Statutes & Membership

Statutes

The Study Group shall carry the name ESCMID Study Group for Infections in Compromised Hosts (ESGICH).The Study Group shall be subject to the laws of the country in which the hosting Society ESCMID has its registered office (Munich, registered in the Munich Register of Associations under VR 10956). Since the Study Group itself is not a legal entity, it is subject to the statutes of ESCMID and governed by the same law as ESCMID. Therefore, the Study Group Statutes have to be in agreement with the Statutes of ESCMID and the ESCMID Operating Procedures for Study Groups. To ensure this, any change in the Study Group Statutes must be approved by the ESCMID Scientific Affairs Officer before being voted by the Study Group membership.

The Study Group shall devote itself to the promotion of research and education in prevention, diagnosis and therapy of infections in immunocompromised hosts and in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients, in the following field(s):

• promote dissemination of knowledge about infections in immunocompromised hosts and in SOT recipients,
• organize epidemiological, basic and clinical trials related with infections in immunocompromised hosts and SOT recipients,
• develop guidelines on diagnosis, prevention and treatment of these infections.

The Study Group shall strive to bring together persons who are active in the above mentioned fields in the European countries and beyond.

The Study Group consists of full (regular) members from any country. There are no membership fees. All Study Group members are associate members of ESCMID. They do not pay any membership fees to ESCMID. For companies and other organizations, corporate membership is open to maintain closer ties with the Study Group. Corporate members pay an annual membership fee. They may name one person of their organization which shall be of equal rank as full SG members in relation to membership rights. Membership is, subject to the approval of the Study Group Executive Committee, open to all who are interested and working in fields covered by the Study Group. All correspondence concerning Study Group membership issues are to be directed towards the Study Group Secretary.

The Study Group will consist of two subcommittees: (a) a subcommittee on infections in imunocompromised hosts and (b) a subcommittee on infections in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients.
The Study Group will be organized by an Executive Committee and an Assembly of Members.
Executive power of the Study Group is vested in the Executive Committee, which shall consist of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, the Secretary, the Treasurer and 3 members.
Nomination of candidates requires the candidate to approve the nomination and two Study Group members to support it. The selection of candidates to be considered for election to the Executive Committee shall be made by the membership. The election process is conducted by two Study Group members who are not members of the current Executive Committee.
The members of the Executive Committee shall be elected by simple majority from among the members of the Study Group. They will be elected for a term of two years and may be re-elected once in the same position. Maximum duration of service in the Executive Committee is restricted to eight years, where after at least four years must elapse before re-election can take place. A term starts and ends at the date of the Assembly of Members. Elected Executive Committee members have to be full ESCMID members in good standing and professionally active at the time of assuming office. Temporary replacements may be made by the Executive Committee as necessary.
No more than one elected member of the Executive Committee shall come from the same country.
The Executive Committee shall elect a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, a Secretary and a Treasurer. The Chairperson will be elected in rotation from one of the Study Group’s two subcommittees. Thus, the chairperson and the Chairperson-elect will come from different subcommittees.
The Chairperson, Vice-chairperson, the Secretary or the Treasurer shall represent the Study Group towards ESCMID and beyond and have executive powers within authorization rendered by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall adopt resolutions with the majority of its members present at the Executive Committee meeting; the Chairperson has the casting vote. The Executive Committee may appoint subcommittees for specific purposes.

The ESCMID Scientific Affairs Officer has the right, upon legal advice and upon the advice of the ESCMID Executive Committee, to make any amendments to the Study Group Statutes that are necessary for registration of ESCMID or for recognition of its non-profit status by the tax authorities. These amendments must be approved afterwards by the SG Assembly of Members.

The language of the Study Group and its publications is English. The English version of the Statutes shall be determinative in all cases.
The language for accounting and tax purposes is the language governing ESCMID.

The operating rules of the Study Group are stated in the ESCMID Operating Procedures for Study Groups and are the responsibility of the ESCMID Scientific Affairs Officer. All activities of the Study Group must be in accordance with the ESCMID Operating Procedures for Study Groups and the ESCMID Statutes.

If the Study Group has not covered the minimum activity as detailed in the ESCMID Operating Procedures for Study Groups, the Scientific Affairs Subcommittee may propose through the Scientific Affairs Officer to the ESCMID Executive Committee to terminate the Study Group.
In addition, Study Groups may be terminated either by a majority vote of members or by a decision of the ESCMID Executive Committee if there is a documented violation of the present operating procedures. In such cases, remaining funds from Study Groups should be transferred to ESCMID.