Statutes of the
International Mycological Association (IMA)
with seat in Birmensdorf (ZH), Switzerland

 

Art. 1 Name and registered seat

Under the name

”Internationale Mykologische Gesellschaft (IMA)
International Mycological Association (IMA)”

an association exists as defined in article 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code having its registered seat in Birmensdorf (ZH) (Switzerland).

The IMA is the section for general mycology of the “International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS)”.

The IMA is registered at the Commercial Register of the Canton of Zürich (Switzerland).

Art. 2 Purpose

The purpose of the IMA, as a non-profit organization, is:

  1. To encourage cooperation, collaboration in international scientific research and education in all aspects of mycology;
  2. To encourage the sustainable use of fungi for the benefit of humankind and the environment;
  3. To facilitate the exchange of ideas and information on all aspects of mycology;
  4. To facilitate the exchange of information between Mycology Organizations;
  5. To publish academic journals covering all aspects of mycology;
  6. To convene an International Mycological Congress (IMC) at regular intervals.

Art. 3 Membership, Categories of Membership, Voting Rights

Membership is open to all individuals and legal entities with an interest in mycology.

The Council decides on the admission of members and introduces all new members to the next General Assembly.

There are the following categories of membership:

I. ORDINARY MEMBERS
- Individual Members
- Student Members

II. COLLECTIVE MEMBERS
- Regional Member Mycological Organizations (RMMO)
- Sustaining Member Mycological Organizations (SMMO)
- Member Mycological Organizations (MMO)

III. HONORARY MEMBERS

I. ORDINARY MEMBERS
Individual Members – are mycologists or other qualified individuals by virtue of their work or accessory activities in mycology who pay their dues regularly and do not belong to another membership category.

Individual Members pay an annual fee set by the General Assembly.

Individual Members have voting rights in the General Assembly and are eligible for all offices of the association

Student Members – are students in any mycology related field. Their membership is approved by the Council after submission of proof of student status.

Student Members pay a reduced annual fee set by the General Assembly.

Student members have voting rights in the General Assembly and are not eligible for offices of the association.

II. COLLECTIVE MEMBERS
Regional Member Mycological Organizations (RMMO) – are regional organizations representing mycology in Africa, Asia, Australasia and Oceania, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as North America. They may hold additional scientific meetings in the interim periods between IMCs. RMMO comprise a national representative of each MMO in the region.

RMMO pay no annual fee.

A single voting representative of each RMMO is approved by the IMA General Assembly to the IMA Executive Committee for a maximum of two terms, with a term defined as the interval between successive IMCs as defined in Article 10. This representative holds no additional voting position within the IMA.

Sustaining Member Mycological Organizations (SMMO) – are Member Mycological Organizations, who chose to pay a sustaining annual fee to support IMA work and are admitted to IMA upon acceptance by the General Assembly.

SMMO pay a sustaining annual fee set by the General Assembly, which supports the work of the IMA.

Each SMMO appoints a single voting representative to the Executive Committee for a maximum of two terms. This representative holds no additional voting position within IMA.

Member Mycological Organizations (MMO) – MMO are organizations with interests in any aspect of mycology (for example National Mycology Societies, Private Companies).

MMO pay an annual fee set by the General Assembly.

MMO may appoint a single non-voting representative to the Executive Committee for a maximum of two terms.

III. HONORARY MEMBERS
Honorary Members (such as IMA Fellows, Honorary Presidents) – Honorary Members are mycologists and other qualified individuals who have distinguished themselves in any field of mycology and are appointed by the General Assembly upon nomination by the Council. All IMA members may submit proposals for honorary membership to the Council two months before the General Assembly.

The appointment of Honorary Members must be included in the agenda of the General Assembly, with mention of their names and reasons for appointment.

Honorary Members do not pay any annual membership fee and have a vote in the General Assembly.

Art. 4 Termination of Membership

Membership shall be rescinded for reason of:

  1. Death.
  2. Resignation – initiated by submitting a resignation letter to the Treasurer.
  3. Failing to pay the individual membership fee, or the SMMO or MMO annual fees, within three months of a written reminder by the Treasurer.
  4. Expulsion – a member can be expelled for conduct that conflicts with the purpose, written principles or policies, or legal obligations of the association. Expulsion may be recommended by two-thirds of the Executive Committee and the Council or at least three members of the association, who must submit in writing the reason for the request and their recommendation to the Council. Any expulsion must be ratified by the General Assembly.

Art. 5 Bodies of the Association

The bodies of the Association are:

  • The General Assembly
  • The Council
  • The Executive Committee
  • The auditors, provided such have to be appointed in accordance with Art 69b of the ZGB

Art. 6 The General Assembly

The supreme body of the Association is the General Assembly, which normally is convened by the Council at each IMC.

An extraordinary General Assembly may be convened by the President of the Association on orders of the Council or Executive Committee or at the written request supported by at least one fifth of the members.

The General Assembly shall be announced to all members at least four months prior to the date of the General Assembly.

The Agenda shall be sent electronically to all members 30 days prior of the date of the General Assembly.

The Chair of the General Assembly shall be held by the President, or in its absence the General Secretary. If the General Secretary is unable to fulfil this function, for this particular meeting a chairperson selected among the members of the Council or the Executive Committee shall be elected by the General Assembly by a simple majority.

The Chairperson shall designate a secretary and, if necessary, one or more scrutineers.

The General Assembly shall pass its resolutions and carry out elections with a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the members unless these Statutes stipulate otherwise. Abstentions and blank votes will not be considered in the calculation of the majority. Proxy votes are not allowed.

The Council may, at the request of the Executive Committee, call for a written or electronic ballot outside the limits of the General Assembly.

The General Assembly has the following powers:

  1. Approval of the minutes of the last General Assembly.
  2. Acceptance of the report of the president.
  3. Approval of the Treasurer’s report for the last accounting period.
  4. Approval of the Auditors report and decision to sign off on the accounts as defined in Article 9.
  5. Approval of the membership dues of the ordinary members and the annual fees of the collective members.
  6. Ratification of the budget.
  7. Ratification of the expulsion of members as defined in Article 4.
  8. Election of Honorary Members as defined in Article 3.
  9. Approval of the actions of the Council as defined in Article 7.
  10. Ratification of recommendations by the Council, Executive Committee and proposals by the members (as announced in the agenda).
  11. Determination and amendment of the Statutes as defined in Article 12.
  12. Dismissal of the Council, of the Executive Committee, of the internal auditors and of the auditors.
  13. Election of the members of the Executive Committee and of the two internal auditors.
  14. Dissolution of the Association as defined in Article 13.

Art. 7 The Council

The Council is the managing body of the Association.

The Council consists of:

  • The President
  • The President-elect
  • The Past-President
  • The General Secretary
  • The Treasurer
  • The Chair of the previous IMC
  • The Chair of the next IMC

The President shall call for nominations for the President-elect, the General Secretary and the Treasurer 6 months before the next General Assembly via the IMA webpage and by informing the Collective Members.

Candidates for President-elect should normally have served on the Executive Committee for at least one term. Each nomination must be supported by two Collective Members. The nominations must be received by the General Secretary 4 months before the next General Assembly.

The election of the members of the Council takes place no later than 2 months before the next General Assembly by written or electronic ballot.

The President-elect will assume that position at the end of next General
Assembly and will automatically become the President at the end of the
following General Assembly. The President automatically becomes the
Past-President when the term is finished.

The General Secretary and the Treasurer both can be re-elected for
additional terms.

Should any Council position become vacant during the four-year period, the Executive Committee may elect replacement members as needed.

The Council has the following duties:

  1. To represent the Association to third parties and take care of day-to-day business.
  2. To adopt resolutions in any matter not being the responsibility of the General Assembly.
  3. To sign official documents of the Association.
  4. To make public statements on behalf of the Association.
  5. To call for proposals and bids to host the next IMC.
  6. To convene the General Assembly.
  7. To prepare the President’s report for the General Assembly.
  8. To prepare financial reports as required.
  9. To appoint the Editor-in-Chief of the Association’s publication(s).
  10. To advise on the selection of the Members of the Publication Committee.
  11. To select the publisher of the Association’s journal(s).
  12. To nominate two internal Auditors to be elected by the General Assembly.
  13. To oversee the overall organization of the next IMC.
  14. To advise on the scientific programme of the next IMC.
  15. To interact with the member organizations.
  16. To ratify the selection of the IMA award winners.
  17. To decide on the admission of members.

The Council decides on the signing authority of its members.

The Council may commission the performance of specific tasks to third parties. However, it retains overall supervision and responsibility.

Such specific tasks are in particular: Publications of the Association. The Editor-in-Chief attends all Council meetings but has no voting rights.

The President has the following duties:

  1. To represent the Association to third parties.
  2. To manage the day-to-day business of the Association.
  3. To chair Council and Executive Committee meetings.
  4. To call for nominations for the Council and the Executive Committee.
  5. To monitor the nomination process for Executive Committee, members and appointment of representatives of RMMO, SMMO, and MMO.
  6. To oversee the bidding and selection process for the IMC host and venue.
  7. To oversee the progress of the organization of the next IMC.
  8. To chair the General Assembly.

The President-elect has the following duties:

  1. To gain corporate knowledge and to support the President.

The Past-President has the following duties:

  1. To maintain corporate knowledge and to support the President
    and President-elect.

The General Secretary has the following duties:

  1. To manage all administrative issues linked to the conduct of the Association’s business.
  2. To take minutes of the administrative meetings of the Association.
  3. To receive and distribute to the Council pre-proposals and full congress bids for IMC congresses.
  4. To manage archival documents for the Association.
  5. To manage nominations for the Council and the Executive Committee.

The Treasurer has the following duties:

  1. To manage the Association’s finances.
  2. To make regular payments approved by the Council or the Executive Committee or the General Assembly.
  3. To issue membership reminders.
  4. To issue annual fee reminders to SMMO and MMO.
  5. To be accountable to the internal Auditors and the General Assembly.
  6. To present annual accounts and a budget for the following year to the Council.
  7. To prepare the financial report for the internal Auditors.
  8. To prepare budget proposal for the next accounting period

The Chair of the previous IMC has the following duties:

  1. To maintain corporate knowledge from the past IMC.
  2. To assist the Chair of the next IMC.
  3. To prepare a final report of the past IMC, as stipulated in Article 10.
  4. To submit a financial report (full account of the income and expenditures of the IMC) to the General Secretary no later than 90 days after the conclusion of the past IMC.
  5. To refund to the Treasurer the “seed funding” (if requested and received), and to transfer to him, after all expenses have been paid, the membership fees collected as part of the registration fee as well as any remaining funds.

The Chair of the next IMC has the following duties:

  1. To chair the national and international organizing committee of the next IMC.
  2. To chair the international scientific advisory board of the next IMC.
  3. To oversee all aspects of the organization and the scientific program of the next IMC.
  4. To oversee fundraising for the organization of the next IMC.
  5. To negotiate and sign contracts with venues and/or Professional Conferences Organizers required to deliver the Congress.

Art. 8 The Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is the strategic body of the association.

The Executive Committee is composed of:

  1. Twelve elected members, nominated by ordinary, collective or honorary members of the Association, serving a maximum of two terms, with half of them normally being replaced at the end of each term. They are elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation by the Council, after nominations from the membership have been received by the General Secretary 4 months before the next General Assembly, based on an equal or balanced representation of all geographic regions, major subdisciplines of mycology, and gender balance.
  2. A representative of each Regional Member Mycological Organization (RMMO), representing mycology in Africa, Asia, Australasia and Oceania, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and North America.
  3. A representative of each Sustaining Member Mycological Organization (SMMO).

The Executive Committee has the following duties:

  1. To liaise with national and regional mycological member organizations in their countries or regions.
  2. To advise the Council on all matters of the Association as appropriate.
  3. To collect input for the organisation of the scientific activities of the Association.
  4. To advise on the scientific program of the next IMC.
  5. To nominate Chairs of specific committees as appropriate (e.g. for IMA awards, for liaison with national mycological organizations, etc.).
  6. To manage and maintain the Association's webpage by nominating a webpage administrator(s).
  7. To nominate the Editor-in-Chief for the Association’s publication(s) for approval by the Council.
  8. To advise on the selection of Publisher(s) of the Association’s publication(s).
  9. To liaise with the mycological name registries (currently: MycoBank, Index Fungorum, Fungal Names).
  10. To liaise with the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF), Nomenclature Committee for Fungi (NCF), and the International Commission of Yeasts (ICY) and other committees and organizations of the International Union of Microbiology Societies (IUMS) and International Union of Biological Societies (IUBS).
  11. To discuss proposed changes to the statutes.
  12. To advise on the involvement of IMA in teaching, research and social aspects of mycology and related aspects.

Art. 9 Finances

Pursuant to its purpose IMA is empowered to control the funds (i.e. the membership dues of the ordinary members, the annual fee of the collective members and other revenues i.e. interest on funds held,proceeds from publications, surpluses from IMCs, and bequests made to the association) to be used to support all aspects of mycology.

The expenses of the IMA must be approved by the Council.

The membership dues of the ordinary members and the annual fee of the collective members are set by the General Assembly.

The official currency is the Swiss Franc (CHF).

The Association's accounts are audited by two internal Auditors, who are nominated by the Council and are elected by the General Assembly for the duration of one term. They can be re-elected for additional terms.

The Auditors prepare an Auditor’s report to be presented to and approved by the General Assembly.

Art. 10 International Mycological Congress (IMC)

The IMA convenes the International Mycological Congress (IMC) at intervals determined by the Council on the recommendation by the Executive Committee. Currently this interval is four years.

The Council accepts bids for hosting IMCs from all collective members.

The Council shall solicit pre-proposals for the next IMC no later than 18 months before the date of the next General Assembly. The pre-proposals must be received by the General Secretary no later than 10 months before the date of the current IMC, to be reviewed by the Council and the Executive Committee.

Full congress bids to host the next IMC must be received by the General Secretary no later than six months before the Current IMC and will be distributed to all members of the Council and Executive Committee.

If the General Secretary is involved in any way with the submission of a congress pre-proposal or a full congress bid, the President will assume the administration of the bidding process.

Proposals for the venue and date of the next IMC must be approved by the Council and the Executive Committee no later than three months before the current IMC.

The President and/or the General Secretary or a designated Member of the Council or Executive Committee will evaluate the selected venue.

The selection of the venue takes place with the election of the Chair of the next IMC no later than 2 months before the next General Assembly by written or electronic ballot.

The Council will appoint a minimum of one and a maximum of three The organizers of an IMC are eligible to request “seed funding” from the IMA to be used to initiate the organization of the IMC. This should be refunded to the IMA no later than 90 days after the conclusion of the IMC.embers of the Organizing Committee of the next IMC.

The organizing committee has the following duties:

  1. To appoint a professional Conference Organizer if needed.
  2. To obtain adequate indemnity and liability insurance for the IMC.
  3. To reserve a venue.
  4. To establish a national and international Scientific Committee.
  5. To call for suggestions for symposia, plenary speakers and workshops from all MMO.
  6. To submit an outline of the scientific program to the General Secretary for circulation and comment by the Council and Executive Committee at least 15 months prior to the planned IMC.
  7. To include the individual membership fee in the registration as set by the General Assembly.
  8. To provide the IMA two time slots for joint Council and Executive Committee meetings (one before and one after the IMC) and a time slot for the General Assembly during the IMC at no extra cost.
  9. To provide one or more time slots for Nomenclature Sessions at no extra cost.
  10. To provide the Council with semi-annual updates on the progress of the organization of the IMC.

Art. 11 Publications

The IMA currently owns one academic journal, IMA Fungus.

IMA Fungus is the journal in which formal proposals to change the nomenclatural rules of fungal names are published, as authorized by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, and in which revisions agreed by IMC Nomenclatural Sessions are published.

The activities and editorial policies of IMA Fungus and/or other publications are overseen by the Publication Committee.

The Publication Committee is responsible for negotiating or amending publication agreements with publishers.

The Editor(s)-in-Chief of the association’s publication(s) has the following duties:

  1. To develop the Association’s publication(s) in accordance with the Association’s objectives.
  2. To manage the day-to-day business of the publication(s).
  3. To oversee the overall editorial process of the publication(s).
  4. To appoint Senior and Associate Editors.
  5. To liaise with the Publisher(s).
  6. To present an annual progress report to the Executive Committee.

Art. 12 Statutes

The statutes are determined and amended by the General Assembly.

The resolution of the statutes requires a two-thirds majority of all members present and eligible to vote at a General Assembly.

Any proposal to change the statutes must be submitted to the General Secretary at least 3 months before the next General Assembly for circulation amongst the members.

Art. 13 Dissolution of the Association

Motions to dissolve the Association may be proposed by any member of the Council, by any member of the Executive Committee or by at least 10% (ten percent) of the Individual Members.

Any motion to dissolve the Association must be considered in a General Assembly attended by at least three quarters of the total Membership.

Any motion to dissolve the Association must be approved by a two-thirds majority of all members present and eligible to vote at this General Assembly.

In the event of dissolution of the Association and after all outstanding liabilities have been satisfied, the remaining assets shall be used for scientific purposes in the field of mycology as agreed by the dissolving General Assembly.

Art. 14 Final Provisions

Given the international character of the Association, the members agree that Swiss Law shall apply to these Statutes and all other policies as well as other responsibilities associated with their membership.

The regular courts at the registered seat of the association exclusively shall deal with all disputes or claims regarding the association.

These Statutes have been enacted in German with an English translation thereof and the German text shall prevail to resolve confusion or controversy.

Place and Date  

Sydney 11. November 2021

Prof. Dr. Wieland Meyer

Bangkok 11. November 2021

Prof. Dr. Jennifer Luangsa-art

Society