Section 1 – Purpose

The “Europäische Vereinigung für Klinische Pharmakologie und Therapie e.V.” has its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. It pursues exclusively and directly non-profit making purposes within the meaning of the section “tax privileged purposes” of the German Tax Code. It is named the “European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics”.

The purpose of the Association is promotion of science and education as well as public health service and public health care.

The purpose of the statutes shall be realized by promotion and further development of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics through research, teaching and care of the sick, establishing clinical pharmacological departments and institutes and supporting their roles in health care, encouraging co-operation among the national societies and sections of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics in Europe.

The Association shall realise its aims by:

1. promoting the use of clinical pharmacological services in healthcare delivery
2. improving and harmonising undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of the rational use of drugs
3. applying clinical pharmacological expertise to contribute to state policy decisions regarding the regulation of drugs in Europe
4. arranging scientific meetings, workshops and courses in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics in Europe
5. using the skills of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics to counter misuse of prescription drugs and other chemical substances
6. promoting problem and patient-orientated drug information about medicines for physicians and other health professionals
7. increasing the input of clinical pharmacological skills in the evaluation of drugs
8. promoting high professional standards in the prescribing of drugs
9. promoting high quality drug research
10. ensuring up to date ethical standards are systematically applied within clinical studies on drugs
11. promoting the exchange of opinions in individual countries with regard to existing differences in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
12. encouraging collaboration with other agencies interested in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics e.g. WHO, European Regulatory Network, IUPHAR
13. promoting and encouraging professional and scientific interaction among individuals interested in clinical pharmacology, by providing an effective framework for networking.

Section 2 – Unselfishness

The Association shall be unselfish in its activity. It shall not primarily pursue its own commercial purposes.

Section 3 – Utilization of funds

In their use for the public benefit, the Association’s funds may only be used for purposes which are in accordance with the statutes.

Section 4 – Membership

The Association may not favour any person by means of spending foreign to the purposes of the Association, or by means of excessively high reimbursements.

Section 5 – Dissolution

In the event of dissolution, or abolition of the Association, or in the event of the lapse in its tax privileged purpose (section 1.1), the entire existing funds of the Association shall be passed to the German Red Cross Society to be used for the promotion of the public health service.

Section 6 – The Financial Year

The financial year shall be the calendar year.

Section 7 – Membership

Membership shall be acquired by acceptance by the Association. Upon admission to the Association, all members shall acknowledge these statutes.

Clinical pharmacological and therapeutic(s) associations as well as pharmacological associations can be members. Pharmacological associations represented by a representative of a section of clinical pharmacology can also be members.

The association may set up programs to enhance the participation of individual persons in the professional and networking activities of the Association. The aim of these programs shall be to promote collaboration among professionals and the exchange of scientific knowledge across national borders. This may apply to professionals from countries with or without clinical pharmacological societies. This category, herein called Associate Individual Member (AIM), shall not have voting rights in the Council of the Association. The EACPT may establish individual fees for AIMs, that shall be proportionate to the services offered. Setting of fees for AIMs shall take into account individuals belonging to an EACPT-Affiliate National Society.

International organisations which have similar interests to the Association and wish to collaborate with the Association may become Affiliated Members of the Association. An application should be made in writing to the Secretary and be approved by the Executive Committee before being endorsed by the Council. Each Affiliated Member of the Association has the right to be represented by a single delegate on the Council of the Association. Delegates of Affiliated Members shall not be able to stand as candidates for the Executive Committee or as Officers of the Association.

Any member, corporate entity or individual can be elected as a Benefactor of the Association in recognition of exceptional contribution(s) to the cause of the Association. They will be elected by Council after their name has been put forward by the Executive Committee. Benefactors are exempted from paying membership fees.

Section 8 – Rights and Obligations

All members shall be obliged to safeguard the interests of the Association, to contribute to the achievements of its objectives and to comply with its directives.

The national pharmacological associations (members of EACPT) shall:

• be required by the 1st April of the current year to advise the Association of the number of their members and to pay the subscriptions determined by the Association.
• if more than two years in arrears with their annual subscription to the Association.
  • have membership of the Association terminated after three months due notice has been served by the treasurer or secretary.
  • have membership restored automatically once the overdue subscriptions have been paid.
• at least one month before the Council meeting (Section 11) announce the names of their Council/management board to the Association.
• at the end of each quarter in the course of the financial year be required to advise of any possible change in the number of members

National societies shall exercise their membership rights in the Council through their authorised representative(s)/delegate(s). The allocation of delegate numbers on Council to member national societies is described in the Bylaws of the Association.

Member who are natural persons are free to decide how they decide their delegate(s) to the Council. However, the delegate(s) should normally be medically qualified, be trained in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, and belong to an association for clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, or in the case of an association of pharmacology, to its section for clinical pharmacology.

Members must notify the names and contact details of their chosen delegate(s) to the Secretary of the Association. This information should be sent at the latest by January 1st of the year in which elections to the council take place.

If a subscription has not been paid, the right to vote shall be suspended.

Members shall not receive any grants from the funds of the Association.

Membership shall lapse upon withdrawal, dissolution or exclusion. The obligation of payment of the subscription shall remain effective until the end of the current financial year.

Upon expiry of membership, all rights which result from membership of the Association shall be forfeited. No claims to refunds, no matter of what kind, may be made.

Withdrawal is only permissible by the end of the financial year and must be communicated to the Executive Committee in writing, with three months notice

The exclusion of a member of EACPT may result if it repeatedly or seriously offends against the Statutes of the Association, grossly disregards its orders and directives, or has considerably endangered its interests. The Council shall decide upon the exclusion by proposal of the Executive Committee.
Before each decision, the affected party shall be granted, by written request, an opportunity to be heard either orally or in writing. Should they not make use of this opportunity by the date determined, the decision may be made without a hearing having in fact taken place.

Section 9 – Organs of the Association

The organs of the Association are:

a) The Executive Committee
b) The Council

Section 10 – The Executive Committee

To the Executive Committee belong:

1. The Chairman
2. The elected future Chairman
3. The immediate Past-Chairman
4. The Treasurer
5. The Secretary
6. Six Councillors
7. Honorary Presidents (see clause 12 in this section)

The Executive Committee – excepting section 7, clause 1g – of the Association is the management board in the Sense of Art. 26 BGB (German Civil Code). For the judicial and extra judicial safeguarding of the rights of the Association, either the chairman alone, or at any time two members of the Executive Committee shall be jointly authorised. The honorary president is not an officer in the sense of Art. 26 BGB, and is therefore not legally entitled to represent it.

The period of office of the Chairman shall be two years. He/she shall first be elected as future chairman to the executive board, act then for two years as chairman and remain as past chairman for two further years in office. Each further member of the Executive Committee shall be elected for two years and may be re-elected for a second consecutive period of office. Its members shall be elected by Council.

The process of the election system for the Executive Committee of the Association and for the subsequent election of the Officers of the Association is described in the Bylaws of the Association.

Positions in the Executive Committee which become vacant between periods of office shall be filled by the candidate in the election process who was not elected to the executive committee and who had the next most votes from the Council . The person so appointed shall remain in office for the remaining period of office of the person whose position he/she takes over.

The Executive Committee shall have the power to co-opt onto the Committee individuals needed to undertake specific tasks (e.g. organisation of Congresses of the Association). The period of co-option shall normally extend only until the next elections are due for membership of the Executive Committee although the period can be extended by the Executive Committee if the task requires continuing attention.

The Executive Committee can appoint committees and working groups for certain purposes, for example for conferences, publications, exchange and educational programmes.

The Executive Committee shall report its business and proceedings on the EACPT web pages and/or in a scientific journal.

Conferences and meetings of the organs of the Association shall be called and conducted by the Chairman or, in the case of their being prevented from doing so, by the chairman-elect or past-chairman.

A meeting of the Executive Committee shall be called, if this is demanded by three Executive Committee members. If the majority of the Executive Committee members are present, this shall constitute a quorum and decisions shall be by a majority vote. In the case of an equality of votes, then the vote of the chairman shall be decisive for the adoption/dismissal of a resolution.

The assets of the Association shall be administered by the Executive Committee. In particular, the supervision of the receipts and expenditures shall be the responsibility of the Treasurer. Account books must be correctly kept and appropriate investments made. An audit of the books must be carried out annually by a certified accountant or a qualified auditor.

The Executive Committee shall only be empowered to dispose of the assets of the Association within the framework of a budget adopted by the Council, except for defrayal of running expenses and necessary expenditure.

For the settlement of current business, an executive secretary’s office shall be established, which shall be managed by the Secretary.

The Secretary shall:

1. maintain a current member directory of the Association
2. keep the records of all meetings of the Council and of the Executive Committee
3. distribute the agenda for the meetings of the Council and the Executive Committee at least two weeks prior to the meeting and distribute the minutes of the meetings not later than three months after the meeting
4. with reference to the objectives of the Association, collect from and distribute information to member societies/sections and individual members (in accordance with item 6)

The task of the treasurer is to provide annually complete financial accounts and submit a proposed budget to the Council.

The Association may nominate distinguished individuals to become honorary past-presidents of the Association. They shall be proposed by the Executive Committee and ratified by the Council. These individuals shall retain the title for life but shall only serve as a non-voting member of the Executive Committee for one Executive Committee term.

Section 11 – The council

The Council shall be the senior organ of the Association. It shall consist of:

2. the members of the Executive Committee
3. the delegates of the member societies

The Council shall be responsible for

1. the acceptance of the Executive Committee’s annual reports
2. the election and approval of the Executive Committee
3. the dismissal of Executive Committee members
4. the approval of the budget resolved by the Executive Committee and presented by the Secretary, including setting of membership contributions
5. alterations to the Statutes
6. dissolution of the Association
7. nomination of honorary members and presidents

The delegates shall be nominated for a period of office of two years and may be re-nominated. Delegates who are nominated in the mid-term of the period of office shall only serve for the remainder of the two year period and must then be re-nominated.

A Regular Meeting of the Council shall take place at least every two years. This shall normally coincide with the biennial EACPT congresses. Additional meetings (face to face meetings or virtual meetings) may be held at the recommendation of the Executive Committee. The meeting of the Council shall be called by the Executive Committee together with an announcement of the agenda. The meeting shall be under the leadership of the Chairman or Past-chairman. The period of notice shall be 30 days.

An Extra-ordinary Meeting of the Council shall be called if required in the  interest of the Association or requested by at least 4 of the members of the Executive Committee or  a third of the Council delegates who have voting rights request this in writing.

The resolution advising the purpose and the reasons for the call for the EOM shall be directed to the Secretary. The Secretary shall pass the resolution without delay to the Executive Committee.

Resolutions requiring a Meeting of the Council may be made by the organs and the members. These resolutions must be submitted to the secretary at least six weeks before the Meeting. The Council shall decide by a simple majority vote about the admissibility of urgent resolutions and other resolutions which are received after the deadline.

Resolutions passed about alterations to the statutes shall require a two thirds majority of the votes cast. Apart from this, resolutions shall be passed with a simple majority of the votes cast. An equality of votes shall count as dismissal. The members of the Executive Committee, the honorary members and every delegate shall each have one vote.

For a quorum, the majority of members shall be present. Should there not be a majority, then a new meeting shall be called within 14 days with the same agenda. For such a new meeting, members present shall constitute a quorum. Members shall be notified about this consequence by invitation in the event of a new meeting being called.

A written record of the course of the meeting shall be prepared in every case by the Secretary.

Section 12 – Honorary Activity

All members of the organs of the Association exercise their activities in an honorary capacity.

Travelling expenses and day-to-day money incurred in the interest of the Association shall be reimbursed at the rate determined by the Executive Committee. For members for whom activities are especially in demand by the Association, an expense allowance may be resolved by the Executive Committee.

No person may be especially favoured by expenditures that are outwith the purpose of the corporation or by disproportionately high remuneration or allowances.

Section 13 – Special Purpose Fund

To achieve the purposes scheduled in Section 1, cash flow in excess of expenditures, is to be invested in a special purposes fund

Section 14 – By-Laws

These statutes shall be supplemented by the by-laws of the EACPT which are considered to be similar like statutes. The regulations described by the by-laws must not be in conflict with the statutes of the EACPT. The EACPT Council shall have the power to initiate by-laws and to decide on any changes in the by-laws by virtue of a simple majority of Council delegates voting, provided that a quorum has been reached.

Foot note: All personal functions refer explicitly to male and female officers