Name and Objects

Article 1. The full name of the Federation shall be "Federation of the European Societies of Neuropsychology", and its acronym will be ESN.

The logo of the Federation will be based on the European flag. It will be made of a circle of twelve gold stars on a blue background encircling the acronym of the federation "ESN". Twelve would not represent the number of federated societies. As stated in the history of the European symbol, in various traditions, is a symbolic number representing perfection. It is also, of course, the number of months in a year and the number of hours shown on a clock face. The circle is, among other things, a symbol of unity.

Article 2. The Federation is not organised for profit and no part of the net earnings of the Federation shall inure to the benefit of any private individual or member.

Article 3. The objects of the federation shall be the furtherance of scientific and professional issues within the field of neuropsychology including cognitive neuropsychology, clinical neuropsychology, behavioural neurology, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological rehabilitation. Such objects shall be pursued by holding periodical scientific meetings and such other activities as may be deemed appropriate. Pertaining to the scientific issues, the federation will hold periodical scientific meetings, stimulate, encourage and help to develop European programmes of clinical and experimental neuropsychological research. Related to professional issues, the federation will stimulate, encourage and help to develop programmes of pre- and postgraduate training, and activities such as continuing education, and standards and guidelines of clinical practice.

Moreover, the Federation will stimulate, encourage and help develop European programmes of clinical and experimental neuropsychological research as well as pre- and postgraduate teaching and to put forward any instances related to Neuropsychology to the relevant political or bureaucratic bodies as the Council or the Business Meeting deem fit. The Federation may also engage in other activities which contribute to the advancement of neuropsychology and related topics within Europe and will liase with other relevant scientific and clinical bodies (e.g., INS) in planning and fostering such activities.

Members

Article 4. Full membership is open to any member of European national societies of neuropsychology (or sibling disciplines) which partake in the Federation. The Federation may set up mechanism to accept as members persons who are not current members of any of the federated societies but whose primary affiliation is in Europe or in neighbouring countries and who are active and established researchers in some area of Neuropsychology.

Membership terminates at death, resignation or expulsion.

Article 5. All members may attend Business Meetings of the Society and are permitted to vote. Except in an emergency one month's notice should be given of the Business Meetings, together with an agenda.

Article 6. Proposals for membership should be vetted by the representative of the relevant national society. As a rule each member of any of the federated national society will have the right to become member of the Federation by default. Each society will contribute an annual membership fee. The modalities of collecting the quotas are decided by the Council. The yearly fee may be updated following the advice of the Council but their actions, in this respect, need to be subject to confirmation at a subsequent Business Meeting or the subscription reverts to amount and modalities previously set.

Rider 1. The Secretary shall maintain a register of members as provided by the each of the national societies, though all communications to members of the Federation shall be distributed through each individual national society. Rights of accessing such list of addresses should be reserved and not be used for commercial purposes The accidental omission to give notice of a Business meeting to, or non-receipt of notice of a Business meeting by, any member entitled to receive notice shall not invalidate the proceedings at that Business meeting.

Council, Managing Committee and Advisory Board

Article 7. "Country of membership" means the country in which a member has their primary affiliation.

Article 8. The Council of the Federation shall consist of the presidents of the affiliated national societies (or their named delegates), by the organisers of the two previous meetings of the Federation, and by a member of the organising committee of the next Congress. All Council members must be Full members of the Society.

Article 9. The Council may co-opt up to three further members. Normally, no more than three Council members should have the same country of membership.

Article 10. The Council will typically meet at the time of the European Meetings. However, the Council shall meet, or otherwise communicate, with such frequency as to ensure the smooth running of the Federation. The quorum for the Council is half of its members plus one.

Article 11. The Council shall nominate a Chair and a Deputy-chair, and shall appoint the Secretary and the Treasurer. The Secretary and the Treasurer must be full members of the Society. They may or may not be Council members at the time of their appointment. Upon appointment they become members of the Council. The term office of the President (Chair), the Vice-President (deputy-chair), the Secretary and the Treasurer is two years or until the nearest Congress after two years. Their term will hold even if they are no longer the representative of a national society.

Article 12. The Council shall delegate the day-to-day management of the Federation to a Management Committee consisting of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary, the Treasurer and the representative of the next Congress organising Committee, plus two co-opted members. The Management Committee will be empowered to decide on all matters of the Federation when such decisions cannot be delayed until the next Council meeting. Important decisions made by the Management Committee must subsequently be ratified by Council.

Article 13. The Council, noticing the indication of the Business meeting, shall also nominate an Advisory Board of up to seven members. No more than two members of the Advisory Board should have the same country of membership. This board will have the role of advising the Council and the Managing Committee on scientific matters including the programme for the next Congress. A member cannot be a Council member and a member of the Advisory Board at the same time.

Article 14. The Council or the Managing Committee may appoint ad hoc Task Forces to carry out determined chores or accomplish certain tasks on behalf of the Federation. The Task Force's remit will terminate at the reaching of the set goal, or at the decision of the appointing committee.

Alteration of Rules

Article 15. These rules may be altered, revoked, amended or added to in any manner and to any extent at a Business meeting. Rule changes can be vetted only by the Council.

Notices

Article 16. Any notice to be given to or by any person pursuant to this Constitution shall be in writing except a notice calling a Council meeting need not be in writing. The Federation may give notice to a member either personally or by sending it by post addressed to the member at their registered address or by sending it to their registered e-mail address together with a standard header.