Constitution
September 21, 2021.
1. Name and Official Language
1.1. The name of the Association is "International Fuzzy Systems Association". It may be abbreviated IFSA.
1.2. The official language of the Association is English.
2. Purpose
The purpose of the Association shall be to promote the scientific study of, to encourage communication in, and to promote worldwide knowledge of the theory of fuzzy systems and related areas, as well as their applications. The Association functions primarily as a federation of its institutional members, but also provides services for its individual and corporate members.
The policy of the Association shall be to attain these purposes through scholarly publications, workshops, international conferences, the establishment of chapters, and other such activities consistent with the objectives of the Association as may be directed by the Council. The primary function of the Association is to act as a federation of its institutional members to accomplish the above goals. It shall also be the policy of the Association to insist upon the highest standard of scholarship and service from its members.
The Association is a not-for-profit organization.
Note: IFSA is currently a registered non-for-profit association (rekisteröity yhdistys) in Finland, number 186457.
3. Membership
Membership in the Association may be of three types:
3.1. Institutional Membership (Indirect)
The Institutional member is a national, regional or thematic not-for-profit registered organization (a society, association, institute, etc.) whose purpose should be aligned with the purpose of the Association.
The membership is approved by the Council upon receipt of:
- copy of certificate of registration of the organization (translated into English)
- copy of By-laws of the organization (translated into English)
3.2. Individual Membership
The individual member is a person who belongs to an Institutional Member. There is no direct membership of an individual in IFSA.
3.3. Corporate Membership
The corporate member is a business corporation.
Besides acting primarily as a federation of its institutional members, the Association also provides services for its individual and corporate members.
4. Organization
4.1. The association is governed by the council, whose elected members are:
- President
- Vice-President
- Treasurer
- Secretary
- Four Council members at large
- One representative of each Society/Chapter, institutional and corporate member
- Three/four Council members to be elected from IFSA Fellows in General Assembly of Individual Members
- Past President
Members of the Council must be elected members of the Council and the appointed representatives of institutional members, usually the President of the Institutional Member or his/her designated delegate, or a delegate of a corporate member. The President can invite to the IFSA council meeting, with no right to vote, those that he/she considers might give a relevant vision on any of the issues included in the agenda meeting (e.g., the editor of some IFSA journal, the president of some IFSA committee or the chair of some IFSA conference).
4.2. The policies of the Council are carried out by the Excutive Board. The Chairman of the Executive Board is the President. The President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer, and the Secretary are ex-officio members of the Executive Board.
The President may appoint additional members to the Executive Board with the concurrence of the Council; such concurrence shall be by direct vote, by mail or by email.
4.3. The Council decides the rules of accepting new members. The Council appoints such other committees as it finds necessary to carry out the business of the Association or to further its objectives.
Board members should coordinate at least the following areas and preferably chair any committee focused on them:
- Awards
- Conferences
- Membership
- Publicity
4.4. As a legal association, each IFSA institutional member should follow its constitution and bylaws, which should not contradict IFSA constitution and IFSA bylaws.
4.5. The Council and the Executive Board may be assisted by a Secretariat, which is supervised by the Chairman of the Executive Board and the Treasurer.
4.6. General Assembly of Individual Members
On the occasion of each IFSA conference, the President will organize a General Assembly, where the IFSA Council will present a report on past activities and future projects, including details of the next IFSA conference.
In this General Assembly, participants will elect three/four IFSA Fellows among the official candidatures received from individual members being IFSA Fellows.
5. Elections
The President invite proposals for the election of all Council members who are not representatives of institutional or corporate members. He or she gives at least two months' notice of the closing date for the receipt of proposals.
Candidatures must be in a form of lists of individual members or employees of a corporate member, where each list specifically identifies positions for President, Vice- President, Secretary, and Treasurer, plus four council members at large, specifying their responsibilities.
Each candidature (list) should be presented by the candidate for President with the formal acceptance of all members in his/her candidature.
Candidatures might overlap except for the President position.
No proposal that is in accordance with the Constitution may be refused, provided that the candidature agrees to stand.
The Council decides the form of the ballot. Candidatures are elected by the Council for one term with the possibility of re-election for a second consecutive term, being each term the period between the end of the business meeting held during the International Conference mentioned in Article 6 and the end of the business meeting at the following International Conference. Representative IFSA Fellows will be elected for only one term.
In case no new candidature is presented, the acting board may be re-elected for an additional term.
6. International Conferences
The Association at intervals of between two and four years sponsors the official IFSA Conferences. The President proposes and the Council elects the Chairman of the Organizing Committee and the Chairman of the Program Committee of the next International Conference. In special cases, the Executive Board may act without the prior approval of the Council.
IFSA can support or endorse other conferences in the field. Particularly, IFSA will endorse the official conferences of each IFSA institutional member.
7. Fees and Finances
The Council for each type of membership determines the membership fee. A member who has not paid the corresponding fee before the end of the current year will be deemed to have left the Association.
8. Journal
The Council should have an IFSA official journal. With this aim, the Council might sign an agreement with some editorial to have such an official journal. IFSA should then allow the use of the IFSA logo in this journal. The possibility of offering its availability at a reduced subscription rate to all individual or institutional members, and all employees of a corporate member should be a key issue in such an agreement. The President of IFSA should be able to publish in the official IFSA journal periodical letters and announcements, plus some message due to specific relevant circumstances.
IFSA can support or endorse other journals in the field, particularly the official journals of each IFSA member.
9. Agents
The Council may approve the payment of membership fees, in national currency, to local agents in countries in which it is difficult for individual members to obtain convertible currencies.
10. Other Activities
n addition to the IFSA Conferences, the Association may sponsor or endorse other activities. If organized directly by IFSA, such an activity is subject to directives by the President and on behalf of the Board.
11. Amendment of the Constitution
If proposed by at least 10% of the individual members, by any institutional or corporate member, or by vote of the Council, this Constitution may be amended by majority vote of those eligible to vote, either at a business meeting or by written or emailed ballot.
Proposals for amendments must reach the President at least one month before the voting takes place unless waived by the Council.
12. By-Laws
In order to carry out the obligations as set forth in this Constitution and to conduct the business of the Association, the Council shall adopt By-Laws. These may be adopted, annulled, or amended by an affirmative vote, by mail or email, by a majority of the Council members. The Council shall have the authority to interpret the By-Laws.
13. Voting
Conduct of Business voting, officer or member elections, or other special mail or email elections/voting authorized by the Council, shall be conducted by the President (or the Vice President), the Secretary and the Past President, who together will form the Election Committee. If emailed, the ballot shall be deemed to be delivered the next day when emailed to the email address of the member as it appears on the records of IFSA unless the email is returned undeliverable. A simple majority vote of those eligible to vote is required for any motion to pass or for any election to be carried out.
TRANSITION ARTICLE
This Constitution will be fully applied since the day after its approval, in such a way that those articles about the election of the President applies for the first time the next IFSA President should be elected. The current Next President, before becoming President, should present his/her proposed board, to be approved by the Council.