Hello Clive,
Note that I'm not a lawyer - but as far as I understand, this is how the articles of the NCC are set up. The majority of the LIRs (+proxy votes) that attend the AGM vote for the board members and decide on the charging scheme (and possible changes to the articles).
But what is the quorum for the meeting? Is it really as small as under 1%? If the meeting isn't quorate, its decisions are invalid.
If you want to discuss RIPE NCC member related issues, I think you should start a discussion on members-discuss@ripe.net. Discussing the RIPE NCC AGM on this list is not really appropriate. We should focus on address policy development here. I understand that this touches both RIPE policy and RIPE NCC membership/fee issues. Let's discuss each issue on the appropriate list. Thanks, Sander Steffann APWG co-chair