International Society of Endocrinology

ISE Statues

original edition .... 1968

revised edition .... 1972

revised edition .... 1982

revised edition .... 1988

ARTICLE I

 The objects of the Society shall be to disseminate knowledge of endocrinology by coordinating and organizing international congresses and conferences of endocrinology, by facilitating collaboration among national and international endocrinologic and other learned societies and qualified persons interested in endocrinology and by publication of books, reports and other papers relating thereto.

 Endocrinology is defined as the branches of science and practice dealing with the endocrine glands in animals and in man and with diseases dependent upon their function. Included in this definition shall be all related specialized branches of science.  

ARTICLE II

Members of the Society shall consist of national or international scientific societies.

There shall be ordinary members and associate members.

a) Ordinary Members

National or international societies of endocrinology automatically qualify for ordinary membership. When there is more than one endocrinologic society in a particular country each may apply for ordinary membership.

b) Associate Members

In countries in which there is no endocrinologic society, an alternate national scientific association (preferably the national society of internal medicine) may apply for associate membership. Such applications must be approved by the Central Committee of the Society before membership becomes official.

Any member may withdraw from the Society by delivering a written resignation to the Secretary General.      

ARTICLE III

The affairs of the Society shall be managed by a Central Committee composed of the Secretary General ex-officio and one or more representatives of the ordinary members elected or appointed as hereinafter provided. The Central Committee may delegate at its discretion certain executive and administrative powers to the Secretary General and/or the Executive Committee.    

ARTICLE IV

a) Except as hereinafter provided, each ordinary member shall have one representative on the Central Committee. Such representative shall be elected or appointed, and his period of office determined by the ordinary member concerned. No representative shall serve for more than 12 years. Members must keep the Secretary General regularly informed as to the names and addresses of their representatives.

Ordinary members shall be entitled to one additional representative for every five hundred members of their society memberships or portion thereof above five hundred. Each member society shall keep on file with the Secretary General a current roster of its members. Where there is more than one national society in a country the representation on the Central Committee shall be determined by the combined membership of the member national societies in such country in accordance with the above principle, but in such determination no member of a national society shall be counted more than once.

At the meetings of the Central Committee, each representative and the Secretary General shall have one vote. In a representative's absence, an ordinary member may arrange with the Secretary General for a substitute who shall be entitled to vote on the representative's behalf. The Chairman of the Central Committee shall have a casting vote.

Associate members may have one non-voting representative, chosen in the manner provided for representatives of ordinary members, present at a Central Committee meeting.

Any representative may be removed from office during his period of office by written notice to such effect delivered by the member he represents to the Secretary General. The representatives on the Central Committee as such or as officers of the Society shall not be entitled to any remuneration but shall be entitled to receive reimbursement of expenses incurred by them on behalf of the Society and approved by the Executive Committee.

b) The Central Committee shall hold two ordinary meetings in connection with each International Congress of Endocrinology. The first shall be held at the beginning of the Congress and the second towards its end. Those representatives (or substitutes) attending an ordinary meeting of the Central Committee shall constitute the quorum thereof.

In the event that an extraordinary meeting of the Central Committee should be necessary at some other time, a quorum shall consist of not less than one-half of the total number of representatives entitled to vote. At least six weeks' prior notice of such an extraordinary meeting shall be given by airmail to the representatives comprising the Central Committee at their addresses shown in the records of the Society by the Chairman or the Secretary General.

The first ordinary meeting of the Central Committee, presided over by its Chairman, previously elected, shall:

(1) Receive a report from the Secretary-General concerning the activities of the Society since the last ordinary meeting;

(2) Receive a statement of the Society's accounts from the Secretary General for adoption;

(3) Decide upon the place, the date for the next International Congress of Endocrinology; for the purpose of choosing a venue for the Congress of the International Society of Endocrinology, the meeting site, as a rule, shall normally rotate in sequence beginning with the 1988 meeting in Kyoto by the following regions: (1) Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania, (2) Europe, and (3) Western Hemisphere.

(4) Receive nominations for the offices of President of the Society, that is, Chairman of the Central Committee, and the Secretary General. The Secretary General shall be eligible for re-election at the discretion of the Central Committee; the President shall not be eligible for re-election;

(5)Consider other matters which may seem appropriate. The Secretary General shall have no vote on items (1) and (2) and shall leave the meeting after the nominations have been received for the office of President in item (4).

Representatives should insure that any matters they wish to place on the agenda under items (3), (4) and (5) should be sent to the Secretary General at the earliest possible date in any event not later than two months prior to the commencement of the Congress.

The second ordinary meeting of the Central Committee, also presided over by its Chairman, previously elected shall;

(6)Determine the Society's budget for the ensuing period between Congresses;

(7) Elect from among the members of the Central Committee, by a majority vote of those present and voting, the President of the Society, that is, the Chairman of the Central Committee, who shall hold office from the end of the Congress during which he is elected until the end of the ensuing Congress.

The immediate past president shall hold one four-year term as an ex-officio member of the Central Committee.

(8) Elect a Secretary General for the ensuing period (see Article IV, b, 4);

(9) Elect an Honorary President of the next International Congress of Endocrinology;

(10) Election of the Executive Committee. For purposes of assuring representation of the major geographical areas of the endocrinologic world, national societies shall be grouped into the following four regions: (1) Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania; (2) Europe; (3) Latin America; (4) United States and Canada. Nominations shall continue until at least one candidate from each region and a total of at least seven candidates has been placed in nomination. The candidate from each region who receives the largest number of votes shall be deemed elected. In addition to the representatives for the four regions, three "representatives at large" shall be deemed elected by virtue of having received the greatest numbers of votes. Whenever a tie vote necessitates it, a runoff election shall be held among the candidates involved, in which each voting member of the Central Committee may list one name. If necessary, this process shall be repeated until the required number of representatives have been elected by a clear plurality. In the event of a tie among all remaining candidates, the Chairman of the Central Committee shall have a casting vote.

Other Elections. In the election of the following officers (Chairman of the Central Committee, the Secretary General, the Honorary President of the International Congress, the Chairman of the Executive Committee and the Chairman of the Program Organizing Committee) a majority vote of those present and voting shall be required for election. In the event that a majority vote is not received by a nominee for the first or any succeeding ballot, the slate of candidates shall be reduced by the elimination of the name of the candidate having received the smallest number of votes; in the event that multiple candidates are tied for the smallest number of votes, all such shall be eliminated from subsequent ballots. Repeated balloting for progressively smaller numbers of candidates shall proceed until one candidate receives a majority of votes. In the event of a tie among all remaining candidates, at any point in an election, the Chairman of the Committee shall have a casting vote.

This shall also be the procedure for selection of the host society for an International Congress, which shall also require a majority vote.

(11) Consider other matters which may seem appropriate. The Secretary General shall leave the meeting during the discussion of item (8).

(c) Between the ordinary meetings of the Central Committee, the Executive Committee shall consider business matters raised by or brought to the notice of the Secretary General. At the discretion of the Secretary General or the Chairman of the Central Committee or at the request of a minimum of one-fourth of the representatives entitled to a vote on the Central Committee, a postal vote of the Central Committee may be carried out to decide issues of substance.

Ballots shall be mailed by air, and six weeks allowed between their issue and counting. The majority of votes received shall decide the issue. Any decisions taken as a result of a postal vote require the subsequent ratification by the members of the Society at their next meeting.

(d) An audited financial report shall be made by the Secretary General at the inter-Congress meeting of the Executive Committee.      

ARTICLE V

The Secretary General shall:

a) Be responsible to the Central Committee for all business matters and current activities of the Society between Congresses within the budget fixed by the Central Committee;

b) Receive members' proposals for arranging scientific meetings as defined in Article IX;

c) Issue at least once a year a bulletin to all members about forthcoming Congresses and other events of general interest.

d) Arrange, upon members' request, contacts between members concerning scientific or any other matters contributing to the realization of the objects of the Society;

e) Prepare reports for the ordinary Central Committee meetings (Article IV, b);

f) Circulate the agenda of a Central Committee or Executive Committee meeting at least six weeks prior to the meeting;

g) Arrange votes by letter (Article IV, c);

h) Upon assuming office, nominate one (or two) deputies to carry out his functions in his absence. The deputies should be approved by his own national society. In the event of the resignation, death or disability (as determined by the Executive Committee) of the Secretary General during his period of office one of his deputies, designated by the national society, shall serve as the Secretary General until the next ordinary meeting of the Central Committee;

i) Be custodian of the corporate seal of the Society;

j) Serve as the Treasurer of the Society, in which capacity he shall receive the annual fees from ordinary and associate members and keep the Society's accounts. It shall not be his duty as to act as Treasurer of International Congresses.    

ARTICLE VI

a) The Executive Committee shall be responsible for the organization of the forthcoming International Congress and for the conduct of such other items of business as seem appropriate between Congresses (see Article IV, c).

The President of the Society and the Secretary General shall be ex-officio members of the Executive Committee. The seven elected members (Article IV, b, 10), the President of the Society and the Secretary General shall proceed as follows:

(1) Elect a Chairman of the Executive Committee from among the seven elected members. The Chairman of the Executive Committee shall serve from the end of the Congress during which he is elected until the end of the next Congress;

(2) Elect a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer for the Local Organizing Committee of the Congress, who shall be resident in the host country;

(3) At least two years before the next Congress, elect a Program Organizing Committee and a Chairman thereof from nominees submitted by member societies. The list of nominees should include the specific area of competence of each individual to aid the Executive Committee in selecting the Program Organizing Committee. Should the recommendations of the member societies be incomplete, the Program Chairman shall suggest names of other competent individuals for the Program Organizing Committee.

b) The above elected officers of the Local Organizing Committee shall enlarge the membership of this Committee as seems appropriate.

c) The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee and the Chairman of the Program Organizing Committee shall each report to the Executive Committee when requested to do so, and in any event, not later than one year before the date of the Congress.

d) The Treasurer of the Local Organizing Committee shall be responsible for making up the accounts at the close of each Congress, and shall deliver them, fully audited to the Secretary General. These accounts will be audited as soon as possible after the conclusion of the congress by an independent auditor appointed by the Executive Committee.

e) Attendance at the International Congresses of Endocrinology shall be open to all members of national endocrine societies and others interested in endocrinology. In the event that non-member applications for attendance exceed the available facilities, a committee composed of the Secretary General, the Chairman of the Program Committee, the Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, and 3 members of the Program Committee (selected by the Chairman of the Program Committee) shall assign priorities, giving preference to applicants who, because of their recent publications or current scientific activities, are deemed most likely to contribute to the scientific discussions of the Congress.     

ARTICLE VII

Ordinary and Associate members shall pay the annual membership fee fixed by the Central Committee, following negotiation of said fee between the Secretary General and the member concerned, to the Secretary General for the account of the Society. In fixing the amount of the fee, the size of the national society concerned and other relevant factors shall be taken into account.

In special circumstances, the Central Committee may waive the annual membership fee of an individual member.

The fees shall be payable the first day of January of each year. In the event of failure to pay the fee by the first of May in any one year, voting rights will automatically be suspended until the fee is received, unless specifically waived.     

ARTICLE VIII

The Central Committee shall have power from time to time by resolution to appoint a representative or representatives on behalf of the Society to sign specific contracts, documents and instruments in writing.       

ARTICLE IX

In order to coordinate meetings (congresses, postgraduate courses and so forth) throughout the world, the members shall consult with the Secretary General to prevent avoidable conflicts in schedules. They shall then inform him of the final decision on the time, place and program for announcement in a bulletin circulated by him to member societies.     

ARTICLE X

By-laws of the Society may be enacted, repealed or amended by by-law enacted by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the representatives on the Central Committee at any ordinary or extraordinary meeting thereof provided that proposals for the by-laws to be enacted, repealed or amended are distributed by the Secretary General to the representatives on the Central Committee at least two months prior to the meeting at which they are to be considered. Representatives who do not attend the meeting shall be entitled to appoint as proxy another representative to the Central Committee to vote at any ordinary or extraordinary meeting thereof.

International Society of Endocrinology
Ms. Carol Kenny, Secretary
Department of Medicine
The University of Birmingham
Institute of Biomedical Research
Wolfson Drive
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT   United Kingdom
E-mail: info@endosociety.com