§ 1 Name and seat of the asso­cia­ti­on 

1. 1. The asso­cia­ti­on bears the name “Inter­na­tio­nal Socie­ty for Pre- and Peri­na­tal Psy­cho­lo­gy and Medi­ci­ne e.V.”. In the fol­lo­wing text the abbre­via­ti­on ISPPM is used.
   2. The regis­tered office of the Asso­cia­ti­on shall be Hei­del­berg.
   3. The Socie­ty shall be ente­red in the regis­ter of asso­cia­ti­ons at the Local Court of Hei­del­berg.
   4. The finan­cial year is the calen­dar year

2 Objec­ti­ves and pur­po­ses of the asso­cia­ti­on 

The asso­cia­ti­on pur­sues exclu­si­ve­ly and direct­ly cha­ri­ta­ble pur­po­ses within the mea­ning of the sec­tion “Tax-pri­vi­le­ged pur­po­ses” of the Ger­man Tax Code §§ 51ff.

§ 2.1 Objec­ti­ves

a) To pro­mo­te a sci­en­ti­fic and huma­ni­ta­ri­an approach to human deve­lo­p­ment, which is unders­tood as a con­ti­nu­um from the time befo­re con­cep­ti­on to the pre­na­tal, birth and post­na­tal pha­ses of life,

b) to empha­si­ze the inse­pa­ra­ble unity of the human being, which always encom­pas­ses all bio­lo­gi­cal, psy­cho­lo­gi­cal, spi­ri­tu­al and social aspects of life,

c) to sup­port rese­arch to streng­then pre- and peri­na­tal health, to coll­ect, docu­ment and publish this rese­arch know­ledge and to pro­mo­te and sup­port rela­ted bran­ches of know­ledge,

d) to deve­lop holi­stic con­cepts of pri­ma­ry pre­ven­ti­on on the basis of this know­ledge and to intro­du­ce them into socie­ty, in par­ti­cu­lar into the pro­fes­sio­nal fields of the spe­cia­list are­as named in the sta­tu­tes, or to pro­mo­te, sup­port and accom­pa­ny their appli­ca­ti­on the­re.

§ 2.2 The pur­po­ses of the Asso­cia­ti­on are imple­men­ted in par­ti­cu­lar by

a) orga­ni­zing natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal con­fe­ren­ces and con­gres­ses on topics of birth cul­tu­re, birth sci­en­ces, pre- and peri­na­tal psy­cho­lo­gy and medi­ci­ne in rese­arch and prac­ti­ce,

b) Public rela­ti­ons and press work, lec­tures, sym­po­sia and publi­ca­ti­ons,

c) Net­wor­king and coope­ra­ti­on, natio­nal­ly and inter­na­tio­nal­ly, with spe­cia­lists and spe­cia­list orga­niza­ti­ons,

d) Sup­port­ing the estab­lish­ment of natio­nal orga­niza­ti­ons with the same pur­po­se,

e) Initia­ting and sup­port­ing rese­arch pro­jects at natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal level,

f) deve­lo­p­ment and imple­men­ta­ti­on of trai­ning and fur­ther edu­ca­ti­on.

§ 3 Non-pro­fit sta­tus

The Asso­cia­ti­on is a non-pro­fit orga­niza­ti­on. It does not pri­ma­ri­ly pur­sue its own eco­no­mic pur­po­ses. The Association’s funds may only be used for the pur­po­ses set out in the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on. The mem­bers shall not recei­ve any pro­fit shares or, in their capa­ci­ty as mem­bers, any other bene­fits from the association’s funds. No per­son may bene­fit from expen­ses that are ali­en to the pur­po­se of the asso­cia­ti­on or from dis­pro­por­tio­na­te­ly high remu­ne­ra­ti­on.

§ 4 Mem­ber­ship

The Exe­cu­ti­ve Board shall deci­de on the writ­ten appli­ca­ti­on for mem­ber­ship.

• Any natu­ral per­son can beco­me a mem­ber of the asso­cia­ti­on.
• A legal enti­ty, e.g. a natio­nal or inter­na­tio­nal asso­cia­ti­on, can beco­me a mem­ber.
  This is repre­sen­ted with voting rights by a per­son dele­ga­ted by this asso­cia­ti­on if this per­son sub­mits a legal­ly valid writ­ten power of att­or­ney.
• Mem­ber­ship ends upon death or resi­gna­ti­on.
• Mem­ber­ships may be sus­pen­ded by reso­lu­ti­on of the Board of Direc­tors or ter­mi­na­ted by exclu­si­on. Reasons may be: vio­la­ti­on of the association’s objec­ti­ves, vio­la­ti­on of pro­fes­sio­nal ethi­cal gui­de­lines or non-pay­ment of the annu­al mem­ber­ship fee for two con­se­cu­ti­ve years, fol­lo­wing a pri­or remin­der and hea­ring.
  The mem­ber con­cer­ned must be infor­med of this in wri­ting.
• Resi­gna­ti­on must be declared in wri­ting to the Board of Direc­tors with a noti­ce peri­od of 1 month to the end of a calen­dar year.
• The resi­gned or expel­led mem­ber remains obli­ged to pay the annu­al mem­ber­ship fee until the end of the finan­cial year.
• Acti­ve and pas­si­ve voting rights are lin­ked to mem­ber­ship and con­tri­bu­ti­on pay­ments.
• The ISPPM may beco­me a mem­ber – also on a mutu­al basis – of ano­ther natio­nal or inter­na­tio­nal orga­niza­ti­on with simi­lar objec­ti­ves.

§ 5 Mem­ber­ship fees 

The amount of the mem­ber­ship fees is deter­mi­ned by the Gene­ral Mee­ting.
Mem­ber­ship fees are paid annu­al­ly in the 1st quar­ter of the finan­cial year by direct debit or by stan­ding order. Mem­ber­ship fees are cal­cu­la­ted on a quar­ter­ly basis in the year of joi­ning the ISPPM. The asso­cia­ti­on wel­co­mes dona­ti­ons and dona­ti­ons in cash or in kind at any time. Upon appli­ca­ti­on, the mini­mum mem­ber­ship fee can be redu­ced for stu­dents, trai­nees, con­scripts, sin­gle par­ents, the unem­ploy­ed and pen­sio­ners by reso­lu­ti­on of the Board of Direc­tors. Hono­ra­ry mem­bers are exempt from the obli­ga­ti­on to pay mem­ber­ship fees. 

§ 6 Organs of the asso­cia­ti­on

The organs of the asso­cia­ti­on are

1. The Gene­ral Mee­ting
2. The Exe­cu­ti­ve Board
3. The Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board
4. Sci­en­ti­fic advi­so­ry board

§ 7 Gene­ral Assem­bly of Mem­bers

§7.1 Tasks of the Gene­ral Assem­bly of Mem­bers – invi­ta­ti­on and pas­sing of reso­lu­ti­ons

The Gene­ral Assem­bly of Mem­bers com­pri­ses all indi­vi­du­al mem­bers and hono­ra­ry mem­bers of the asso­cia­ti­on, as well as dele­ga­ted per­sons who repre­sent an asso­cia­ti­on with voting rights. The Gene­ral Mee­ting takes place once a year on a date to be deter­mi­ned by the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board. The Board of Direc­tors is free to choo­se the loca­ti­on of the Gene­ral Mee­ting within Ger­ma­ny. The Gene­ral Assem­bly is respon­si­ble for pas­sing reso­lu­ti­ons on all mat­ters of fun­da­men­tal importance con­cer­ning the ISPPM, in par­ti­cu­lar

1. Accep­tance of the annu­al report of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board
2. Accep­tance of the cash report
3. Receipt of reports from mem­bers of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board and mem­bers of the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board
4. Dischar­ge of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board
5. Right of nomi­na­ti­on for club offices and tasks
6. Elec­tions of the mem­bers of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board and the mem­bers of the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board
7. Right to nomi­na­te and elect the two cash audi­tors
8. Right of nomi­na­ti­on for the appoint­ment of hono­ra­ry mem­bers and for the awar­ding of pri­zes
9. Deter­mi­na­ti­on of mem­ber­ship fees
10. Amend­ment of the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on
11. Dis­so­lu­ti­on of the asso­cia­ti­on

The invi­ta­ti­on to the Gene­ral Mee­ting is issued by the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board with a noti­ce peri­od of four weeks, sta­ting the agen­da. The invi­ta­ti­on is sent in text form. The text form allows invi­ta­ti­ons to be sent by let­ter, e‑mail (wit­hout elec­tro­nic signa­tu­re) and fax. Moti­ons for addi­ti­ons to the agen­da must be sub­mit­ted to the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board in wri­ting at least eight days befo­re the mee­ting. The Gene­ral Mee­ting is not open to the public. The chair­per­son of the mee­ting may admit guests. Every Gene­ral Mee­ting con­ve­ned in accordance with the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on has a quo­rum regard­less of the num­ber of mem­bers pre­sent. Unless other­wi­se sti­pu­la­ted in the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on or by law, a simp­le majo­ri­ty of the valid votes cast is suf­fi­ci­ent for a reso­lu­ti­on to be valid.
In the event of a tie, the moti­on is rejec­ted. Abst­en­ti­ons are trea­ted as inva­lid votes. Each mem­ber has one vote. Each repre­sen­ta­ti­ve of a legal enti­ty or an inter­na­tio­nal asso­cia­ti­on has one vote. Minu­tes shall be taken of the Gene­ral Assem­bly, which shall be signed by the Pre­si­dent, the Secre­ta­ry and the Recor­ding Secre­ta­ry.

§ 7.2 Elec­tions 

The Gene­ral Mee­ting shall deci­de and elect by open bal­lot on a show of hands.
A secret bal­lot or elec­tion must be held if this is reques­ted by a mem­ber.

§ 7.3 Extra­or­di­na­ry Gene­ral Mee­ting 

Extra­or­di­na­ry Gene­ral Mee­tings shall be con­ve­ned with four weeks’ noti­ce if the inte­rests of the Asso­cia­ti­on so requi­re.
The mee­ting shall be con­ve­ned if the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board so deci­des or if at least 25% of the mem­bers so request in wri­ting, sta­ting the pur­po­se and reasons.

§ 8 The Exe­cu­ti­ve Board 

The Exe­cu­ti­ve Board elec­ted by the Gene­ral Mee­ting con­sists of:

• the 1st Chair­per­son with the title of Pre­si­dent and 
• two depu­ty chair­per­sons with the title Vice-Pre­si­dent
• the tre­asurer
•  the secre­ta­ry
• the Chair­per­son of the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board

The term of office of the Board of Direc­tors is 3 years.
Re-elec­tion is per­mit­ted.
Tasks of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board:

1. Coor­di­na­ti­on, imple­men­ta­ti­on and dele­ga­ti­on of asso­cia­ti­on acti­vi­ties,
2. Manage­ment of the asso­cia­ti­on and the association’s assets,
3. Pre­pa­ra­ti­on and orga­niza­ti­on of the Gene­ral Mee­ting as well as the annu­al finan­cial state­ments and the bud­get for the fol­lo­wing year, elec­tions, reso­lu­ti­ons, reports, plan­ning,
4. Deci­ding on the admis­si­on of mem­bers, legal enti­ties, inter­na­tio­nal repre­sen­ta­ti­ves (§ 4) and Asso­cia­ted Socie­ties,
5. Exter­nal repre­sen­ta­ti­on of the asso­cia­ti­on,
6. Nomi­na­ti­on of Board mem­bers pri­or to elec­tions,
7. Decis­i­on on con­tri­bu­ti­on reduc­tions (§ 5),
8. The Board of Direc­tors can set up tem­po­ra­ry expert com­mit­tees for spe­cial pro­jects such as fun­ding, con­gress or con­fe­rence work and appoint tem­po­ra­ry spo­kesper­sons,
9. Public rela­ti­ons and press work.
10. Reso­lu­ti­ons can be pas­sed in Board mee­tings and tele­pho­ne con­fe­ren­ces.

In the event of a tie, the Pre­si­dent has the cas­ting vote. Mem­bers of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board work on a vol­un­t­a­ry basis. Expen­se allo­wan­ces (e.g. tra­vel expen­ses and con­gress con­tri­bu­ti­ons) may be gran­ted against receipt to the ext­ent per­mit­ted by law and tax law. The offices of the asso­cia­ti­on and its bodies (in par­ti­cu­lar the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board and Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board) are gene­ral­ly held on an hono­ra­ry basis. Fol­lo­wing a decis­i­on by the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board, mem­bers of the association’s bodies who work on a vol­un­t­a­ry basis or other per­sons who work part-time in the non-pro­fit area of the asso­cia­ti­on may – sub­ject to bud­ge­ta­ry pos­si­bi­li­ties – recei­ve remu­ne­ra­ti­on for their acti­vi­ties on the basis of a con­tract under civil law, which must, howe­ver, be appro­pria­te in terms of amount, taking into account the natu­re and scope of the acti­vi­ty, and which also com­ply with the appli­ca­ble sta­tu­to­ry pro­vi­si­ons (in par­ti­cu­lar tho­se rela­ting to non-pro­fit sta­tus, inco­me and wage tax law and social secu­ri­ty law). Reim­bur­se­ment of expen­ses actual­ly incur­red is only pos­si­ble against pro­of, wher­eby even lump-sum pay­ments obvious­ly do not exceed the expen­ses actual­ly incur­red. Invi­ta­ti­ons to Board mee­tings (inclu­ding tele­pho­ne con­fe­ren­ces) are issued by the Pre­si­dent with 10 days’ noti­ce, sta­ting the agenda.In indi­vi­du­al cases, the noti­ce peri­od may be shor­ten­ed. The Exe­cu­ti­ve Board within the mea­ning of § 26 BGB is the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board (§ 8). Two mem­bers of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board repre­sent the asso­cia­ti­on joint­ly. The Pre­si­dent or a Vice Pre­si­dent must be invol­ved.

§ 9 Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board 

The mem­bers of the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board are elec­ted by the Gene­ral Assem­bly for a term of 3 years. Each mem­ber of the Exten­ded Board is ent­rus­ted with respon­si­bi­li­ty for a spe­ci­fic area of acti­vi­ty. He/she works inde­pendent­ly and per­forms his/her duties in mutu­al coope­ra­ti­ve con­sul­ta­ti­on with the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board. If the respec­ti­ve area of work is super­vi­sed by a working group, the mem­ber of the Exten­ded Board acts as spo­kesper­son for the working group.
The fol­lo­wing tasks in par­ti­cu­lar can be assu­med by the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board:

1. To pro­mo­te the objec­ti­ves sta­ted under § 2.1 d) in socie­ty
2. Estab­lish and main­tain net­works and links with important pro­fes­sio­nal groups, such as mid­wi­ves, gyneco­lo­gists, neo­na­to­lo­gists, osteo­paths, psy­cho­the­ra­pists and other important pro­fes­sio­nal groups
3. Regio­nal, natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal con­gress and con­fe­rence work
4. Public rela­ti­ons and press work
5. Manage­ment sup­port
6. Fun­ding
7. Mem­ber care and recruit­ment
8. Main­tain Inter­net pre­sence
9. Cont­act with the respec­ti­ve natio­nal orga­niza­ti­on (see § 11)
10. Trans­la­ti­on work

Each mem­ber of the Exten­ded Board reports in wri­ting or ver­bal­ly to the Gene­ral Mee­ting on plan­ned and imple­men­ted acti­vi­ties in the area of work for which they are respon­si­ble. As a rule, the Exten­ded Board meets annu­al­ly.
Tele­pho­ne con­fe­ren­ces can take place by arran­ge­ment. The Exten­ded Board can pass reso­lu­ti­ons within the scope of its duties. Expen­se allo­wan­ces and reim­bur­se­ment of tra­vel expen­ses for mem­bers of the Exten­ded Board are gover­ned by rules of pro­ce­du­re to be adopted by the Board. If mem­bers of the Exten­ded Board are ent­rus­ted with the manage­ment of the Asso­cia­ti­on, an employ­ment rela­ti­onship may be estab­lished with them or per­sons assis­ting them. The mem­bers of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board (see § 8) are also mem­bers of the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board.

§ 10 The Sci­en­ti­fic Advi­so­ry Board 

The Exe­cu­ti­ve Board appoints spe­cia­lists in Ger­ma­ny and abroad as mem­bers of the Sci­en­ti­fic Advi­so­ry Board on the basis of spe­ci­fic qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons.
The Sci­en­ti­fic Advi­so­ry Board advi­ses the ISPPM in achie­ving its objec­ti­ves and per­forming its tasks.

§ 11 Inter­na­tio­na­li­ty 

Mem­ber­ship is open to peo­p­le of all nati­ons. Becau­se the ISPPM deals with fun­da­men­tal topics of the pre‑, peri- and post­na­tal con­ti­nu­um that are of glo­bal importance, its mem­bers cul­ti­va­te inter­na­tio­nal exch­an­ge. An exch­an­ge takes place bet­ween mem­bers and orga­niza­ti­ons that are asso­cia­ted with the goals of the ISPPM. All ISPPM bodies can initia­te inter­na­tio­nal working groups with spe­ci­fic tasks. The­se working groups report on their pro­jects at the regu­lar inter­na­tio­nal con­gres­ses. Cos­ts for par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on at inter­na­tio­nal level are bor­ne by the respec­ti­ve natio­nal organizations/members. Natio­nal orga­niza­ti­ons that are repre­sen­ted in the ISPPM with at least 10 mem­bers, or are mem­bers of the ISPPM as an insti­tu­ti­on, have the right to dele­ga­te a mem­ber (with voting rights) as their repre­sen­ta­ti­ve to the Exten­ded Board. 

§ 12 Inter­na­tio­nal Edu­ca­tio­nal Com­mit­tee (IEC) – Inter­na­tio­nal Com­mit­tee for Edu­ca­ti­on and Trai­ning. 

The Inter­na­tio­nal Edu­ca­tio­nal Com­mit­tee is a spe­cial working group of the ISPPM within the mea­ning of the Exten­ded Board, § 9. The IEC is appoin­ted and dis­missed by the Exten­ded Board. The task of this com­mit­tee is the deve­lo­p­ment of a cur­ri­cu­lum in the field of pre­na­tal psy­cho­lo­gy and medi­ci­ne, the accre­di­ta­ti­on and cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of trai­ning and fur­ther edu­ca­ti­on, and the pro­vi­si­on of impul­ses in the­se are­as. The IEC reports to the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board and the Gene­ral Assem­bly. 

§ 13 Audi­tors 

Two audi­tors are elec­ted by the Gene­ral Assem­bly for a peri­od of 3 years.
They may not be mem­bers of the Exe­cu­ti­ve Board or the Exten­ded Exe­cu­ti­ve Board. Imme­dia­te re-elec­tion is not per­mit­ted. Audi­tors can be pro­po­sed and elec­ted direct­ly at the Gene­ral Mee­ting.

§ 14 Amend­ments to the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on 

The appr­oval of 3/4 of the mem­bers pre­sent is requi­red for reso­lu­ti­ons of the Gene­ral Mee­ting to amend the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on. If a reso­lu­ti­on on an amend­ment to the Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on is plan­ned, the mem­bers must be infor­med of this in wri­ting with the invi­ta­ti­on.

§ 15 Dis­so­lu­ti­on of the asso­cia­ti­on 

The dis­so­lu­ti­on of the asso­cia­ti­on can only be deci­ded at a gene­ral mee­ting that has been con­ve­ned in good time, sta­ting this item on the agen­da. The mee­ting has a quo­rum regard­less of the num­ber of mem­bers pre­sent. A majo­ri­ty of ¾ of the valid votes cast is requi­red for the dis­so­lu­ti­on reso­lu­ti­on; abst­en­ti­ons are trea­ted as inva­lid votes. If the asso­cia­ti­on is dis­sol­ved or abo­lished or if its tax-pri­vi­le­ged pur­po­ses cea­se to exist, the association’s assets shall be trans­fer­red to the Deut­scher Kin­der­schutz­bund e.V., Schö­ne­ber­ger Str. 15, 10963 Ber­lin or its legal suc­ces­sor with the obli­ga­ti­on to make them available exclu­si­ve­ly and direct­ly for cha­ri­ta­ble pur­po­ses.

§ 16 Ent­ry into force 

The abo­ve Artic­les of Asso­cia­ti­on were adopted at the Mem­bers’ Mee­ting on March 7, 2010 in Alf­ter near Bonn and enter into force on Octo­ber 31, 2010 and after ent­ry in the regis­ter of asso­cia­ti­ons. Adopted in Alf­ter on 7.3.2010, amen­ded on 21.10.2011