General Assembly
5.1 A General Assembly shall be a meeting of the delegates appointed under the provisions of Statute 4 by the Adhering Bodies or Associate Adhering Bodies together with the Executive Committee. An Ordinary General Assembly shall take place once every three years and shall normally be held in association with an International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology arranged under the auspices of the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. An Extraordinary General Assembly may be summoned at any time under the provisions of Statute 5.10.
5.2 The date and place of an Ordinary General Assembly shall be decided by the Executive Committee with due regard to the provisions of Statute 5.1 and notice of it shall be sent in writing by the General Secretary at least twelve months before the proposed date, to all delegates, to the Chairman of all Committees set up by the Federation and to the Chief Representative of the Federation on Joint Committees and other joint bodies and to the Executive Committee.
5.3 When at a General Assembly a proposal for an amendment of the Statutes is to be considered, the proposal shall be sent by the General Secretary to all delegates and associate delegates at least six months before the date of the Assembly.
5.4 An Ordinary General Assembly shall:
a. elect the Nominating Committee;
b. elect the Officers;
c. elect to vacancies in the membership in the Executive Committee;
d. elect two delegates as auditors of the Federation’s finances;
e. receive from the General Secretary a report on behalf of the Executive Committee, on the activities of the Federation and of its Committees, Joint Committees and other bodies;
f. receive an audited statement of the Income and Expenditure of the Federation for the triennium ending December 31 in the year preceding that in which the Ordinary General Assembly is held;
g. receive a budget for proposed general expenditure of the Federation for the triennium beginning January 1 in the year in which the Ordinary General Assembly is to be held and approve it or refer it to the Executive Committee;
h. determine the monetary value of the unit subscription to the Federation for the three-year period beginning on January 1 following the Ordinary General Assembly;
5.5 An Ordinary General Assembly may:
a. adopt or amend the Statutes;
b. adopt or amend the By-Laws;
c. terminate the membership of any Adhering Body or associate membership of an Associate Adhering Body in the Federation for any serious cause. Before such action shall be taken the delegates of the Adhering Body or associate delegate of an Associate Adhering Body in question shall have been given an opportunity of explaining the matter under review in writing to the Executive Committee; this statement, together with the Executive Committee'’ comments thereon, shall be laid before the General Assembly. Termination of the membership of any Adhering Body or Associate Adhering Body shall require the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of those delegates present and at least one-half of the number of votes of all delegates, whether they be present or not. If the two-thirds favourable vote does not represent at least one half of the total possible number of votes of the delegates of the Adhering Bodies, a mail vote shall be taken and a two-thirds majority of the votes received within ninety days following the mailing of the ballots shall be required for the termination of membership to become effective provided that 50% or more of he delegates reply;
d. decide on all other questions which fall within the competence of the Federation.
5.6 In the matter of the election of a Nominating Committee (Statutes 6.2-6.6), an Ordinary General Assembly shall be eligible to receive nominations from the Executive Committee and from delegates to an Ordinary General Assembly.
5.7 In the matter of election of Officers and other members of the Executive Committee, an Ordinary General Assembly shall be eligible to receive nominations from the nominating Committee and from any six delegates present at the Ordinary General Assembly acting jointly (Statute 6.10).
5.8 An Ordinary General Assembly shall elect two of the delegates present at the meeting as auditors of the Federation’s finances. The elected auditors shall serve from the end of the General Assembly at which they were elected until the end of the next Ordinary General Assembly.
5.9 The Agenda of an Ordinary General Assembly, including any supplementary Agenda, shall be presented by the General Secretary to each delegate and associate delegate in writing before the meeting. No other item shall be considered by the General Assembly and put to the vote unless a proposal for the inclusion of such an additional item be approved by the votes of at least two-thirds of the delegates present.
5.10 An Extraordinary General Assembly shall be summonsed by the General Secretary if he or she is unanimously requested to do so by the Executive Committee. In addition, at the request of at least one-half of all the delegates, communicated in writing to the President, the General Secretary shall be required by the President to call an Extraordinary General Assembly. The time and place of an Extraordinary General Assembly shall be fixed by the President and the summons to it shall be despatched to all the delegates and associate delegates by the General Secretary at least three months before the proposed date.
5.11 An Extraordinary General Assembly may:
a. adopt or amend the Statutes;
b. adopt or amend the By-Laws;
c. terminate the membership of any Adhering Body or associate membership of an Adhering Body or associate membership of an Associate Adhering Body in the Federation for any serious cause. Before such action shall be taken the delegate or delegates of the Adhering Body or associate delegate of the Associate Adhering Body in question shall have been given an opportunity of explaining the matter under review in writing to the Executive Committee; this statement together with the Executive Committee’s comments thereon, shall be laid before the Extraordinary General Assembly. Termination of the membership of any Adhering Body or Associate Adhering Body shall require the affirmative votes of at least two-thirds of those delegates present and at least one-half of the number of votes of all delegates, whether they be present or not. If the two-thirds favourable vote does not represent at least one-half of the total possible number of votes of the delegates of the Adhering Bodies, a mail vote shall be taken and a two-thirds majority of the votes received within ninety days following the mailing of the ballots shall be required for the termination of membership to become effective, provided that 50% or more of the delegates reply;
d. discuss all other questions which fall within the competence of the Federation.
5.12 The Agenda of an Extraordinary General Assembly, including any supplementary Agenda, shall be presented by the General Secretary to each delegate and associate delegate in writing before the meeting. No other item shall be considered by the Extraordinary General Assembly and put to the vote unless a proposal for the votes of at least two-thirds of the delegates present.
5.13 Except where otherwise provided in the Statutes and By-Laws, decisions of a General Assembly shall be determined by a simples majority of the votes cast. In the event of an equal division of votes, the Chairman shall then vote and make the final decision (Statute 8.5b).
5.14 In all its decisions, a General Assembly shall be guided by the tradition of free international scientific cooperation.