Is reconstitution of the board possible in an autonomous port?
It follows from section 9(2)(3) of the Port Act that the election to the port board takes place at the constituent meeting of the municipal council and is effective for the municipal council's term of office, i.e. for 4 years.
The preparatory works to the Ports Act do not provide any further information about the detailed understanding of this wording, but it was probably intended to ensure a certain continuity in the port board.
However, the same wording is found in section 17(3) of the Local Government Act , where the comments state, among other things, that the municipal council cannot stipulate that the election only applies for a shorter period than the municipal council's term of office, but that this may result from the time-limited nature of the office or the provisions that otherwise apply to the body in question.
As the wording of the Port Act is exactly the same as in the Local Government Act, it is obvious to interpret the provision in accordance with the comments as stated above, according to which the starting point is that the composition of the port board cannot be changed during the municipal council's term of office.
