CISMAI Statute

Art. 1
(Constitution)

1. The Association “Coordinamento dei Centri Italiani” (Italian Co-ordination of Services for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, acronym “CISMAI”) has been legally recognised.
2. The Association has its head office in Via Spadini 15, Milan, Italy.*
3. The Association is a non-political and non-profit-making organisation.

Art. 2
(Purposes)

1. The purpose of the Association is to create a centre of a cultural and educational nature for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect with special emphasis on abuse within the family.
2. The Association intends in particular to:
a. promote the co-ordination of public and private institutes and services that work in the field of the prevention and treatment of child abuse;
b. draw up operational guide-lines and protocols for the different services involved;
c. promote meetings, seminaries, debates, research, publications, and training courses and to supply counselling.


Art. 3
(Association)

1. The Association can become a partner of national and international institutions or associations, that pursue similar goals.


Art. 4
(Sections)

1. The Association can set up regional offices around Italy.
2. The activities and co-ordination of the regional offices are regulated by special rules deliberated by the Board of Directors and approved by the General Assembly of Members.


Art. 5
(Term)

1. The Association activities have no time limit imposed.
2. The dissolution of the Association can occur following the indications given in the present statute.



Title II
Social property

Art. 6
(Social property)

1. The Association’s property is made up of:
_ furniture and buildings that will become the Association’s property;
_ possible reserve funds constituted by possible surplus resulting from its activities;
_ possible funding, donations and bequests destined to increase its property.

2. The Association’s income is made up of:
_ contributions from supporters towards the Association’s running costs;
_ contributions from private citizens;
_ contributions from State Bodies, Corporations and Public Institutions;
_ contributions from International organisations;
_ donations and bequests not bounded to the increase of the property;
_ funds coming from covenants;
_ private income from rental of the Association’s property;
_ income coming from collateral commercial and productive activities;
_ occasional funds received from the public raising of capital, including those via donations of moderate value;
_ any other profit, including that from social and beneficial enterprises, which are not explicitly destined to increase the property.

3. Every financial operation is registered with the signatures of either the President, the Secretary or of the Treasurer or of another member of the Board of Directors, according to the specific deliberation.


Art. 7
(Budget)

1. The budget of the Association includes the current practice from January 1, to December 31, every year.
2. The budget and accounts are prepared by the Board of Directors and approved by the members of the General Assembly within April 30, every year.



Title III
(Members of the Association)

Art. 8
(Members)

1. Both public corporations and private individuals interested in the realisation of the goals of the present statute can become members;
2. The Board of Directors will examine applications for the admission of new members in the first meeting after receiving the request. Admittance will have effect from the date deliberated by the Board of Directors.
3. Members can be:
_ Private individuals who practise professional or voluntary activity in public or private centres or services, that are constituted in accordance with the present Statute;
_ Corporations that operate in the field of the prevention and treatment of child abuse; these corporations must be represented by a maximum of four delegated people.
4. all members have equal rights and duties.

Art.9
(Members’ rights and duties)

1. Members have the right:
• To participate in the Assemblies (if up to the date with the payment of membership) and to vote directly or by proxy;
• To know the programmes with which the Association means to carry out its social goals;
• To participate in activities promoted by the Association;
• To benefit from all the services of Associations;
• To resign at any time.

1. Members are obliged:
• To observe the rules of the present statute and the resolutions adopted by the Association;
• To pay the membership fees established by the Assembly;
• To carry out activities as agreed;
• To behave accordingly to the purposes of the Association.

Art.10
(Associative contribution)

1. Members have the duty to pay an annual membership fee as established by the Board of Directors.
Membership fees are set by the Assembly convened for the approval of the budget. They are annual; not negotiable; not returnable in case of resignation, of decease or withdrawal of supporter status; and are to be paid prior to 30 days before the Assembly convened for the approval of the Association’s accounts. Membership fees are not considered property.

Art.11
(Membership annulment)

1. The title of Member can be withdrawn in the event of:
a. voluntary resignations;
b. behaviour that morally and materially damages the Association, in a direct or indirect way;
c. serious non-observance of the legal and statutory regulations concerning the Association’s activities;
d. non payment of the annual membership fee.
2. Conditions leading to annulment will be assessed and formalised by the Board of Directors.
3. Members who resign or who are expelled from the Association will not be entitled to refunds of their membership fees.

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Title 4
Administrative bodies of the Association

Art.12
(Social Organs)

1. The administrative bodies of the Association are:
a) The General Assembly;
b) The Board of Directors;
c) The President and the Vice-president of the Association;
d) The Scientific Committees;
e) The Treasurers.

Art.13
(General Assembly of members)

1. The General Assembly of Members is formed of all the members of the association who are up-to-date with membership payments.
2. The General Meeting of Members meets ordinarily once a year or whenever deemed necessary by the Board of Governors/Directors.
3. An Assembly can also be requested by at least one tenth of the Association’s members. In this case, the convocation must be notified within fifteen days from the date of receiving the request and the Assembly must take place within thirty days of the convocation..
4. The convocation must be sent to each member’s home address fifteen days before the date decided for the meeting. The indication of the place, date, time and agenda of the meeting are to be included with the convocation.
5. All Assemblies are chaired by the President of the Association presides all decisions will be taken by majority vote as specified in the Italian civil code (Art number 21).
6. The General Assembly:
7. Approves the financial activities and final balance of the previous year;
8. Approves the planned programme and financial budget of the Association;
9. Approves the rules concerning the management of the Association and of the regional Offices;
10. Examines and decides on all issues raised by members or proposed by the Board of Directors
11. Elects the Board of Directors
12. Elects the Treasurers;
13. Confirms any measures pertaining to the Assembly adopted by the Board of Directors without consultation for urgent reasons;
14. Decides the amounts to be paid by Members towards the expenses pertaining to the realisation of the Association’s stated aims.

15. Each member has a single vote; each associated institution has at the most four votes. If a Member can’t participate, he or she can be represented by any another ordinary Member. A Member can have more than one delegation.
16. In every Assembly the minutes must be drawn up and approved at the next meeting and must be written in the register of Members’ Assemblies. The Assembly’s decisions are binding for all Members.
17. In the first convocation the ordinary General Assembly is legally constituted when at least half of the Members are present in person or via delegation. In the second convocation the General Assembly is legally constituted no matter how many Members are present either in person or via delegation. The second convocation can take place on the same day as the first. The ordinary Assembly’s deliberations are adopted by a simple majority vote of those present.
18. An extraordinary General Assembly for the discussion of or modification of the rules, or for the dissolution of the Association can be convened by the President of the Association, by the Board of Directors or by at least a fifth of the ordinary members. In the extraordinary Assembly:
• The deliberations of modifications of rules are considered valid when at least half of the Members are present;
19. The deliberation of dissolution, and any subsequent patrimonial devolution, is considered valid when at least a third of the Members vote in favour.

Art. 14
(The Board of Directors)

1. The Board of Directors is composed of anything from a minimum of nine members to a maximum of eleven and is elected by the Members’ General Assembly. It holds office for two years. Any member of the Board of Directors who is unjustifiably absent on three consecutive occasions must resign from office. Possible replacements for members of the Board of Directors can be proposed by the Board of Directors itself and must be validated by the first Assembly called after the nomination. All members of the Board of Directors must be re-elected at the end of every two year period of office.
2. The Board of Directors meets whenever called by the President (at least once every three months). A meeting of the Board of Directors can also be called by one third of its members, in which case, the meeting must take place within twenty days.
3. Meetings are valid only when the majority of its elected members are present.
4. A written report of every meeting must be approved at the subsequent meeting and inserted in the register of the Board of Directors’ meetings.
5. The Board of Directors:
a) elects the Association’s President and the Vice-President from amongst its members;
b) enacts the decisions taken by the General Assembly;
c) draws up and submits the accounts and end-of-year statement to the General Assembly for examination;
d) determines the work-program following the guide-lines as laid out in the general programme approved by the General Assembly and promotes and co-ordinates these activities and authorises the costs;
e) executes all the acts of ordinary and extraordinary administration;
f) funds the Scientific Committees and votes on the participation of those co-ordinators who are not members of the Board of Directors;
g) creates working groups for the realisation of the Association’s projects and votes on the participation of those co-ordinators who are not members of the Board of Directors;
h) decides on the admission and expulsion of all members;
i) draws up the internal rules for the Association and its regional offices and submits them to the General Assembly for examination;
j) confirms at the first subsequent meeting any extraodinary or urgent measures which should be the competence of the Board of Directors adopted by the President and the Vice-President;
6. The Board of Directors elects a Secretary and a Treasurer. The Secretary and the Treasurer need not be members of the Board of Directors.
7. Unless otherwise agreed, all decisions taken by the Board of Directors must be by majority vote.

Art. 15
(The Association’s President)

1. The Association’s President has the authorisation to sign documents and to represent the Association legally in case of dispute or legal proceedings. The President has the faculty to elect lawyers and solicitors in active and passive lawsuits concerning the Association.
2. The President:
a. chairs the Members’ General Assembly and the Board of Directors;
b. can adopt urgent measures in matters normally decided by the Board of Directors; all such measures must be subsequently ratified by the Board of Directors;
c. can delegate part of his or her powers to the Vice- President;
d. supervises the enactment of decisions taken by the Members’ General Assembly and / or by the Board of Directors.
3. The President is elected by The Board of Directors with a majority of two-thirds of its members.
4. The Association’s President is authorised to open accounts at a bank or post-office in the name of the Association and to effect all the necessary transactions relating to their management.

Art. 16
(Vice-President)

1. The Vice-President substitutes the President in case of temporary unavailability;
2. The Vice-President is elected by the Board of Directors with the same procedure as that for the President.

Art. 17
(Scientific Committees)

1. The Scientific Committees can be consulted for opinions about all the Association’s initiatives in cultural, scientific and professional matters.
2. The members of the Scientific Committees are agreed on by the Board of Directors. Membership of these Committees is entrusted to those Members who are deemed to have suitable experience in the relevant areas. The role of the Scientific Committees is to outline specific goals and draw up guide-lines for the Association’s activities. The Scientific Committees should consult the opinions of the Association’s Members before submitting their proposals to the Board of Directors for approval.
3. All Scientific Committees are temporary.

Art. 18
(Board of Treasurers)

1. The Board of Treasurers is composed of three members and two substitutes. The Treasurers hold office for two years.
2. The Board of Treasurers:
a. elects its President from amongst its members;
b. acts on its own initiative or when requested by any member of the Association;
c. prepares an annual report on the budgets which are approved by the Members’ General Assembly and which must be documented in the Board of Treasurers’ register.

Title 5
Dissolution of the Association

Art. 19
(Dissolution of the Association)

1. When the General Assembly decides on the dissolution the Association it must elect one or more liquidators and specify their powers.
2. All possessions which remain after the dissolution are to be devolved to other organisations working in similar areas. This must be done in accordance with the indications given by the assembly, except for different destinations imposed by the law. Commodities, profits and reserves can also be distributed to those who have supported the Association’s activities.

Title 6
Extra Rules

Art. 20
(Voluntary nature of offices held)

1. All offices held by members of the Association are voluntary offices which are to be performed without payment except for the possible refund of documented expenses encurred in the interests of the Association.

Art. 21

1. For all cases not dealt with by the present Statute it is possible to refer to the Italian Civil Code, to the provision of the law on the subject and to any possible changes.