1
Office
The office of the Federation shall normally be at the
address of the Secretary-General, but may be changed at
the discretion of the Administrative Council.
2 Scientific Meetings
The Federation may hold international scientific meetings
with the help of a committee based on a local Member Organisation and may participate in national, regional,
and specialized meetings. In addition to any
international meetings it may hold, it shall hold a major
international scientific meeting every three years, which
meetings will be the occasion for a meeting of the
General Assembly.
3 Publications
The Federation may publish or enter into agreement
with others to publish such journals and major
publications as may be authorized by the General
Assembly. Minor publications may be authorized by the
Administrative Council.
4 Languages
The working language of the Federation is English.
However the Federation will accept a wide selection of
official languages in addition to English for
international scientific meetings wherever this is
economically feasible.
5 Working Groups
The Federation may establish Working Groups to deal with
specific and well defined fields of particular interest
to the Federation. Administratively, these Groups will be
sub-groups of the Administrative Council who will define
there missive and financial conditions under which they
will operate.
6 Special Divisions
The Federation may establish Special Divisions within the
field of its interests to facilitate the growth and
development of a branch of the subject and the holding of
meetings and seminars on special topics.
Administratively, divisions will be responsible to the
Administrative Council who will define the terms of
reference and the financial conditions under which they
shall operate.
7 Special Projects
The Federation may from time to time wish to carry out
special projects under Article 3 of the Constitution.
Such projects shall be directed by the Administrative
Council but they must be reported on, together with the
financial costs and implications, at each ordinary
Session of the General Assembly.
8 Membership
a) Members
Members of the Federation under Article 4 of the Constitution must present evidence that they are carrying on one or more of the following activities in an area relevant to Medical and Biological Engineering: holding regular meetings, publishing a journal meeting professional standards, and maintaining study groups. Such an organisation must be formed on a non-profit basis, must maintain high ethical standards, must have a President, Secretary and Treasurer, or equivalent officers and a constitution and Bylaws or other official certification of its organisation and operation; Constitution and Bylaws shall be written in the spirit of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and membership and the position of Officer shall be open to all suitably qualified applicants without restriction or reservation based on distinctions such as race, colour, sex, language, religion political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The organization must present a census of membership. The list of unacceptable restrictions quotes the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
The Secretary-General shall assemble a dossier on each application, and shall submit it to the Administrative Council for comment and review. The completed application shall be submitted to the General Assembly by postal or electronic mail and shall require for approval a majority vote of those delegates of the General Assembly responding to the postal ballot within sixty days or to the electronic ballot within thirty days.
When, because of the size of the country or for other good reasons, there are several organisations in the field of Medical and Biological Engineering in a single country wishing to become Members of the Federation, the Federation may accept as a Member an affiliation of these societies or the Federation may accept as Members more than one organisation from that country. The additional applicant must provide good reasons why they should be admitted in addition to the National Society. The National Society shall be asked to comment on the application of the additional Member and shall do so within 60 days. The applicant must satisfy the conditions for Membership contained in Paragraph 1 of this Article, above. In those countries in which there are more than one organisation, which are Members of the Federation, the subscription dues of each organisation shall be based on the number of members of that organisation; the number of Delegates at the General Assembly shall be based on the number of the total membership of all organisations in that country that are Members of the Federation, as specified in Bylaw #12.
A Transnational Organisation shall not be considered for membership if its election would bring the number of delegates for Transnational Organisations above the limit of 25% of the total number of delegates to the General Assembly.
b) Observers
The Administrative Council may grant the status of
Observer to professional societies or Organisations
pending the determination of their definitive application
for membership. This is, however, a temporary status and
in any event must be reviewed annually.
c) Individual members
There are two situations when it might be well founded;
1) There is no affiliated National Society of the
Country.
2) When the individual's interest is outside of the scope
of the National Society.
In the case when a person applying for affiliated
individual membership of IFMBE comes from a country,
which is affiliated with IFMBE, the person must give an
explanation why he/she is not a member of the National
Society. The individual membership will be terminated
when a National Society, whose scope covers the interest
of the individual member is founded.
Individual members can not become members of the
Administrative Council or Officers, but they can become
members of the Academy, Divisions, Committees and Working
Groups. Each case of the individual membership will be
re-evaluated periodically.
d) Honorary Life Members
shall be elected as laid down in Bylaw 23.
9 Privileges and Rights of
Members
The following privileges and rights are granted to Member Organisations:
a) copies of any Federation newsletter for distribution
to their members,
b) access to the register of other Member Organisations,
c) permission to indicate their Membership on their
stationary and elsewhere,
d) reduced rates of subscription to the Journal of the
Federation and its publications, and reduced registration
fees at conferences when such reductions are provided,
for their members,
e) participation in all the activities of the Federation,
f) representation on the General Assembly of the
Federation, as provided by the constitution and Bylaws.
10 Responsibilities of Members
Members shall:
a) disseminate to all their members any Federation calls
for papers, news releases, conference notices, or other
material for general circulation,
b) supply the Federation with information on their own
meetings and activities,
c) notify changes of their executive officers,
constitution, Bylaws, or delegates to the
Secretary-General,
d) appoint a member of their executive committee, usually
the secretary, to be a member of the Committee of
Secretaries of Member Organisations, and to act as
liaison officer to the Federation,
e) pay their subscription dues when requested to do so
under Bylaw 28.
11 Presiding Officer
The President of the International Federation for Medical
and Biological Engineering shall, if available, preside
over the General Assembly. In the absence of the
President, the meeting shall be presided over by the
Vice-President, or in his absence, by the immediate Past-President.
12 Delegates to the General
Assembly
The number of delegates which may represent each Member Organisation at the General Assembly shall, to the
nearest integer, be equal to the common logarithm of the
number of individual members in that organisation, as follows:
| Number of Members | Number of Delegates |
| 31 or less | 1 |
| 32 to 316 | 2 |
| 317 to 3162 | 3 |
| 3163 and above | 4 |
In those countries in which there are more than one
organisation, which are Members of the Federation, the
total number of Delegates at the General Assembly would
be based on the number of the total membership of all the
organisations that are Members of the Federation. The
distribution of the number of Delegates within this total
number shall, to the nearest integer, be in direct
proportion to the number of members of the individual
organisations.
If an actual membership number cannot easily be
determined, as for instance when the Member is a national
liaison body of several societies, the Administrative
Council may negotiate with the Member Organisation an
agreed effective number of members for the purpose of
arriving at dues and the number of Delegates to be
appointed.
Delegates shall be selected as each Member Organisation shall decide. The names of the selected Delegates shall
be communicated in writing to the Secretary-General.
Similarly all changes of Delegates must be notified in
writing.
If for any reason a Delegate cannot attend a meeting of
the General Assembly a named alternate may attend in his
or her place provided they are accompanied by a letter
from an officer of the Member Organisation authorizing
them to represent that Member at the meeting.
13 Convening of the General
Assembly
The General Assembly shall have its normal Ordinary
Session at the time of the International Conference of
the Federation, normally triennially. All meetings of the
General Assembly held in connection with a given
International Conference shall be considered to be a
single General Assembly Session. An Extraordinary Session
may be convened under Article 6 of the Constitution.
14 Agenda of the General
Assembly
The agenda for a Session of the General Assembly shall be
prepared by the Secretary-General on behalf of the
Administrative Council and shall include, at least,
a) reports from the President, Secretary-General,
Treasurer, and Editor,
b) reports from the Nominating Committee,
c) reports from other committees of the General Assembly,
business presented by the Administrative Council, and
d) any new business presented in writing in advance of
the meeting by any Delegate or member of the
Administrative Council. The requirement for written
presentation may be waived by the presiding officer of
the General Assembly.
The Agenda shall be sent to all members of the General
Assembly at least 30 days before the first meeting of an
ordinary Session of the General Assembly.
15 Attendance and voting at
the General Assembly
All individual members
of the Member Organisations of the Federation may attend
General Assembly and participate in its discussions.
Under Article 6 of the Constitution voting is restricted
to:
a) voting members of the Administrative Council,
b) Delegates, or named alternates, under the conditions
laid down by Bylaw 12.
Voting shall normally be by a show of hands unless a
secret ballot is requested. In the case of the election
of officers and members of the Administrative Council, a
secret ballot shall be conducted. A tie shall be decided
by the presiding officer.
Between Sessions of the General Assembly business may be
conducted by postal or electronic mail. The secretary of
each Member Organisation and each Delegate and voting
member of Administrative Council must be notified by the Secretary-General of the
business being conducted and a majority vote of all
voting members shall be required for the passage of a
motion for all proposals other than those relating to
changes to the Constitution or the Bylaws, Article 9, or
membership applications, Bylaw 8(a).
16 Quorum of the General
Assembly
A quorum of the General Assembly shall consist of at
least one Delegate from at least half the number of
Member Organisations.
Business may be conducted without a quorum being reached,
but decisions must subsequently be ratified by a majority
vote of the voting members of the Assembly, conducted by
postal or electronic mail, except in the case of changes
in the Constitution, or in the Bylaws, Article 9, or
membership applications, Bylaw 8(a).
17 Minutes of the General
Assembly
The Secretary-General or his designate shall keep the
minutes of each meeting of the General Assembly. These
minutes shall be sent to all voting members of the
General Assembly within three months of the conclusion of
the meeting. They shall then be approved or amended by a
postal or electronic mail ballot and signed by the
President. Copies of the approved minutes shall be sent
to all Delegates, Member Organisations and Observer Groups.
18 Election of Officers and Members of
the Administrative Council
The Vice-President shall be the President-Elect of the
Federation.
a) The Vice-President, Secretary-General, Treasurer, and
elected members of the Administrative Council shall be
elected by the General Assembly from a list of nominated
members of the Member Organisations put forward by the
Nominating Committee of the General Assembly.
b) At least 120 days before each Ordinary General
Assembly Session, the Secretary-General shall notify the
secretary of each Member Organisation of listed Delegates
and shall request notification of any amendments. He
shall also request from them the names of any of their
individual members which they would wish to have
considered for nomination for Office or Council
membership.
c) The Secretary-General shall forward to the Chairman
and each member of the Nominating Committee a list of the
Delegates and of the suggested names.
d) In preparing a list of nominated candidates for
presentation to the General Assembly, the Nominating
Committee shall first consider the list transmitted by
the Secretary-General. It is then open to the Nominating
Committee to add further names to the list from the
individual membership of the Member Organisations if the
Committee considers that it would be in the interest of
the Federation to do so.
e) From that list the Nominating Committee shall prepare
a final list of individuals for presentation to the
General Assembly as nominated candidates. If it is
feasible, this final list should provide, if possible, at
least two candidates for election to each Office,
together with at least two more nominations than the
number of Council vacancies, and should have as wide a
national representation as is consistent with the
requirements of the positions. The consent of each
candidate to be nominated shall be obtained in writing by
the Chairman of the Nominating Committee before the list
is presented to the General Assembly.
f) The final list shall be presented to the General
Assembly at its Ordinary Session, and voting shall
proceed in the following sequence: Vice-President,
Secretary-General, Treasurer, and Council members.
Unsuccessful candidates for the Offices of
Vice-President, Secretary-General, and Treasurer, may if
they so desire and are eligible, be added to the list of
candidates for membership of the Council, but not for
other Office. Voting shall be by a simple majority, any
tied vote being determined on the vote of the presiding
officer.
g) The voting for elected members of the Administrative
Council shall be done simultaneously. Each member of the
General Assembly may vote for the same number of
candidates as the number of vacancies, normally four.
h) On occasion, due to a resignation, death or other
circumstances, it may be necessary to hold an election
between two sessions of the General Assembly. This shall
be carried out by postal or electronic mail and the
procedure shall be the same as for a normal election;
however the timing of the stages of the nominating
programme shall relate to the date on which it is
proposed to send out the ballot papers and not to an
Ordinary Session of the General Assembly.
i) To ensure continuity the Administrative Council may
decide to hold the election for the post of
Secretary-General or Treasurer of the Federation in
advance of the next Ordinary Session of the General
Assembly. An officer so elected will be known as the
Secretary-General Elect or Treasurer Elect, and will not
formally take the office until the next Ordinary Session;
the term of office will therefore commence at that
Session. The procedure of election shall be the same as
for a normal election; the timing of the stages of the
nominating programme shall relate to the dates on which
it is proposed to send out the ballot papers and not to
an Ordinary Session of the General Assembly.
19 Term of Office of Officers and
Members of the Administrative Council
a) Each elected officer of the Federation shall hold
office from the end of the Ordinary Session of the
General Assembly at which he was elected, or took up
office, until his successor takes office.
b) An elected Council member shall normally hold office
from the end of the Ordinary General Assembly which
elected him/her until the end of the second succeeding
Ordinary Session of the Ordinary General Assembly.
Normally four members shall be elected at each session of
the Ordinary General Assembly and no member may be
re-elected as a Council member immediately upon the
completion of a full term.
c) The President and the Vice-President shall be eligible
for election for a single term of office, after which one
full term must elapse before they are again eligible for
that office.
d) The Secretary-General, Treasurer, and Editor shall
normally be eligible to hold office for two successive
terms only but exceptionally may hold office for a
maximum of three successive terms. After demitting
office, one term must elapse before they are again
eligible for the same office.
e) If no General Assembly has been held within a period
of three and one half years, the President shall proceed
with an election by postal or electronic mail if
necessary, using the existing list of delegates and
names, if any, and following the procedure in Bylaw 18(h).
f) If a council member is elected to fill a position left
open by another council member leaving office in midterm,
he/she is eligible for election for the next 6-year term
if his/her first term is less than 3,5 years.
20 Secretary-General
The Secretary-General shall be the executive officer of
the Federation. He or she shall be responsible for the
general conduct of the affairs of the Federation, and the
maintenance of liaison between Member Organisations at
all times. The Secretary-General shall maintain the
following books and registers, and shall make them
available to the Council and the General Assembly as
required.
a) a minute book of the meetings of the General Assembly,
b) a minute book of the meetings of the Administrative
Council,
c) a register of Member Organisations, including for
each, the names and addresses of their current executive
officers and Delegates to the General Assembly, and their
current number of members,
d) a register containing the current Constitution and
Bylaws of each Member Organisation,
e) a register of Observer Groups and the relevant
officers,
f) a register of Honorary Life Members with their
current addresses,
g) a register of the Chairmen and members of each
Committee, Working Group, Division, and Board within the
Federation,
h) a register of past officers, with their current
addresses if these can be ascertained.
21 Treasurer
The Treasurer shall be responsible to the Administrative
Council for the financial management of the Federation.
He or she shall maintain the monies of the Federation in
such bank accounts and other deposits as shall be
directed by the Administrative Council, shall be
responsible for the collection of dues and other monies
as directed in the Constitution and Bylaws, and shall
maintain such books and accounts as the Council shall
require. The working currency of the Federation shall be
decided by the Administrative Council on the
recommendation of the Treasurer. The Auditors of the
accounts shall be appointed by the Administrative
Council.
22 Vacancies
In the event of the resignation or death of an officer or
member of the Council during their term of office, the
Council shall make such appointment or other provision as
may seem expedient for the discharge of the duties of the
office concerned until an election can be held either at
the next Ordinary Session of the General Assembly or
conducted by postal or electronic mail, Bylaw 18.
Appointments made in this fashion shall not be taken into
account in determining eligibility for election under
Bylaw 19
23 Nominating Committee
Immediately after Each Ordinary Session of the General
Assembly a Nominating Committee shall be established,
consisting of a Chairman appointed by the President and
three members appointed by the Administrative Council,
and four other members, co-opted by the Chairman and the
three members appointed as above. The members of the
committee shall be members of the Member Organisations of
the Federation.
The Nominating Committee shall be responsible for
preparing and presenting to the next Ordinary Session of
the General Assembly a list of candidates eligible for
election as Officers and Elected Members of the
Administrative Council. Such a list shall be prepared at
such times and in such a manner as prescribed in Bylaw
18.
The Nominating Committee shall also be responsible for
soliciting nominations for Honorary Life Membership from
the Member Organisations, for the preparation of a list
of candidates under Article 4 of the Constitution, and
for the presentation of this list to the General
Assembly. The list shall be accompanied by a citation of
the qualifications of each candidate. The Nominating
Committee can itself originate nominations for Honorary Life Membership. The Nominating Committee is considered
to be dissolved following an election of new officers and
members of the Administrative Council and the new
President shall immediately proceed to appoint a new
Chairman of the Committee, and the Council to appoint the
new members.
Membership of the Nominating Committee shall be as widely
representative as is feasible.
24 Constitution and Bylaws Committee
The General Assembly shall appoint a committee to be
responsible for the review of the Constitution and Bylaws.
25 Credentials Committee
The President shall appoint a Credentials Committee to
examine and approve the credentials of the Delegates to
the General Assembly.
26 The Editor of the Federation Journal and the Federation Journal Committee
The Administrative Council shall appoint:
a) The Editor of the Journal of the Federation, by a vote on a recommendation of a Special Committee set up for the purpose by the Chairman of the Federation Journal Committee.
b) From time to time it will be necessary to appoint a Deputy Editor; the same procedure of appointment will be followed in his or her case as in that of the Editor.
c) The Federation Journal Committee (FJC) that will be responsible for all aspects, except editorial, of the journal of the Federation and of related publications, published by the Federation. The membership of the committee shall consist of a Chairman and three other members, the Editor and Deputy-Editor; the Chairman of the Publications & Publicity Committee and the Treasurer of the Federation.
The Administrative Council shall appoint the following committees
a) a Finance Committee with responsibility for the Federation budget and for advising on financial policy,
b) a Publication & Publicity Committee (PPC) responsible for all aspects of all other publications of the Federation. The Chairman of the FJC is a member of this committee,
c) a Committee of Secretaries of the Member Organisations whose purpose is to serve as an important link between the Federation and its members for exchange of information on policies and activities, etc. (The Committee shall allow and stimulate free discussions on all Federation matters and shall report comments and proposals to the administrative Council for further action).
d) The Administrative Council may establish or dissolve other committees from time to time to meet the needs of the Federation.
All committees established under this Bylaw shall have the status of sub-committees of the Administrative Council and shall be considered to be dissolved following an election of new officers and members of the Administrative Council except after elections held under Bylaw 18(h) or 18(i). Chairmen and members of committees are immediately eligible for reappointment if committees are reconstituted.
Committees of the Administrative Council have only such powers as shall be specifically delegated to them. No such delegation of powers shall contravene the provisions of the Constitution or the Bylaws.
a) The Administrative Council shall be convened at intervals not greater than three and one-half years. The Secretary-General shall draw up the agenda for meetings of the Council and shall circulate it to all members not less than 30 days before each meeting.
b) A majority of members of the Administrative Council shall constitute a Quorum of the Council.
c) Voting shall be by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested, and a simple majority shall be sufficient to carry a decision. In the case of a tied vote the Chairman shall have a casting vote.
d) The Secretary-General, or his designate, shall keep minutes of the proceedings of each meeting of the Council. Copies of the minutes shall be sent for comment to all members of the Council not later than three months after each meeting. They shall then be approved or amended by a postal or electronic mail ballot, and then signed by the President. Copies of the approved minutes shall be sent to all Delegates, the Editors, and others in attendance at meetings of the Council, and the secretaries of the Member Organisations.
e) Between meetings, business may be conducted by postal or electronic mail. A majority vote of the voting members of the Council shall be required for the passage of a proposal.
f) The Council may co-opt one or two persons to serve as members without voting rights for a term which shall be fixed by the Council but which shall not exceed that of an elected member.
g) The President and the Council may both invite any person or persons to attend its meetings and to speak to matters of business, without the right to vote.
h) If an elected Council member fails to attend 2 consecutive meetings of the Administrative Council without reasonable excuse, his/her position is to be declared vacant.
29 Membership Subscriptions
Annual subscriptions from Members are based on the number
of individual members in their organisation. Before 1st
September each year each Member Organisation shall inform
the Treasurer of their membership numbers. The amount
payable shall be in accordance with the current table
appended to the Bylaws and available from the Treasurer
on request. Before January 1st of each year the Treasurer
shall send to the secretary of each Member Organisation a
request for payment of the appropriate dues based on the
most recent information, and a request for information
about changes in the number of individual members. In
case of difficulty because of special circumstances, the
Administrative Council is empowered to determine a
subscription for that Member.
If for any reason the annual subscription of a Member in
any year has not been paid by 1st June, the Member shall
be notified by the Treasurer that the subscription is in
arrears. If the subscription in arrears has not been paid
by 1st December of that year, the matter shall be
reported to the Administrative Council by the Treasurer.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the Delegates
of the Member Organisation shall forfeit the right to
vote in ballots while the Member Organisation remains
in arrears; such Delegates shall be allowed to attend the
General Assembly and take part in discussions.
30 Expenses
The expenses of individuals undertaking commissions or
attending meetings at the request and on behalf of the
Administrative Council for purposes within Article 3 of
the Constitution may be reimbursed either in part or in
whole at rates determined from time to time by the
Council. Such reimbursement may only be paid for
additional expenses after due allowance has been made for
any other funding which the individual may have received
for attendance at a meeting or conference, and only if
authority has been received in writing from the
President, or from the Treasurer acting on his behalf.
The expenses of Delegates attending Sessions of the
General Assembly shall not be a charge on the funds of
the Federation.
31 Termination of Membership
a) Should a Member Organisation wish to resign it must
give six months notice to the Secretary-General in
writing and shall be responsible for the annual
subscription until the effective date of the resignation.
b) If for any reason the annual subscription of a Member
in any year has not been paid by 1st June of the year
following the first request for payment and unless there
are exceptional circumstances, the Administrative Council
shall recommend to the General Assembly the termination
of the Membership.
32 U.S. Tax-Exempt status
IFMBE is organised exclusively for scientific
purposes under 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
No part of the net earnings of IFMBE shall inure to the
benefit of, or be distributable to its members, trustees,
officers, or other private persons, except that IFMBE
shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable
compensation for services rendered and to make payments
and distributions i furtherance of the purposes set forth
in the Constitution. No substantial part of the
activities of IFMBE shall be the carrying on of
propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence
legislation, and IFMBE shall not participate in, or
intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of
statements) any political campaign on behalf of any
candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other
provision of this document, IFMBE shall not carry on any
other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by an
organisation exempt form federal income tax under section
501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or
corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or
(b) by an organisation, contributions to which are
deductible under section 170 (c) (2) of the Internal
Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future
federal taxes.
Upon the dissolution of IFMBE, assets held in the United
States shall be distributed for one or more exempt
purposes within the meaning of section 501 (c) (3) of the
Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any
future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the
federal government, or to a state or local government,
for public purposes.
AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS - ratified by General Assembly vote, mail ballot completed October 6, 1992, February 21, 2003, April 12, 2007.
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