCP legal texts provide for two options for determining the effective date of withdrawal: 

1. withdrawal takes effect 12 months from the date of the letter sent to the TCP Chair and IEA Secretariat, or
2. the participant can request the ExCo to approve its withdrawal from the TCP at an earlier date than the normal notice period specified in the legal text. 

In the case of option 2: The ExCo can vote on such a request either by Written Procedure (if the legal text permits) or at its next ExCo meeting. If the ExCo approves an earlier withdrawal date, the participant's membership will cease as of the date decided by the ExCo. If the ExCo does not approve an earlier withdrawal, the normal notice period specified in the legal text will apply. 

If a request for withdrawal does not use the correct template notice or follow the procedure outlined in the TCP's legal text, it is not be valid. 

In the event that, over an extended period of time, a participant consistently fails to fulfil its contractual obligations under the TCP Implementing Agreement, the ExCo may unanimously decide to notify the participant that it will be deemed withdrawn if it does not correct the situation.

Failure to fulfill contractual obligations may include failure to participate in ExCo meetings without providing a reason, to pay membership fees or participate in any Annexe(s) or Task(s).

Each TCP Implementing Agreement, will specify the required notice period (usually 60 days).

Prior to an ExCo decision, the TCP Chair or Secretary should make several efforts to discuss the matter with the participant.

Please contact the IEA Secretariat at TCP.legal@iea.org to discuss the matter before sending the template letter.