HOW TO BECOME AN ELPA MEMBER
Membership of ELPA will be made up of entities or organisations acting on behalf of sufferers
from hepatitis and other liver diseases.
There are full members (the “Full Members”) and supporting members (the “Supporting
Members”) in ELPA. Upon fulfilling the required conditions, Supporting Members can ask to
become Full Members.
In addition, ELPA can decide to have guest members (“Guests Participants”). Guest Participants
are not members of ELPA but can be invited by ELPA to participate to all, or some of, ELPA’s
activities and gathering.
Application
The following entities and organisations can apply as Full Members:
a Any NGO that can provide the necessary evidential documents, being:
• Articles of association that proves the form of the entity;
• At least 50% of the directors of the NGO should be liver patients themselves or
family members of a liver patient.
b Non-profit organizations, registered and recognized as such within their national
territory, whose primary objectives are to care for and support sufferers from hepatitis
and other liver diseases.
The following entities and organisations can apply as Supporting Members:
a) Non-profit organizations, registered and recognized as such within their national
territory, whose primary objectives are to care for and support sufferers from hepatitis
and other liver diseases.
b) Any NGO that cannot provide the proves as mentioned above in Article [4.3.1.(a)], and
whose purpose is similar to the purpose of ELPA.
c) Any private individual that is a family member of a liver patient.
Full Members must be based in the European Region, as defined by the World Health
Organization.
Full Member organizations will be required to make available their constituting documents, to
disclose their funding sources and to make available audited accounts, as required by law.
Any candidate-member wishing to apply for membership as Full Member or as Supporting
Member, shall be required to submit an application in writing, via e-mail or by post, to the
Governing Body.
The application for membership must be submitted in the format applicable at that time,
accompanied by the following documentation (unless otherwise agreed with ELPA):
a) Letter stating that the organization wants to join ELPA (on official letterhead of the
organization);
b) Decision of the organization’s governing body that the organization wants to join ELPA
and that it accepts the Articles of Association, ELPA’s code of conduct (the “Code of
Conduct”) and the Internal regulations;
c) Legal status: Copy of certificate of registration;
d) Copy of their constitutive documents (in national language and English), such as its
articles of association;
e) List of the members of the organisation’s governing body, specifying their liver patient
status (more than 50% must be patients who have or have had a chronic liver disease);
f) Copy of the audited accounts for the year preceding the year of application.
g) In order to qualify for consideration, such applications must be submitted at least thirty
(30) days prior to the next meeting of the Governing Body.
As soon as the applicant had provided and presented all necessary documents, he will receive
the status of ‘Candidate-Member’.
The status of a Candidate-Member will be given for a period of maximum one (1) year.
During this period of maximum one (1) year, the Governing Body will assess the work of the
Candidate-Member and will issue its opinion when the period of maximum one year terminates.
Following the recommendation of the Governing Body, the Candidate-Member will have the
opportunity to present themselves at the next General Meeting where a voting will take place
on the acceptance of the Candidate-Member as Full Member or as Candidate Member.
Having been recommended by the Governing Body, the Candidate-Member shall be admitted
by a two-thirds majority of Full Members, either present or represented, at a General Meeting.
Decision made by the Governing Body, shall not need to be justified and may not be challenged
by the General Meeting. Candidate-members are free to re-apply if their application is
unsuccessful.
All Members and Candidate-Members shall accept and abide by the Articles of Association,
Code of Conduct and Internal Rules of ELPA.