ESID Constitution

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The forerunner of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies, (hereafter referred to as ESID), was established in September 1983 in Rome, Italy, as an informal group (EGID) interested in sharing experience and developing co-operative studies in the field of immunodeficiency diseases. In the 1990’s the number of co-operative teams had risen substantially and this expansion had been commensurate with a growth in the complexity of the organisation, necessitating a clearer definition of its purpose and activities. At the Biennial Meeting in Sitges in 1994 the first constitution of ESID was approved. In 2000 the constitution was revised in Geneva in order to better reflect the evolution of this organisation. In 2008 the Constitution was adapted when official Articles were made up by drawing up a Dutch notarial deed.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§1

THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

The Board consists of the President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the chairpersons of all Working Parties. Each term of office is 4 years for the President, Secretary and chairpersons of all Working Parties, and is not renewable. The Treasurer can serve two consecutive 4-year terms The President-Elect is elected at the General Assembly two years prior to office, the President of a Biennial Meeting is elected at the General Assembly during the Biennial Meeting four years before the Biennial Meeting he/she will organise. The Past-President is part of the Board for two years after his/her presidency, the President-Elect for two years before his/her presidency, the president of the Biennial Meeting from the two years before to the two years after the Biennial meeting that he/she is organising.

Decisions are taken by a majority vote. The President has the deciding vote, if the vote is otherwise tied. The Board should meet at least once a year.

Election ties

If the outcome of any election is a tie the members of the Executive Board vote between the tied candidates to decide the final outcome.

Impeachment

If an Executive Board Member believes that there is reasonable cause to remove a member from the Board, a vote may be taken by the Executive Board to remove said member. However, the Executive Board shall give said member the opportunity to fully respond to the claims and defend his/her position in writing prior to the final decision. The Executive Board may remove said member if it determines that there is reasonable cause for removal and that removal is in the best interest of the society. If, with the exception of the individual in question, two-thirds of all Board Members vote to remove said member, removal shall be approved.

Interim Appointments of Executive Board Members

In the event of a Board Member of ESID or chairperson of a working party being unable to complete their term of office the Executive Board may appoint a suitably qualified and experienced replacement to continue the role on an interim basis. If the interim appointment is made, of necessity, more than one year before the end of the usual term then an early election for a substantive appointee to the role will be held. If made one year or less before the end of the usual term of office then the interim appointee will serve the remainder of the term and election of a new appointee to the role will take place in the usual way. 

ESID Board members must be full members of ESID. They may be citizens from any country but need to work in Europe (as defined in §5) for the time of his/her service.

All ESID Board members shall declare any financial or other possible conflict of interest to the ESID board in writing.

The members of the board shall not receive any payment for exercising their office. The board shall however reimburse the costs reasonably incurred by the board members in the exercise of their office and the board shall establish an annual budget for this purpose. 

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§2

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The General Assembly is open to all members of ESID and to the President and the Board of the International Patient Organization for Primary Immunodeficiencies (IPOPI) and the International Nursing Group for Immunodeficiencies (INGID). It normally takes place at the time of the Biennial ESID Meeting. It is chaired by the President and includes the Presidential report, the Secretary´s report, the Treasurer´s report and any other business. The agenda for the meeting is made available over the internet, mailed, and/or published in the ESID Newsletter at the latest one month in advance.

In cases of force majeure (e.g. natural disasters, terrorism, pandemics) the General Assembly may be held virtually. This will be announced at the earliest date possible by the Board but at the latest one month before General Assembly takes place. If needed, to fulfil this, the General Assembly may be postponed and organized without unnecessary delay by the Board.

All ESID Board Members will be elected by electronic voting through a secure voting platform. Votes may only be casted by electronic voting. The poll will open one month prior to the General Assembly and will close on the day preceding the day of the General Assembly at 12:00 noon (Central European Time). To facilitate this, at the latest three months prior to the poll, the Board will encourage ESID members to consider their candidature for available posts. This is primarily the responsibility of the Secretary. At the latest one month prior to the meeting, available candidates will present themselves to the ESID members in the ESID Newsletter and/or on the ESID website.

Either during the General Assembly or by electronic voting the ESID full members (i.e. paid members in good standing order) also have the following obligations: To elect the president and the location of the Biennial Meeting; To decide on the membership fee of ESID as proposed by the Board; To either agree or disagree with policy decisions as proposed by the Board; To make proposals as to starting/discontinuing activities of the Society; To decide about amendments to the Articles, the Constitution and dissolution of the Society (see also §13).

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§3

ESID MEMBERS

ESID Members may be citizens of any country, working anywhere in the world in the field of inborn errors of immunity, however, they shall be MD, PhD, MSc, or graduate students working in the field of inborn errors of. ESID full members can participate in co-operative ESID and ESID related EU/Biomedicine studies; they can enter reports on immunodeficiency diseases and patients into the ESID registries; they are entitled to a password to enable them to enter the restricted part of the ESID website. All members are entitled to receive ESID Newsletters and regular information about meetings, co-operative studies and results of ESID research projects, educational resources, ESID summer schools and any other benefits as determined by the ESID Board.

The ESID Board has the right to expel an ESID member (e.g. due to malpractice in science) by a two-thirds majority vote.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§4

WORKING PARTIES

The Board takes the initiative to establish and close Working Parties. Each Working Party is headed by a chairperson who becomes a member of the Board. Seven Working Parties (Clinical, Genetics, Registries, Inborn Errors, Juniors, Education and PID care in development) are presently operating within ESID, but more can be established if and when required. The Chairperson of each Working Party is elected by electronic voting by all ESID full members every four years. The Chairpersons of the Working Parties must be full members of ESID. They may be citizens from any country, but need to work in Europe for time of his/her service. The substructure of the Working Party is determined by the Chairperson. The Working Party Chairpersons give an annual report to the Board on Working Party activities and publications and a biennial report to the General Assembly. The Chairpersons of the Working Parties shall declare any financial or other possible conflict of interest to the ESID board in writing.

§5

DEFINITION OF EUROPE

For the ESID Europe shall be defined as: all countries of the European Union plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Andorra, Monaco, Lichtenstein, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Moldavia, Turkey, Israel and the United Kingdom.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§6

THE PRESIDENT

The President shall be a full member of ESID of at least two years standing. He/she may be a citizen from any country but needs to work in Europe (as defined in §5) for time of his/her service. He/she is elected by electronic voting by all ESID full members, and serves for four years. The President may not stand for re-election. He/she may thus serve for a maximum period of four years. The President serves as President-Elect for two years before becoming President and as Past-President for two years after his/her presidency. The President promotes the activities of ESID. These include fund raising, co-ordination of Working Party activities, giving guidelines to the organisers of the Biennial Meeting, and in negotiations with other organizations.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§7

THE SECRETARY

The Secretary is elected for four years. He/she must be a full member of ESID. He/she may be a citizen from any country, but needs to work in Europe for time of his/her service. He/she may not stand for re-election. The Ssecretary writes the annual business plan with the executive board, organises board meetings, agendas, keeps and circulates the minutes, chases up the reports for the General Assembly meetings, writes the agenda and minutes and circulates these to the members through the ESID Newsletter and ESID website.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§8

THE TREASURER

The Treasurer is elected for a period of four years which is renewable one consecutive time. He/she must be a full member of ESID. He/she may be a citizen from any country, but needs to work in Europe for time of his/her service. He/she may thus serve for a maximum period of 8 consecutive years. He/she collects the membership fee and accounts for the use of the funds for ESID purposes. He/she is also responsible for fundraising and maintaining the finances to support the infrastructure of ESID.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§9

INFORMAL NETWORKS

ESID encourages the formation of informal national networks among its members to locally promote the aims of ESID. The chairman/ co-ordinator of such a network (presumably elected for a limited time period) would have an advisory function to the Board. They will promote the interaction between ESID and National Immunology and Clinical Immunology Societies or Groups.

§10

MEMBERSHIP FEE

Each member pays a membership fee to ESID which is fixed by electronic voting of all ESID full members during the month preceding the General Assembly after proposal by the Board. The fee can be reduced by the Board in particular circumstances on request. In addition, the Board has the discretionary power to identify exceptional circumstances and modify the fee for some countries. Members under 35 years of age or between 35 and 40 years of age and in training pay a reduced membership fee.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§11

BIENNIAL MEETING

Meetings of ESID take place once every two years. The Congress President and the location of the Biennial Meeting is decided by electronic voting of all ESID full members during the month after the General Assembly upon proposal by the Board or members where the bids are presented. If there is no bid fulfilling the ESID-meeting requirements, the ESID board will have the right to decide on a location and Congress President. The local host must be a full member of ESID. The ESID meeting is organized by a local steering committee in close collaboration with a congress organizing company. The scientific content of the meeting is proposed by a scientific committee. This scientific committee is suggested by the congress president but approved by the ESID board. The ESID board needs to approve the scientific content of the meeting. In case of a dispute, the ESID board will have the final say. In cases of sudden force majeure (e.g. natural disasters, terrorism, pandemics) the Biennial Meeting may be held virtually. This will be announced at the earliest date possible by the Board.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§12

USE OF ESID FUNDS

ESID funds consist of membership fees and of funds raised from public organisations, charities and pharmaceutical companies.

ESID funds can be used for the following purposes:

  1. Funding studies on co-operative European data of immunodeficiency diseases.
  2. Funding activities of the Working Parties, e.g. reasonable travel expenses to Working Party meetings taking place outside the Biennial Meeting.
  3. Funding the dissemination of information by the Secretary.
  4. Funding of other administrative costs considered necessary by the Board.
  5. Maintaining the ESID online Registry.
  6. Maintaining the ESID website.
  7. Organising ESID Summer Schools, and ESID Educational Days.
  8. Publication of the ESID Newsletter and Supplements.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§13

CHANGING THE CONSTITUTION

Amendments to and changes of the Constitution are made by electronic voting by ESID full members with a two-thirds majority vote. Notice of the intention to change the Constitution shall be made available to all members at the latest four weeks before the relevant business meeting of the General Assembly.

(ratified during General Assembly 2020-10-17, Online)

§14

LIQUIDATION OF THE SOCIETY

Following dissolution, the board members shall liquidate the association. The board can decide to appoint other persons as liquidators. In the resolution to dissolve the association, the destination of the liquidation balance will be spent (as much as possible in accordance with the goal of the association) to an institution of public utility (i.e. an ANBI) or in another way with which the public interest is served.

(ratified during General Assembly 2014-11-01, Prague)