Article 1. Membership and Dues
1.1 The membership of the society shall consist of institutional, individual members and sponsoring members as detailed in Article 3 of the constitution. There are three levels of institutional membership termed Full, Affiliate, and Associate and there are three levels of individual membership consisting of Full, Student, and Affiliate. There are two levels of Sponsoring memberships consisting of Institutional Sponsors and Individual Sponsors.
1.2 The dues for each class of membership will be determined by the executive board and set in European Currency units (Euros). The executive board will determine the method of payment.
1.3 Each member shall receive any publications of the society.
1.4 Any registered student who has not completed all requirements for the doctoral degree may become a student member.
1.5 Upon failure to pay annual dues, the privilege of membership in the Society shall be suspended in the following order: receipt of publications on January 1, other privileges of membership of June 1 and termination of membership on December 31 of the year after last being in good standing.
1.6 An application of membership received prior to July 1 shall be dated back to January of that year and any publications to which the person is entitled will be sent to the member. A membership application received after July 1 will be dated January 1 of the next year. The only exception will be membership dues paid during 2002 (the inaugural year of the society) which will cover both 2002 and the 2003 dues.
1.7 Ethical violations or misconduct. Any cases of ethical violations or professional misconduct on the part of an ESFR member is grounds for termination of membership. These cases should be brought to the attention of the Executive Board. The Executive Board will appoint an ad-hoc Ethical Committee to investigate the case. Upon completion of the investigation the committee will report to the Executive Board and recommend whether the situation deems membership termination. Before a final decision is made the person(s) concerned will be asked to appear before the Executive Board in order to explain his/her behavior. The decision to terminate membership must be approved by the General Assembly.
Article 2. Elections and Appointments
2.1 The first President,(President-Elect omitted) Secretary, Treasurer and Regular and Student Board Members shall be elected at the inaugural meeting of the society by those members qualified to vote and they will take office immediately. Subsequently, the (President-Elect, Secretary and Regular omitted) board members shall be elected by mail ballots. Newly elected board members will take office at the end of the biennial meeting of the Society in the year in which they are elected, except in the case of the treasurer who will take office from the beginning of the succeeding financial year. The President-Elect shall serve for two years and then shall automatically become the President for a further two years. The President shall automatically become the Past-President for additional two years following the presidential term.
2.2 The four Regular Executive Board Members shall be elected for staggered four-year terms, with two elected at each biennium (with the exception of the first election where four will be elected, two of which will serve two-year terms).
2.3 The Student Board Member shall be elected for a two-year term.
2.4 Should any member of the executive board be unable to fulfil the responsibilities of the position then the executive board can designate a replacement person to complete the term. Co-opted members of the executive board may take office at any time at the discretion of the executive board.
2.5 At least one member of the Executive Board shall come from the Netherlands where the ESFR will be lawfully located and registered.
Article 3. Responsibilities of Board Members
3.1 The President of the Society shall preside at all meetings of the Society and chair the executive board. The Executive Board shall be authorised to fill any vacancies that may occur on the executive board or committees for the remainder of the terms.
3.2 The President-Elect shall chair meetings of the Executive Board and the Society in the absence of the President. In the absence of both the President and President-Elect the executive council shall appoint a chair of the meeting from among its members.
3.3 The Secretary shall be the Recording Officer of the Society. The secretary shall serve ex officio as a full member of the Scientific Committee. The secretary shall record and report the transactions of the executive board and shall perform such other duties as assigned by the executive board and the Society.
3.4 The Treasurer shall be responsible for the receipt and disbursement of Society funds and all record-keeping regarding financial activities of the society.
3.5 Regular board members and the student board member shall attend board meetings and assist as needed in duties regarding the operations of the society.
3.6 The Executive Board shall meet at least once every two years at the time of the biennial meeting of the society. Additional meetings of the society may be called for by the President or Secretary on demand of a majority of the members of the council.
Article 4. Publications
4.1 All publications of the Society shall be under the general supervision of the Executive Board.
4.2 The Executive board shall appoint the Editors of all publications of the society.
Article 5. Committees
5.1 The executive board shall be responsible for designating the composition of various committees and may create temporary committees as it deems necessary.
Article 6. Amendments
6.1 The by-laws may be amended by a majority affirmative vote of those voting in a referendum submitted by mail to the voting members of the society.
6.2 Amendments may be proposed by majority vote of the executive board or by petition of at least twenty percent of the voting members of the society.
6.3 All proposed amendments to the by-laws shall be transmitted to the electorate at least 30 days prior to the vote on the amendment.
