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 has risen substantially and this expansion has 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.
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, renewable at the next Biennial meeting, but limited to one term (4 years) only. The Treasurer can serve 2 terms (8 years). 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.
If the outcome of any election is a tie the members of the Executive Board vote between the candidates to decide the final outcome.
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.
In the event of an officer 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 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
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 least one month in advance.
All ESID officers will be elected by electronic voting on the protected part of the ESID website. Votes may only be casted by electronic voting. The poll will open one month prior to the General Assembly and will close at the day preceeding the day of the General Assembly at 12:00 noon (Central European Time). To facilitate this, at least 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 least 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 also have the following obligations: To elect the president and the location of the Biennial Meeting; To decide on the biennial fee for membership 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).
ESID members may be citizens of any country, working anywhere in the world, however, they shall be MDs, PhDs (biology), Veterinarians, Pharmacists, Dentists, or graduate students in any of these fields, or PhDs of other fields and corresponding graduate students. ESID full and associate 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, ESID summer schools etc.;
The ESID Board has the right to expel an ESID member (e.g. due to malpractice in science) by a two-thirds majority vote.
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.
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 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 4 years. The President serves as President-Elect for two years before becoming President. 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 organisations.
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 secretary writes the annual business plan with the executive officers, 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.
The Treasurer is elected for a period of four years which is renewable one 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 years. He/she collects the two-yearly 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.
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.
Each member pays a two-yearly membership fee to ESID which is fixed by electronic voting of all ESID full members during the month preceeding 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 35years of age pay a reduced membership fee (50% of the full fee).
Meetings of ESID take place once every two years. The President and the location of the Biennial Meeting is decided by electronic voting of all ESID full members during the month preceeding the General Assembly upon proposal by the Board or members. 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.
ESID funds consist of subscription fees and of funds raised from public organisations, charities and pharmaceutical companies.
Funding activities of the Working Parties, e.g. reasonable travel expenses to Working Party meetings taking place outside the Biennial Meeting.
Amendments to and changes of the Constitution are made by electronic voting by all 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 least 4 weeks before the relevant business meeting of the General Assembly.
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.