Minute of the EFSM Council Meeting And General Delegates Assembly, Belek-Antalya, Turkey, May 31, 2013-14:00-15:30

Start of the Meeting at 14:00.

Present

A. Georgescu (Romania, representing also L. Jiga as delegate of RSRM, and M. Ionac as EMTRA delegate)
B. Batiston (Italy, representing also S. Geuna as EMTRA delegate)
P. Tos (Italy, representing also M. Innocenti as delegate of ISM)
P. Czarnecki (Poland, replacing the delegate of the PSM, M. Breborowicz)
P. Soucacos (Greece, replacing the delegate of the GSM, A. Beris)
K. Bacakoglu (Turkey, replacing the delegate of the TSM, F. Demirkan)
T. Raatikainen (Scandinavian Group, replacing the delegate, E. Tukiainen)

Absent

A. Muset ( Spain)
S.P. Frostick (UK)
H. Costa (Portugal)

Ph. Valenti (France)
L.T. Jensen (Denmark)
R.G.H. Baumeister (German Speaking Group)

1. Report of the EFSM General Secretary, A. Georgescu

A. Georgescu, as General Secretary, presented a report of the activities since the last Council Meeting in Paris.

Although in the already approved Bylaws is provided an annual Council Meeting and Delegates General Assembly, unfortunately not all the delegates responded positively to the request to participate in this one, some of them saying that this is a Congress for Hand Surgery and not for Microsurgery.

During this period, the website was renewed, and it was found a new administrator in Cluj, Romania.

The Bylaws was modified and completed according to the regulations necessary for the legal registration of the Federation. The new Bylaws was circulated to all the Council Members and Delegates of the National Societies belonging to the Federation, and obtained an unanimous approval, excepting UK which never responded.

All the documents necessary for the legal registration were prepared and sent to all the delegates in the attempt to be finalized by all the societies and brought to the Council Meeting. Unfortunately, no one (excepting Romanian Society) solved this problem. Because the term scheduled for registration is August 2013, the delegates were asked to finalize the documents and send them as soon as possible. The registration is absolutely necessary in the attempt to be able to open a bank account of the Federation. As new items in the Bylaws, which have to be discussed and approved: (a) to establish a fee to be paid by the societies to the EFSM; this item was already circulated to all the delegates and Council Members, and all, excepting one (Denmark Delegate), accepted a fee of 5 Euros per member of every one of the societies; (b) to establish a fee to be paid by the Organizing Committee of the EFSM Congresses to the EFSM as a fix percentage from the income realized from the registration fee.

Following the efforts of the Past General Secretary, Bruno Battiston, and the General Secretary, Alexandru Georgescu, EFSM obtained a permanent sit in the Executive Council of the WSRM. The General Secretary will occupy this sit.

According with the new Bylaws, the societies with less than 100 members will be represented in the Delegates General Assembly by one delegate, and those with more than 100 members by two delegates.

Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery accepted the affiliation of EFSM. So, starting with July 2013:

The Federation shall offer members a reduced subscription rate to the journal, taking their orders and payements. Subscriptions will run on a calendar-year basis and are inclusive of VAT. The rates for 2013 are 271 Euros, what represents a discount of 50% on the current price.
The Federation shall regularly forward to Thieme the names and delivery addresses of members who have ordered the journal for entry into the subscription system and to activate immediate delivery of any back issues to the subscribing members. The transfer of customer data should be in a standard file format and include the full mailing address, and e-mail address.
The Federation will be invoiced twice per year by the Publisher for member subscriptions ordered. The first invoice will be issued in April for all subscriptions entered to date for that given year. A final invoice will be issued in November for any additional subscribers acquired throughout the year. Standard payment terms of 120 days.
The Federation will list JRM as an affiliated publication of the Federation on their website and in membership documentation. The Federation will be able to e-mail the table of contents to all members upon publication of each issue along with information of reduced subscription price and how they can subscribe via the Federation.
Thieme will list the Federation as an affiliated partner of the journal in all print issues, as well as on related Thieme webpages.
The Federation may use up to one page per issue for the publication of Federation news and announcements (unused pages cannot be transferred to other issues).
The Federation may choose to publish their annual meeting abstracts as a supplement to JRM. The price will be based on the number of pages/copies required but as an affiliated society the price quoted shall be at a 50% discount to the regular price.
Will be possible to have some special sections in the JRM to publish groups of papers.

Regarding the XIIth EFSM Congress in Barcelona, 2014, unfortunately we do not know yet the stage of the organization done by Alex Muset. The Congress was not enough advertised until now (no website, no flyers, no presentations, etc). That’s why it is working to develop a special section in the renewed EFSM website dedicated to the Congress. Will do also some flyers to be presented in the upcoming congresses, and especially in Chicago to the WSRM Congress.

The Report was submitted to a vote and was approved unanimously.

2. Bruno Battiston stressed that, according with the Bylaws, the General Secretary has to decide the date and place of the Council Meeting and Delegates General Assembly, and all the delegates should respect this decision and do anything to participate, because they have this responsibility in front of their societies.

3. A. Georgescu proposed a percentage of 10% from the income realized from the registration fee to be paid by the Organizing Committee of each Congress of the Federation.