Members
2. There shall be no limit to the number of Members of the Association.
3. There shall be the following classes of Members of the Association
- a. Ordinary Members,
- b. Honorary Members,
- c. such other classes of membership as the Association upon the
recommendation of the Council may, subject to these Articles and the Bye-Laws, from time to time determine,
In accordance with Article 3c., the following additional classes of Members shall be introduced:
- i. every candidate for admission as an associate member shall be either a person who is not a national of a Member State, but who has his place of business or employment in a Member State and is entitled to practice as a Professional Representative before the Trade Marks Registry of the Member State in which he has his place of business or employment, or a person who is entitled to practice as a Professional Representative before the Trade Marks Registry of the country outside the EC in which he has his place of business or employment, and in each case, unless he is so entitled by possession of a special professional qualification, has habitually so practised for at least five years, and be involved in the Trade mark matters of the EC or Member States of the EC, and be sponsored by two Ordinary Members;
- ii. every candidate for admission as an affiliate member shall be a person who is, otherwise than as a Professional Representative, involved in or responsible for the Trade mark matters in the EC or Member States of the EC or Member States of the EC, by virtue of his activity or employment inside or outside the EC, and be sponsored by two Ordinary Members;
- iii. every candidate for admission as a conference member shall be a person who, not otherwise being a Member of the Association, wishes to attend the annual conference of the Association Members, unless in the meantime elected to another category of membership, shall cease to be Members of the Association at the end of the calendar year in which they became Members;
- iv. every candidate for admission as a student member shall be a national of one of the Member States, shall be an undergraduate or post-graduate undertaking a full time course of study at a university in a Member State, shall have an interest in the law of trade marks and designs, and be sponsored by two Ordinary Members;
- v. every candidate for admission as a recently graduated member shall be a national of one of the Member States, shall have completed a full time course of study at and graduated from a university in a Member State within three years prior to the date of the candidate’s application for membership of the Association, shall have an interest in the law of trade marks and designs and be sponsored by two Ordinary Members PROVIDED ALWAYS that a person’s status as a recently graduated Member shall expire at the end of the calendar year in which the third anniversary of his or her said graduation occurs; and
- vi. every candidate for admission as a retired member shall have been an Ordinary Member or an associate Member or an affiliate Member for a continuous period of not less than five years and be no longer active in trade mark practice.
4. Every candidate for membership shall comply with requirements for admission contained in these Articles and in the Bye-Laws and, in addition, before he is admitted as a Member the Council shall satisfy themselves that the candidate is of good character and repute and by reason of his profession or employment is in all respects a fit and proper person to be admitted a Member.
5. Ordinary Members
- 5.1 Every candidate for admission as an Ordinary Member shall (subject to paragraph 5.2 below):
- a. be a national of one of the Member States,
- b. have his place of business or employment in a Member State,
and,
- c.
- i. before the coming into force of any law regulating the entitlement of persons to practise as Professional Representatives before the Office, be entitled to practise as a Professional Representative before the Trade Mark Registry of the Member State in which he has his place of business or employment and, unless he is so entitled by possession of a special professional qualification, have habitually so practised for at least five years; or
- ii. after the coming into force of any such law, be entitled to practise before the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), and such entitlement shall be deemed to exist where the existence of such entitlement is recorded in a Communication of the President of the Office concerning Professional Representation.
- 5.2 During the period of three years immediately following the incorporation of the Association a candidate for admission as an Ordinary Member shall be deemed without limit of time to satisfy the conditions set out in paragraph
5.1(c)(i) above if he is a Member of an organisation for the time being approved in Writing by the Council for the purposes of this paragraph in respect of the Member State in which he has his place of business or employment.
6. The Council shall be empowered at their discretion to admit as an Honorary Member any person who by reason of his special service to trade mark law or practice is in the opinion of the Council worthy of such honour. An Honorary Member who immediately before admission as such was an Ordinary Member shall during his honorary membership continue to have the rights of an Ordinary Member so long as he remains qualified to be admitted as an Ordinary Member.
7. Every application for membership shall be made to the Council upon a form to be provided by the Association, duly completed as regards all particulars therein required. The Council shall accept every application for ordinary membership satisfying the requirements of Articles 5 and 6 above and any further requirements of the Bye-Laws Applications for membership of any class mentioned in Article 3(c) shall be determined in accordance with the Bye-Laws governing such class.
8. Withdrawal
- 8.1 Any Member may withdraw from the Association by giving one month’s notice in Writing of his intention so to do and, upon the expiration of such notice, he shall (subject to paragraph 8.2 below) cease to be a Member of the Association but shall remain liable for payment of arrears of subscription or other moneys (if any) due to the Association upon his ceasing to be a Member. Where any person who has withdrawn from membership in accordance with this Article seeks readmission, he shall not be required to furnish particulars anterior to the date of his original admission, but must with this exception comply with such of the Bye-Laws and these Articles and such other terms and conditions as the Council may think fit to require in each individual case.
- 8.2 Where, before the expiration of notice given by a Member under paragraph
8.1 above (but either before or after the giving of such notice), proceedings are commenced by the Council under Article 10 for the expulsion or suspension of that Member, the Member shall not cease to be a Member of the Association until:
- a. the expiration of such notice, or
- b. the final determination of such proceedings, whichever shall be the later, provided always that, in the event that such proceedings result in an order for the expulsion of the Member, any date of expulsion specified in such order shall be the date when his membership shall cease notwithstanding this Article.
9. A Member who for any cause ceases to satisfy the qualifications for admission to membership of his class shall cease to be a Member.
10. The Council may in accordance with the Bye-Laws expel a Member from the Association or suspend his membership.