Articles of Association (Excerpt)

(1) The Association shall use the name International Sacroiliac Medical Expert Group e.V. (SIMEG)

(2) The Association is entered in the Register of Associations at the County Court at Cologne, under the Register Number 18315.

(3) The Association’s office shall be located in 42929 Wermelskirchen/Germany.

(1) “SIMEG” has set itself the task of promoting “scholarship and research, training and continuing education, together with quality assurance in these fields” on a national and international level in accordance with the principles of voluntary participation and excluding religious, vocational and racialist points of view.

(2) “SIMEG” is an association of persons, who deal surgically and conservatively in the treatment of the sacroiliac joints and of the pelvic girdle in hospital, practice and research. These include but is not limited to casualty surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, neurologists, physiotherapists together with scientists and other persons. The task of the members of the Association is to represent the objectives of the group academically and practically and to promote experimental and practical research in this field by the exchange and communication of their own insights and experience. In particular, the Association is active within the framework of a tax-privileged realisation of its objectives in accordance with Articles of Association as follows:

a) Organisation and conduct of academic workshops, both domestically and overseas;

b) Stimulating and promoting tax-privileged scientific investigation;

c) Co-ordinating the academic research and collaboration of a variety of researchers;

d) Disseminating the insights of academic research;

e) Continuing education, fellowship and work shadowing programmes;

f) Preparation of guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the sacroiliac joint;

g) Setting up a national Sacroiliac Joint Register;

h) Participation in the development of study designs;

i) Sourcing and provision of funding for other tax-privileged incorporations and public corporations for their tax-privileged objectives within the meaning of Art. 58, s. 1 of the (German) General Tax Code.

j) To fulfil its tasks, the Association may employ an auxiliary person within the meaning of Art. 57, s. 1, subs. 2 of the (German) General Tax Code, if the Association cannot or will not itself discharge the tasks.

(1) The objectives of the Articles of Association and the acquisition of the means required for the objectives specified in Art. 3 of the Articles of Association are achieved in particular by:

a) the payment of membership fees;

b) contributions / donations (financial and material contributions / donations);

c) grants from public resources (Federal, State government);

d) attendance fees for conventions and annual conferences.

In addition, “SIMEG” is financed by attendance fees collected for continuing education events.

(2) The resources accrued by the Association should be used exclusively and directly for the objectives stated in Art. 3 of the Articles of Association.

(3) “SIMEG” shall exclusively and directly pursue non-profit and benevolent objectives within the meaning of the “tax-privileged objectives” section of the (German) General Tax Code.

(4) Moreover, the Association is a friends’ association within the meaning of Art. 58, s. 1 of the (German) General Tax Code, which uses its resources exclusively for the promotion of the tax-privileged establishments or of the tax-privileged objective of the public corporations referred to there, specified in Art. 3, s. 2 of the Articles of Association.

(5) The Association is a non-profit organisation and shall not pursue its own commercial objectives.

(6) Potential profits and all other resources of the Association may only be used for the objectives in accordance with the Articles of Association.

(7) In principle, the members of “SIMEG” shall not receive a gratuity or proportion of the resources of the Association or of the Association’s funds in their capacity as members during their membership, on their resignation or on the dissolution or suspension of the Association.

(8) Furthermore, no person may be benefited by disbursals alien to the objectives of the Association or by disproportionately high remuneration.

(1) Any natural person (individual member) or any corporation (co-operative member) or domestic or overseas association of individuals who shall unconditionally acknowledge the purposes of the Association and these Articles of Association may become a member of the Association.

(2) The admission of a member into the Association shall be based on an application in writing. At the request of the Executive Committee, the General Meeting shall adjudicate the admission by a simple majority.

(3) Application for admission must include the consent to and affirmation of these Articles of Association, their tasks and objectives, together with the commitment of the members, as laid down in Art. 3 of the Articles of Association.

(4) The number of members shall not be limited. Honorary membership is decided by the executive committee upon application. Extraordinary members are individuals not included in the ordinary membership definition as in § 3 (2).

(1) The Executive Bodies of the Association shall be:

a) the General Meeting,

b) the Executive Committee.

(1) The General Meeting shall be the supreme executive body of the Association. This shall be constituted of the members of the Association referred to in Art. 6 of the Articles of Association.

(2) If possible, the General Meeting should be associated with an annual academic conference.

(1) The Executive Committee shall consist of at least 5 members:

a) the 1st Chairman (President)

b) the 2nd Chairman (General Secretary)

c) the Treasurer

d) a minimum of two other members

(2) The 1st Chairman shall be elected for 1 year by a simple majority of the General Meeting. He may be reelected for one more year.

(3) The General Secretary and the Treasurer shall each be appointed for 2 years by the General Meeting. After the expiry of their term of office, the General Secretary and the Treasurer may not be re-appointed to their position more than once.

(4) The ordinary members of the Executive Committee, d), shall be elected for 2 years by a simple majority following the proposal of the Executive Committee or of the General Meeting.