Article 9. General assembly

1. The General Assembly is the supreme body of the EFFS. It consists of the regular members with voting rights and of extraordinary and honorary members in an advisory capacity. Each regular member has the right to represent only one other member by written proxy. (Voting rights are defined in Article 6.)
2. The General Assembly has the authority to make decisions on all matters set out in the Constitution.
3. The General Assembly shall:
a)    make decisions on proposals submitted by the Board with regard to  budget, the fixing of admission fees and membership dues, and the appointment of honorary members;
b)    approve the report of the Board on activities carried out since the last General Assembly;
c)    receive the financial statement (accounts) of the Board, approve the Auditor’s Report on the financial affairs of the EFFS and decide on approval of the conduct of business of the Board;
d)    elect members to the Board as specified in Article 10, 2., the Auditors, and the Board of Arbitration;
e)    make the final decision on the admission of new members who, after rejection by the Board, have lodged an appeal in accordance with Article 4, section 5;
f)    make the final decision on the exclusion of members who have appealed against a Board decision under Article 4, section 9;
g)    make decisions on amendments to the Constitution and the dissolution of the EFFS;
h)    decide if and when secret votes and elections shall be held.
4. An ordinary General Assembly must be held annually. The Assembly is called by the President, who also acts as Chairman. Should the President be prevented from attending the Assembly, he/she will be replaced by the vice-president most senior in years.
Organisational requirements:
i.    All members must be informed of the date and place of the General Assembly at least six months in advance.
ii.    A written invitation to the Assembly, including an agenda, must be sent three months in advance.
iii.    The wording of any application to amend the Constitution or to amend the membership dues must also accompany the written invitation sent three months prior to the General Assembly.
5. Upon request of the Board or upon written request by one quarter of the votes of the National Members, an extraordinary assembly must be called within two months. The notification to members must be accompanied by an agenda.
6.  The General Assembly forms a quorum if at least one third of the votes of all members who are entitled to vote or their duly appointed representatives are present. Duly represented members are considered present. The election process is as follows: The number of votes registered at the beginning of the meeting will be the basis for calculating the necessary majority. Members may agree or disagree with motions, or abstain.
a)    The General Assembly only forms a quorum for decisions and elections if at least half of the votes of all the members entitled to vote are present. Decisions and elections at the General Assembly shall be taken by a simple majority (more than 50% of the votes) of the votes of all members present and entitled to vote. In the event that more than two candidates are standing for election and none of the candidates receive more than 50 % of the votes of all members present and entitled to vote, a second round of voting will be held between the two candidates with the most votes. In the second round of voting, the candidate with the most votes will be elected.
b)    The General Assembly only forms a quorum for amendments to the Constitution or admission fees or membership dues or for the dissolution of the EFFS if at least half of the National Members are present. Amendments to the Constitution or to the admission fees and membership dues, or the dissolution of the EFFS require a qualified majority of two-thirds of the votes of all members present and entitled to vote, as defined in Article 4, Section 2.
c)    The right to vote at a General Assembly, as defined in Article 6, and the right to be elected can only be exercised by members who have paid their membership dues in full as defined in Article 7, Section 2.
In the event that a General Assembly does not constitute a quorum at the agreed time, a waiting period of one hour must be observed. After that time, the General Assembly shall be deemed to constitute a quorum irrespective of the number of persons present. This must be specified in the invitation to the General Assembly.
7. Only members who are entitled to vote may put forward motions.
i.    Motions concerning the items on the agenda must be submitted in writing to the EFFS Executive Director at least two months before the General Assembly.
ii.    Any motions for topics to be added to the agenda must be submitted at least four months prior to the General Assembly.
iii.    All motions regarding changes and/or additions to the agenda must be distributed to all members of the association at least one month prior to the General Assembly.
8. Minutes shall be taken at the General Assembly and shall contain verbatim reports of the decisions taken by the Assembly, and details of the quorum and the results of any votes. The minutes shall be signed by both the Chairman of the Assembly and the Executive Director. The minutes shall be taken in English and will be sent to all members. Written reports on the outcome of the work of the General Assembly will be sent to all members by the Executive Director.
9. Proposals to amend the admission fee, membership dues or the Constitution, or to dissolve the EFFS must be submitted to the Board before being included in the agenda of the General Assembly.
10. The official working language of the EFFS is English.