Founding declaration

Founding Charter of the Germany Portal Advisory Board

During the constituent assembly of the Advisory Board of the Germany Portal, we hereby declare:

• The Advisory Board of the Germany Portal was set up on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government as an independent consulting body that provides its services free of charge. It is supervised by Ponton Lab GmbH, which is in charge of the editorial tasks.

• deutschland.de offers a representative collection of important references to German websites, presented in the following categories: Education, Health, Culture, the Media, Sports, the State, Tourism, Economy and Science. The Portal is Germany’s calling card on the Internet and is an integral part of Germany’s global presence.

• The Advisory Board has been set up to assess the quality of the Germany Portal, to advise the editorial team and, with the help of a voting module, to vote on current issues. Its members are people in the public eye; they represent different groups and interests and offer their own individual experiences and a wide range of knowledge and expertise. In regular virtual sessions, this team of experts will examine contents, test functionalities and provide new stimulus.

• While the portal is in operation, the editorial team continuously updates the links in response to link suggestions provided by the Portal users. Any controversial or questionable link applications are presented to the Board. In consultation with the editorial team, the members of the Board then decide on whether to approve or reject such link applications.

• The Portal undergoes a continuous process of improvement and quality control based on the exchange of information with the users, government offices, the states and communities as well as the organizations devoted to cultural and foreign activities. The members of the Advisory Board are actively involved in this process.

Berlin, September 18, 2003