Art. 1 – Effective and associate members
The admission application must be filled in using the relevant form, available upon request from the Secretariat of the Association, enclosing a copy of the applicant’s CV,
detailing the candidate’s professional commitment in Medical Oncology. The application shall be supported by two effective members, guaranteeing for the activities described in said curriculum vitae. Admission applications shall be examined by the Board of Directors and, if approved, shall be submitted to the Assembly for ratification, after presentation of the list of applicants. While waiting for their application to be ratified by the AIOM Members’ Assembly, candidates will still be entitled to receive all information documents concerning the activities of the Association, and the username that they may use to generate their passwords to access the reserved area of the AIOM website. Applicants for effective membership, however, shall have no right to vote until the Assembly has ratified their application.
Art. 2 – Corresponding and honorary members
The proposal shall be made and submitted to the Secretariat, together with the relevant documents, by seven effective members. It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to evaluate said proposal and submit it to the Assembly for approval.
Art. 3 – Membership fee
The membership fee, the amount of which shall be defined by the Board of Directors from time to time, shall be paid to the Secretariat by the end of June each year. In the absence of payment for more than one year despite the reminder sent by the Treasurer, members shall be deemed in default. The Board of Directors may decide that the yearly membership fee shall be reduced for residents, associate members and subjects that are both AIOM and ESMO members. In the sole discretion of the Board of Directors, defaulting members for more than one year may be suspended pursuant to point b) of Art. 5 of the Association Statute.
Art. 4 – Election of the Board of Directors
The nominations for the election of the President-elect, the Treasurer and the eight Directors must reach the Secretary by June 30 of the year in which elections are scheduled; all members will promptly be notified of the candidates’ list.
Only applications from members who have duly paid their membership fee for the current year shall be eligible.
Applications for more than one function are not permitted.
Candidates may present their electoral program to the other members both by publishing it on the AIOM website, and by sending it via e-mail, all of this via the AIOM Secretariat. Comments and remarks about the programs may be communicated to all members via the Secretariat (each member and each candidate will have two messages available). The confrontation between candidates and/or members shall formally end on the day prior to the start of the voting operations.
Clearly, candidates and members may engage in pre-election discussions using different channels than the above-mentioned ones.
The election of the President, of the Secretary, of the Treasurer and of the eight Directors shall take place by electronic voting, using a special computerized procedure that ensures secret and personal vote.
All the members who have duly paid their membership fee by June 30 of the current year shall have the right to vote. Effective members who have failed to pay their membership fee by said date may still be allowed to vote, provided they can demonstrate that they have paid their fee within the electronic poll closing deadline. Payment may also be made at the meeting, provided this is within the electronic poll closing deadline.
The AIOM Secretary shall notify the members in good time, by indicating said deadline in the letter calling the meeting with Board appointments on the agenda.
Before the opening of the voting procedures, the Board of Directors shall appoint an Electoral Commission at the earliest meeting, consisting of one President and two other members, chosen from among the members that are up-to-date with the payment of their fee. The Electoral Commission may also be composed of members of the serving Board of Directors. In any case, the President and the members of the Electoral Commission must not be standing for said election. The Electoral Commission shall vouch for orderly elections and settle any objections or issues pertaining to said election (tied vote, eligibility criteria, etc.) The commission shall also be in charge of electronic vote count.
In accordance with the provisions set out in the Statute, the notice calling the Assembly having the appointment of the Board of Directors on the agenda shall indicate the opening and closing date and time of the electronic poll, as well as the voting instructions. The electronic poll shall in any case be closed by the start of said meeting.
To cast their electronic vote, all voting members shall connect to the AIOM site, log on to their personal area using their credentials and express their preference following the instructions on the website.
One or more polling stations may be set up at the meeting to allow the entitled voters to cast their ballot, no later than the electronic poll closing time, using the same procedures described above, and with the same guarantees.
The computer system is designed so as to assess, preliminarily and automatically, that the member has the right to vote and is up-to-date with the payment of the membership fee. Members failing to meet either of these requirements shall not be entitled to vote.
A single preference vote can be cast for each official position, including Directors.
The identity of the voters will be made anonymous by the computer system, and the ballot selections will be encrypted and sent to the electronic ballot box that is stored on the premises of the company that manages the electronic voting software.
The electronic ballot box can under no circumstances be accessible before the end of the voting operations. Only then, will the company that manages the electronic voting software personally deliver special authentication credentials to the AIOM President, who will in turn deliver them to the President of the Electoral Commission. Said credentials make it possible to decrypt and access the voting results. Those credentials are generated using procedures that preserve their confidentiality until the time they are used.
In any case, the electronic ballot box shall be opened at the time of the meeting during which the appointment of the new Board of Directors is scheduled. The results of the vote shall be concurrently be disclosed by the President of the Electoral Commission.
In the event of a tied vote between candidates for the same position (including Directors), not allowing for election, a second ballot will take place, following the same procedures and methods laid down for the election of the Board of Directors. The voting period for the second ballot should not exceed 15 days.
The date of a new meeting for second-ballot counting, to be held in the 90 following days, will be set during the meeting having the Board appointments on the agenda.
The members entitled to vote in said second ballot will be the same that were entitled to vote in the previous election of the Board of Directors.
Art. 5 – Representatives of associate members
The election of the representatives referred to in Art. 9 of the Statute is allowed for the disciplines set out in Art. 4 of said Statute, for which at least thirty members have joined the Association.
It will be the Secretary’s responsibility to call a meeting of the associate members of each discipline having attained the required number of thirty members for the election of their representative.
The representative shall be divested of authority at the expiration of the Board of Directors in office at the time of their election, and may not be elected for more than two consecutive terms.
Art. 6 – Procedures for the replacement of members elected to office within the Association in case of resignation or inability to continue their term
Should any member elected in the National Board of Directors or as National Treasurer, National Secretary and President-elect resign or be unable to continue their term of office, the member whose position in the national elections immediately follows that of said member shall complete their term.
If there is no member in the immediate next position, the replacing member shall be chosen by majority within the Board of Directors, by the Board itself.
In case of renunciation or permanent impossibility of the President, the President-elect will complete their mandate taking over said role and still maintaining their own. The President-elect taking over the role of President will complete said term and will regularly take on the role of President in the next term.
In case of resignation or permanent impossibility of the President-elect to fulfil the mandate and take on the presidency for the two-year term, new elections shall be held for the function of President. For said round of ballot, the President-in-office and the President-elect for the following two-year term will be elected.
In case of renunciation or permanent impossibility of the Regional Coordinator, the Regional Secretary will complete their mandate taking over said role and still maintaining their own.
The Regional Treasurer, the Regional Secretary and the members of the Board of Directors of the Regional Sections shall be replaced by the members whose position in the regional elections immediately follows that of said members. If there is no member in the immediate next position, the replacing member shall be chosen by majority within the Regional Board of Directors, by the Board itself.
The same procedure shall apply for the representative of associate members.
Proper replacements for the Coordinator and the members of the Working Groups will be appointed by the Board of Directors, on the proposal of the President.
Art. 7 – Meetings of the Board of Directors
Regional coordinators may attend the meetings of the Board of Directors at least once a year. The representatives of effective members shall be called to attend those meetings as well.
Art. 8 – National Congress
Having now reached considerable attendance, the annual scientific meeting shall always be held in the cities of Milan, Rome and Naples, starting with Milan in 2009. The date and the duration of said meeting are decided upon by the Board of Directors. The members are invited to bring forward their relevant proposals, both during the previous meetings of the Assembly, and directly to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall establish an Organizing Committee and a Scientific Committee.
The President of AIOM holding office in the year of the congress shall serve as President of the congress.
The Scientific Committee and the Organizing Committee are composed partly of members of the Board of Directors and partly of external members.
The President of AIOM holding office at the time the Scientific Committee was set up shall serve as President of the Scientific Committee.
The President-elect holding office at the time the Organizing Committee was set up shall serve as President of the Organizing Committee. Each member has the right to present one single speech, but may co-author other papers presented by another member. The summary of accepted papers is distributed in a printed copy to the attendees of the Scientific Meeting.
Art. 9 – Journals of the Association
Every 4 years, the Board of Directors shall establish the official journal of the Association, after prior consultation with the Members’ Assembly. The journal is distributed to all the members.
Art. 10 – Address book
With support from the Secretariat, and in compliance with the current privacy policies, the Association shall periodically update and make available to its associates the members’ address book, including the overall professional details of all members.
Art. 11 – Scientific patronage requests
Scientific patronage requests shall be submitted to the Secretariat of the Association for review by the Board of Directors, along with the relevant documents, within 30 days prior to the event. Scientific patronage shall be accompanied by a credit system-based assessment . Under proven urgent circumstances, the President or the Secretary duly delegated by the President may grant patronage, which will be ratified at the earliest subsequent meeting of the Board of Directors. Patronage shall imply no financial burden or obligation of any kind for the Association.
