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Constitution
Adopted on 10th March 1991. Amended on 26th March 1993, 24th March 1995, 5th March 1999, 30th March 2001, 13th March 2009, 1st March 2013, 3rd March 2017
Article 4 – Location of the Federation
Article 5 – Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Article 6 – Objects and powers of the Federation
Article 8 – National EFPP Networks
Article 10 – Organisation into Sections
Article 14 – Amendments to the Constitution
ARTICLE 1
Title
The name of the organisation shall be “European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, EFPP,” hereafter referred to as “The Federation”.
ARTICLE 2
Legal Status
The Federation will be an unincorporated association governed by the Law of England and Wales.
ARTICLE 3
Official Language
The official language of the Federation shall be English. The English text of the Constitution of the Federation shall be the official text.
ARTICLE 4
Location of the Federation
The formal address for all communications shall be that of whoever be the Honorary Secretary of the Federation.
ARTICLE 5
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
For the purposes of this constitution, psychoanalytic psychotherapy shall be taken to mean psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adults, with children and adolescents, with couples and families and with groups.
ARTICLE 6
Objects and powers of the Federation
6.1 Objects
6.1.1
to advance education, training and the development of psychotherapy which is psychoanalytic in principle and practice.
6.1.2
to promote for the public benefit the relief of mental illness or disorder by developing psychoanalytic psychotherapy in Europe regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status.
6.1.3
to promote research in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
6.2 Powers
In pursuit of the above objects but not further or otherwise, the Federation shall have the following powers:
6.2.1
to protect the standards of training for psychoanalytical psychotherapists by defining the minimum standards required for qualified practitioners.
6.2.2
to ensure that each member of the Federation has an ethical code for the practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
6.2.3
to enhance awareness amongst other professionals, administrators and legislators in the public sector and the public in general about psychoanalytic psychotherapy. To make available to the general public knowledge about the theory and practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and also to bring to the public’s attention the scarcity of treatment resources.
6.2.4
to facilitate further communication amongst psychoanalytic psychotherapists by means of publications, newsletters, scientific conferences and other meetings.
6.2.5
to facilitate the collection, provision, maintenance and spread of information and knowledge relating to psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
6.2.6
to establish, carry on, promote, organise, finance and encourage the study, writing, production, publication and distribution of books, periodicals, monographs, pamphlets, articles and other literature and to arrange meetings and lectures and to arrange for the reading of papers and holding of seminars or discussions and to circulate any periodicals and literature that may be deemed advisable by the Board and to provide library facilities.
6.2.7
to undertake and execute any charitable trusts which may lawfully be undertaken by the Federation.
6.2.8
to borrow or raise money on such terms and on such security as may be thought fit provided that the Board shall not undertake permanent trading activities in raising funds for the said objects.
6.2.9
to establish and support or aid in the establishment and support of any associations or institutions in accordance with the objects in ARTICLE 6.1 and to subscribe or guarantee money for charitable purposes.
6.2.10
to join or affiliate or cooperate with and subscribe to any association, society or corporation and to purchase or otherwise acquire and undertake all or any part of the property, assets, liabilities and engagements of any such association, society or corporation.
6.2.11
to do all such other things as shall further the said objects or any of them, but not to do anything which will breach national laws.
ARTICLE 7
Membership
Membership shall be open to all psychoanalytic psychotherapy organisations in Europe. Exceptionally an organisation situated outside the European borders may be accepted if its application for membership has been accepted by the Board.
All applications for membership will be approved by the Section Chair and Board member of that Section and will be ratified at a meeting of the full Board.
7.1. Types of Membership
There are different levels of membership:
7.1.1 Full Members
Full members of a Section are:
7.1.1.1
Those organisations that have training standards corresponding to the standards of the Federation.
7.1.1.2
Those organisations that intend to, but do not yet have the required training standards of the EFPP, but who have a core group of at least six persons who are both trained to the standards of the EFPP and providing training activities in their organisations.
7.1.2 Associate Members
7.1.2.1
Those organisations that do not yet have training standards that correspond to the EFPP bylaws for that Section defined under Article 10 and do not meet the further preconditions mentioned in 7.1.1.2.
7.1.2.2
Those who however have such training standards but do not yet have a core group of at least six persons trained to the standards and who are active in training within those organisations.
7.1.3 Observers
Observers are those organisations which are at a preliminary stage of application for EFPP membership.
Organisations may remain with observer status for a period of 2 years after which it will be reviewed by the Board.
7.2 Rights and obligations
7.2.1
All full members from one Section and one country jointly appoint up to 2 Delegates. The Delegates shall be qualified to the standards laid out in the The Delegates of full members have voting rights in their Section Meeting and in the Delegates’ Meeting. They can be elected on to the Board.
7.2.2
All associate members from one Section and one country may jointly send up to 2 Delegates to their Section Meeting and the Delegates’ Meeting. The Delegates of associate members do not have voting rights and may not be elected on to the Board.
7.2.3
Observers have no voting rights and may not be elected onto the EFPP Observers may attend the Section Meeting and the Delegates’ Meeting.
7.3 Affiliated Institutions
EFPP will seek affiliation with other European Psychoanalytic and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy institutions. Such affiliation will be to promote the objects of the Federation as laid down in Article 6.1 and to develop and foster the relationship between international psychoanalytically oriented societies, organisations or groups and exceptionally with organisations outside Europe. Institutions and organisations who wish to establish links to the EFPP would become “Institutions affiliated with the EFPP”. Their representatives will be invited to the Delegates´ Meeting (without voting rights) and to other relevant meetings to discuss matters of common interest.
ARTICLE 8
National EFPP Networks
8.1
National EFPP Networks are umbrella organisations which gather more than one organisation under their roof. Their aim is to promote and persue the EFPP objects described in Article 6 of the constitution on the national level in the given country.
In countries with already existing National EFPP Networks applications for EFPP membership have to go to that National Network which will then contact the Board for a final decision. If the applying organisation meets the standards of the EFPP laid down in the bylaws of the given Section should be accepted by the National EFPP Network, followed by the ratification of the EFPP Board. This is also the case if the standards of the National EFPP Network exceed the EFPP standards. In case of conflict the EFPP Board ist the final arbiter.
The National EFPP Network provides membership for the four Sections corresponding to the existing EFPP structure.
ARTICLE 9
Board
9.1
The affairs of the Federation shall be managed by the Board, which shall consist of the following voting members:
Two Delegates from each of the four Sections of the Federation elected by the Section Meeting (according to Article 11.1) and a President of the Board elected separately and directly by the Delegates. The election of the President shall be on the basis of a single majority of votes at the Delegates´ Meeting. Nominations for the President must be received in writing by the Honorary Secretary of the Federation at least three months prior to the Delegates´ Meeting, and shall be sent to the Delegates at least two months prior to the meeting.
9.2
9.2.1
Subject to paragraphs 3, 9.4 and 9.5 below, all members of the Board shall hold office for a period of four years from the date of their election and shall be reeligible for up to one further term. The President will be eligible for no more than two consecutive terms of four years.
9.2.2
The Board will appoint its own members to the positions necessary for its functioning and may co-opt additional members for any particular task the Board decides is in the interest of the Federation. The Board may co-opt members to fill casual vacancies until the next normal The number of co-opted members shall not exceed 1/3 of the total Board.
9.3
Members of the Board may resign by giving notice in writing to the Honorary Secretary.
9.4
Members of the Board may be removed by a resolution of the Section that elected them.
9.5
Board members cease to be members if the organisation they represent as a Delegate is expelled from the Federation.
9.6
The Board shall convene not less than twice a year and the President, or in his/her absence, the Vice President, or five members of the Board may call a special meeting of the Board. The Board shall call a Delegates´ Meeting at least every two years.
A Delegates´ Meeting shall also be called if the Honorary Secretary receives a request in writing for such a meeting signed by one third of the Federation’s Delegates.
9.7
At the Delegates´ Meeting the business shall include the election of the Board and of the President and the appointment of an Independent Examiner to audit the accounts and the consideration of the general report of the Board and the audited accounts.
9.8
The Board shall have the final authority to determine training standards and ethics and to determine membership of the Federation.
9.9
The Board shall have the power to make bylaws for the purpose of carrying out its functions.
9.10
The Board may from time to time appoint working parties as may be deemed necessary, and may determine their terms of reference, powers, duration and composition provided that no working party may be given power to co-opt more than one fourth of its total membership and provided that all acts and proceedings of any such working party shall be fully and promptly reported to the Board.
9.11
The Board shall have the power to appoint and dismiss a paid Administrative Secretary and such other employees of the Federation, not being members of the Board as it may from time to time determine, or to arrange with any other organisation for the provision of administrative services.
9.12
The Board shall take its decisions by a simple majority of those present and voting.
ARTICLE 10
Organisation into Sections
The Federation will be composed of four Sections:
10.1
representing individual adult psychoanalytic psychotherapy
10.2
representing child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy
10.3
representing couple and family psychoanalytic
10.4
representing group analytic psychotherapy
Each Section will be autonomous in defining its own training standards for the Federation. These standards will form part of the bylaws (subject to 9.8).
ARTICLE 11
The Sections
Sections shall meet as frequently as they decide and at times of Delegates´ Meetings of the Federation called by the Board.
11.1
Each Section’s voting membership shall be composed of up to 2 Delegates from full members per country. Elections for the Board shall be on the basis of simple majority of votes cast by the Section’s voting membership at the Section Meeting coinciding with that of the Delegates’ Meeting.
11.2
Each Section shall appoint a Chair of the Section at the Section Meeting coinciding with the Delegates´ Meeting.
ARTICLE 12
Finances
12.1
The Board shall have power to obtain, collect and receive money and funds by way of contributions, donations, subscriptions, deeds of covenant, legacies, grants or any other lawful method, and to accept and receive gifts of property of any description.
12.2
The Board shall determine the level of subscriptions and require payment of fees within such time as the Board shall determine but not less than one month. No Delegate shall be entitled to vote or take part in any deliberations if the member of which he/she is a Delegate has not paid its dues within a period of three months following demand. The Board shall also have the power to expel a member for non-payment of fees.
12.3
The income and property of the Federation, whencesoever derived, shall be applied solely towards the objects of the Federation as set forth in Article 6.1. No portion thereof shall be paid or transferred directly or indirectly by way of dividend, bonus or otherwise howsoever by way of profit to any member of the Board. Nothing herein shall prevent the payment in good faith of reasonable and proper remuneration to any servant of the Board not being a member of the Board, or the payment to members of the Board or any working party appointed under Article 9.10 herefore reasonable and proper out of pocket expenses.
12.4
The financial year shall run from 1st October to 30th September. At least once in every financial year the accounts of the Federation shall be audited by an Independent Examiner, subject to the rules of the Charity Commission and shall be submitted for consideration at the Delegates´ Meeting.
12.5
The funds of the Charity including all donations, contributions and bequests shall be paid into an account operated by the Board in the name of the Charity at such bank the Board shall from time to time decide. All payments drawn from the account must be signed by at least two persons authorised by the Board, at least one of whom must be a Board member.
ARTICLE 13
Dissolution
The Federation may be dissolved by a resolution passed by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting at a Special Delegates´ Meeting convened for the purpose of which 21 days notice shall have been given to the Delegates. Such resolution may give instructions for the disposal of any assets held by or in the name of the Federation, provided that if any property remains after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities such property shall not be paid or distributed among the members of the Federation but shall be given or transferred to such other charitable institution or institutions having objects similar to some or all of the objects of the Federation as the Federation may determine and if and in so far as effect cannot be given to this provision then to some other charitable purpose.
ARTICLE 14
Amendments to the Constitution
Alteration to this Constitution shall receive the assent of two thirds of the members present and voting at the regular or Special Delegates´ Meeting. A resolution for the alteration of the Constitution must be received in writing by the Honorary Secretary at least three months before the meeting at which the resolution is to be brought forward. At least two months clear notice of such a meeting must be given in writing by the Honorary Secretary to the membership and must include notice of the alteration proposed. Provided that no alteration to Article 6.1 (objects), Article 13 (dissolution) or this clause shall take effect until the approval in writing to the Charity Commissioners or other authority having charitable jurisdiction shall have been obtained, no alteration shall be made which would have the effect of causing the Federation to cease to be a charity in law.