REHVA bylaws
According to Art. 22 of the articles, in order to ensure the proper functioning and administration of the association, the Board of Directors adopts the following rules of internal procedure.
Art. 1 – Standing Committees
- According to Art. 15 of the articles, the Board of Directors can set up committees and other bodies with specific duties, including standing committees, which are working groups carrying out specific actions as described in their guidelines.
- Any standing committee is composed of members belonging to the National associations and, eventually, to the supporters without any limitation in number. The member associations' representatives are nominated by their associations, as well as supporter representatives by the supporters.
- Only member associations' representatives can be voting members of the standing committee, and they shall be proposed by the chairperson to the board for approval. Every national association has the right to propose only one (1) voting member among their representatives in the committee. All other members have no voting rights and are automatically set as corresponding members. The vote can be delegated within the same national association by submitting a proxy delegation to the committee chair.
- The voting members elect the chairperson of the standing committee from among themselves and, eventually, one or more co-chairpersons, according to the procedure described hereafter.
- If a standing committee does not have a chairperson, one board member will temporarily take the chair to submit the list of potential voting members to the board for approval and to manage the chairperson and, eventually, the co-chairpersons’ elections.
- According to Art. 15, point 7, nominations for any position (chairperson, co-chairperson, or voting member) shall not be for more than a two (2) year term. This means that every two years the standing committee shall elect the chairperson and, eventually, the co-chairperson(s). The previous chairperson and, eventually, co-chairperson(s) can be re-elected by the standing committee without any limitation.
- When established, each standing committee must define its objectives and guidelines for operation (working rules) consistently with the REHVA articles and these rules of internal procedure. The objectives and guidelines for operation must be approved by the board.
- The standing committees’ activities are supervised by the board, to which the standing committees’ chairs or co-chairs report on a regular basis. They report once a year to the general assembly.
- The activities and working plans of all committees shall be reviewed annually. Committees’ chairpersons shall send their reports and activity plans to the association office for the attention of the board a minimum of four (4) weeks before the general assembly.
- In accordance with Art. 15, point 6, of the articles, which states that no committee may commit the association to any expenditure without formal prior approval of the board, and in accordance with Art. 15, points 1 and 5, which allow the board of directors to allocate a specific budget to each committee in order to carry out their work, each expenditure that does not exceed the provided budget is deemed already approved by the board of directors.
Art. 2 - Election of Standing Committee Chairperson and Co-Chairperson
- Any standing committee has to propose to the Board of Directors, according to the election results, the person elected as chairperson and, eventually according to the specific standing committee rules, one or more co-chairpersons. Thus, according to Art. 15 of the bylaw, the board approves or rejects the proposed chairperson and, eventually, co-chairpersons. If the board rejects the proposed person(s), the standing committee must repeat the election procedure excluding the already rejected person(s).
- Only voting members of the committee can apply for the chairperson position and, eventually, the co-chairperson(s) positions. The voting members elected and confirmed by the board of directors may retain their voting member status, or their member associations may indicate other persons as voting members for the board of directors' approval. In the latter case, the chairperson and, eventually, the co-chairperson(s) lose their right to vote.
- The election procedure for both positions of chairperson and co-chairperson is described as follows:
- No later than three (3) months before the end of the chairperson’s appointment, they shall, through the secretariat, provide a call for applications to the position of standing committee chairperson and, eventually, co-chairperson(s), which is sent to all committee voting members.
- Each voting member interested in one of these positions shall submit a letter of intent and a curriculum to the secretariat according to the deadline stated in the call.
- In the last meeting before the end of the chairperson’s term, they shall organize the election, asking the persons who have submitted applications within the term declared in the call to make a short presentation of themselves and their motivations for both the chairperson and, eventually, co-chairperson(s) positions.
- After this presentation, the chairperson shall proceed via secret ballot with the election first of the new chairperson and, eventually, of the new co-chairperson(s).If there is more than one candidate for the chairperson position, the candidate obtaining the simple majority of the expressed votes is elected.
- If there are more candidates than the available positions for co-chairpersons, the voting for each position shall be handled separately.
- The elected chairperson and, eventually, co-chairperson(s) shall be submitted to the board of directors for final approval.