Legal information The European Energy Foundation (EEF) was set up at the initiative of several members of the European Parliament at the beginning of the 1980's and was founded as an organisation under the laws of Alsace (France) under the name Fondation Européenne de l'Energie. In 1994, the status were modified and, in order to comply with the new law, it was registered under the name Association Européenne de l'Energie . This status has been recognised under the Belgian law as an "A.S.B.L." (non-profit making organisation). The Foundation has opened permanent offices in Brussels. Since then, a small and efficient team has been working for the European Energy Foundation. As legal descriptions of the term "foundation" have been inscribed both into French law and, more recently, Belgian law. Our association is quite distinct from these "foundations" in particular in view of the varied nature and great numbers of our members. Our association has been hard at work in Strasbourg since it was first established and has also been present in Brussels since 1995. Under the acronym EEF, we endeavour to uphold the legislation of our host countries and avoid all confusion with other legal bodies. Essentially, our association has alwyas been a forum which promotes the mutual exchange of information amongst all of our members. Furthermore, the term" forum" enables us to retain our original abbreviation and logo in both of our working languages (English and French). Nota : The local Law of Alsace (a region of France) is different from the one of the country because of historical reasons : When France gained Alsace-Lorraine back in 1918, the French law was re-introduced gradually, and local laws unknown in the French legal system or technically better than the ones available were kept. The relevant differences between the law of Alsace (Empire Law of 19 April 1908 and Articles 21 to 79 of the local Civic Code) and the law of France (Law of 1 July 1901) are as follow : seven (against two) founding members are required, an a priori control (against none) is necessary, and the juridical capacity is extended (against limited to) beyond the aim of the association.