These trustees are the first to be elected by the Advisory Group to the Electronics Watch board since it adopted a set of governance reforms in September 2024. Given our rapid rate of growth of the last three years, staff and board felt last year was an appropriate time for an independent governance review to ensure a governance structure and process fit for purpose. In particular, there were concerns about the extent to which affiliation dues are subject to public procurement thresholds. The governance reform, which is now being carried out, is based on extensive stakeholder consultation, expert legal advice, and thorough staff and trustee discussions.

To address barriers to affiliation, specific changes were adopted to better align Electronics Watch to the Teckal exemption, one of two legal exceptions to the EU procurement regime that was considered as part of the review. The proportion of trustees representing affiliated public buyers was increased from 33 to 50 percent, giving public buyers greater control. Additionally, a process is underway to disaggregate the organisation's work such that bespoke services will be carried out by a separate legal entity, wholly owned by Electronics Watch. This change ensures that Electronics Watch will exclusively carry out shared services for its affiliated public buyers.

Equally important, the reforms reinforce Electronics Watch's identity as a worker rights organisation. Worker representatives and worker rights advocates maintain 50 percent of the seats of the board. To ensure a balance between the worker rights and public buyer perspectives in light of the changes in representation, a protocol prioritizing decision by consensus was included in the reforms. A worker rights committee of the board will be formed to strengthen related aspects of our monitoring and remediation work. In addition, Electronics Watch's bylaws will be amended to explicitly include the goal of promoting and protecting the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.