Membership terms and conditions

A. Composition of the association and categories of members

The association consists of:

A.1 Individual members

Lawyers who practise their profession in compliance with their national laws and in accordance with the principles set out in Articles 2 and 3 above may become individual members of the UIA.

A.2 Collective members


The following may become collective members of the UIA, provided their officers are freely elected and they support the principles expressed in Article 3 of these Statutes:

- national organisations (bars, law societies or others) to which lawyers are required to belong, as well as those to which lawyers must not necessarily belong but which are broadly representative;

- national organisations composed of individual bars and professional associations.

A.3   Associate individual members

The following legal professionals may become associate individual members of the UIA, provided that their activities are not incompatible with the principles governing the legal profession:

- teachers of law;

- judges;

- legal professionals who are principally engaged in the practice of law and who hold suitable legal qualifications;

- law students.

A.4  Collective associate members

The following may become associate collective members of the UIA:

- international legal associations which are broadly representative;

- national and international associations of legal professionals, also as defined above.

A.5 Honorary members

The General Assembly may, on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, confer honorary membership on any persons (individual or judicial), by reason of the interest which they have shown in the UIA and their particular contribution to its growth and influence.

B. Acquisition and loss of membership

B.1 Membership is granted by the Executive Committee following acceptance of a formal application.

B.2 Membership may be lost by resignation, death or expulsion.

B.3 Any member who has not paid the whole of his membership fee by the end of the fiscal year is deemed to have resigned.

B.4 Any expulsion must be decided by the Executive Committee, and be for good cause, where a member has not complied with his obligations under the Statutes or has acted in breach of the UIA’s objects.  The member must first have been asked to provide, orally or in writing, an explanation.

B.5 A refusal to admit to, or a decision to expel from, membership is subject to a right of appeal to the Governing Board.

B.6 The procedures for notifying decisions to refuse membership or of expulsion, and for appeals from such decisions, are set out in the Internal Regulations of the UIA.

B.7 Members who have resigned or been expelled have no right to share in the assets.  The UIA shall be under no obligation to refund any subscriptions already paid.


B. PROCEDURE OF ADMISSION, REFUSAL OF ADMISSION AND EXCLUSION OF MEMBERS

1. Procedures for admission and appeal in case of refusal of admission

C.1.a. Any application for membership received by the Association must be referred by the [Administration/UIA/UIA Centre] to the President of the National Committee or UIA National Representative in the relevant country one month before the date of the next Executive Committee meeting.

C.1.b. If such person does not provide any comments within three weeks from the date the referral was sent by the UIA, consent is presumed to have been granted.

C.1.c. When there is no National Committee President or UIA National Representative in the country concerned, the Executive Committee shall take a decision without prior advice.

C.1.d. The Executive Committee shall decide on the application for membership at its next meeting.

C.1.e.  In the event of a refusal of admission by the Executive Committee, in accordance with Article 7.6 of the Statutes, the Secretary General shall inform the candidate, by registered mail, that he may appeal against the Executive Committee’s decision and has a period of 30 days to lodge any such appeal.


C.1.f. When the Secretary General receives an appeal within the specified time limit, with the agreement of the President of the Association, he shall send the papers for further examination to a Governing Board member of a country other than that of the candidate, specifying a reasonable time limit for providing his written appraisal report.

C.1.g. The appeal shall be placed on the agenda of the Governing Board meeting following the receipt of the appraisal report. A copy of the application file and appraisal report shall be provided to the Governing Board members together with the agenda of the meeting.

C.1.h. The Governing Board's ruling shall be final.


2. Procédures de recours en cas d’exclusion

C.2.a. When the Executive Committee decides, under Article 7.4 of the Statutes, to expel a member, the Secretary General, pursuant to Article 7.6. of the Statutes, shall inform the member concerned, by registered mail, that he may appeal against the Executive Committee’s decision and has 30 days within which to lodge the appeal.

C.2.b. When the Secretary General receives an appeal within the time limit, with the agreement with the President of the Association, he shall send the papers for further examination to a Governing Board member of a country other than that of the member, specifying a reasonable time limit for providing his written appraisal report.

C.2.c. The appeal shall be placed on the agenda of the Governing Board meeting following the receipt of the appraisal report. A copy of the application file and appraisal report shall be addressed to the Governing Board members together with the agenda of the meeting.

C.2.d. The Governing Board’s ruling shall be final.


C. THE DIFFERENT MEMBERSHIP FEE CATEGORIES

Pursuant to Article 20.1 of the Statutes, the Executive Committee shall set the membership fees amounts for the different categories of members.

The membership fees of individual and associate individual members [shall be/are] set each year.

The membership fees for collective and associate collective members [shall be/are] determined according to a scale that the Executive Committee may modify whenever it considers it necessary.

1. Individual and Associate Individual Members

The membership fees set for individual members shall be set according to the place in which they practise (corresponding to the address published in the UIA directory and list of members). Those of associate individual members shall be set according to the place in which they conduct their professional activities or, in the case of students, in which they are carrying out their studies.

The Executive Committee may set a reduced membership fee for members aged less than 35 years and for those conducting their business in an emerging country. Countries included in Categories 3 and 4 of the list prepared by the Executive Committee on the basis of the list of countries by Human Development Index are considered emerging countries.

2. Collective and Associate Collective Members

The membership fees of collective members are set according to the country in which their registered office is located.

  The basic membership fees for a collective member cannot be lower than double the basic membership fees of an individual member from the same country or the same country category.

  The basic membership fees of an associate collective member cannot be lower than the amount of the basic membership fee of an individual member.

3. Membership fees payment

Membership fees must be paid no later than 31 March each year.

For new members, membership fees must be paid before their application for membership is submitted to the Executive Committee.

All membership fees of new members that are paid between January 1st and October 30th shall be valid for the ongoing fiscal year. The membership fees of new members paid in November or December shall be valid for the following fiscal year.