Secondary Affiliation

BMW Clubs Canada is the official umbrella organization overseeing all official BMW clubs in Canada.


The International Council of BMW Clubs has very specific directions specifying how the umbrella structure works around the world. As part of that, it specifies that any club seeking official status must do so through the regional umbrella in which the club belongs to geographically. Primary Affiliation must be to this organization. A club seeking official status and Primary Affiliation can not do so with umbrellas that operate in a different geographic region.


For various reasons, clubs may wish to affiliate with umbrellas outside their geographic region. Reasons include exchange of information, access to benefits offered by the other organization, or just a way to show cross-border support. A mechanism for this type of affiliation is available and termed Secondary Affiliation.


Secondary affiliation is available if all the obligations to the Primary organization are met and continue to be met. Secondary affiliation can never supercede primary affiliation and may be subject to yearly review.


At the International Council meeting in 2017, this topic was discussed and a working group formed to specify realistic details around this concept. The resulting details were included as an appendum to the official minutes and are included here.


The text of the appendum reads:

  1. All clubs must respect the geographic boundaries that define umbrellas.

  2. BMW Clubs within an umbrella can enter into a secondary agreement with another umbrella outside of that area, provided they are firstly primarily affiliated within their own geographical location and, maintain their affiliation.

  3. Primary Affiliation is defined as, “Being in good standing and fulfilling all the requirements as defined by the primary umbrella where they are based.”

  4. A secondary agreement is defined as, ”Being in good standing and fulfilling all the requirements as defined by the secondary umbrella.”

  5. The secondary umbrella must gain approval from the primary umbrella before granting secondary membership; and it must be subject to annual review.

  6. Approval of secondary affiliation shall not be unreasonably withheld unless it can be demonstrated that the applying club has failed to comply with the requirements of the primary affiliation.

  7. In the event the primary umbrella refuses approval of the secondary affiliation and, this decision is disputed by the applying club. Then this may be referred to the mechanism for dispute resolution as defined by BCIC.

  8. Any club that wishes to join the Type & Classic umbrella must comply with the guidelines for membership defined in the BCIC Constitution as well as the Type & Classic umbrella constitution.

  9. The Type and Classic umbrella must complete due diligence with respect to any club requesting membership.

  10. These decisions do not apply to individual memberships, only club memberships. Individuals can join as many clubs as they wish without restriction.