Bye laws

Meetings

1.1
Meetings of the European Board of Ophthalmology:E.B.O.

1.1.1
The E.B.O. will hold its Annual General Meeting (Plenary Session) once a year before July. It will hold a General Meeting every other year before December to elect Officers of the E.B.O. Additional General meetings may be convened by the Executive Committee, on the request of one third of the Delegates of the E.B.O. General Meetings may also be held electronically.

1.1.2
Items for the agenda may be proposed by the Executive Committee, the Chairperson of Committees, the Delegates of the E.B.O., the U.E.M.S. Council or its Secretary General.

1.1.3 
The agenda of the E.B.O. plenary meetings shall normally be communicated to the members at least two weeks before every meeting.

1.1.4
Minutes of the meetings, resolutions, recommendations, opinions, studies and all other relevant documents will be forwarded to the E.B.O. Delegates, to the Secretary General of the U.E.M.S. and to the Specialist Section of Ophthalmology Secretary General within one month after each meeting.

1.2 
E.B.O. Executive Committee meetings:

1.2.1
The E.B.O. Executive Committee shall meet as often as deemed necessary and at least every 6 months. Its meetings may also be held electronically.

1.2.2 
Meetings of the Executive Committee are convened by the President and/or by the General Secretary.

1.2.3
The agenda and relevant papers will normally be distributed to the members of the Executive Committee at least two weeks before the meeting.

Voting

2.0
The elected Delegates, or their duly authorised alternative, of each full member country shall have one deliberative vote each that means two votes for each country.

2.1 
The voting procedure described in the e U.E.M.S. Rules of Procedure (2018/04 EN AMEND.04.18) in Article III.1 and III.2 and speaking rights in Article II.2.B are to be followed.

Financing

3.0 
Funding comes from the U.E.M.S. and other sources will facilitate the financial activities of the E.B.O.

3.1
The Treasurer is responsible for all financial matters relating to the E.B.O., subject to the approval and the control of the Executive Committee.

3.2 
The Treasurer will present a budget and will recommend suitable examination fees to the Annual General Meeting for approval. All monies raised will be administered for the good
of the E.B.O.

3.3
The accounts of the E.B.O. will be audited by the Treasurer of the Section of Ophthalmology of the U.E.M.S.

3.4
All works performed on account of or on behalf of the E.B.O. by the office of its Executive Committee member are to be paid to the member in question.

Committees

4.0 
The following standing committees shall be established by the General Meeting of the E.B.O.

4.1
The Executive Committee.
This committee is in charge of the organisation of the activities of the E.B.O. It has the function of ensuring that all decisions agreed by the General Meeting of the E.B.O are acted on. All the committees will report directly to it through the Secretary General. It administers the Medals of the E.B.O. to acknowledge outstanding achievements in the field of education in Ophthalmology. It is composed of the following officers – the President, the four Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer and the Secretary General. The Executive Committee shall invite the President Elect and the Past President to its meetings.

Executive Committee (ExCo) elections are called in autumn and include a secret ballot for President Elect, Chairs of the committees, Secretary General and Treasurer. Electronic voting is permissible. The candidate must officially submit their interest to a certain position and must be approved by the ExCo. In special situations out of term elections might be called. If the service upon out of term elections exceeds 50% (2+ years) a full term is counted.

The following additional standing committees will be established:
Residency Review Committee
This committee will define minimum requirements for ophthalmological training programmes and the appropriate facilities in training units. It will be responsible for site visits to be carried out at the request of training units requesting recognition of their programme of training as suitable for recognition by the E.B.O.

Education CommitteeThis committee will define the core knowledge and skills expected of a European Ophthalmologist on completion of training. It will organise qualifying examinations of the E.B.O. to allow successful Ophthalmologists to receive certificates and diplomas in recognition of their qualifications and, when eligible, to become Fellows of the European Board of Ophthalmology (F.E.B.O). It will introduce a system for recognising the contributions of the examiners. It will establish a sub-committee that will collaborate with existing European Speciality Societies in Ophthalmology to define a curriculum, organise subspecialty examinations, and allow successful Ophthalmologists to receive certificates and diplomas in recognition of their qualifications in various subspecialities. It will have a Chair appointed by the Education Committee and an appointed representative from each Specialist Examination. Rules of procedures of the Education Committee:VII Honors Article 7.0 (as amended in 2019)2.1 The European Board of Ophthalmology values the contributions of the examiners from all over Europe. In order to acknowledge them in 2019 we introduced a Honours system as follows:

  • Bronze Fellow (5 points over maximum of 5 years)
  • Silver Fellow (10 points over maximum of 8 years)
  • Gold Fellow (20 points over maximum of 12 years)
  • Platinum Fellow (30 points over maximum of 15 years)
  • EBO Medal for outstanding lifelong contribution (active participation as examiner over a period of 20 years, and/or outstanding contribution to the exam)

The points are collected as follows:

  • Viva voce exam (5 or 6 rounds) 1 point
  • MCQ supervisor 1 point
  • Chair of topic committee 1 point per exam
  • Sub-chair of topic committee 0.5 point per exam
  • Contribution to the MCQ bank 0.2 points per 1 approved question
  • Contribution to the Viva voce bank 0.3 points per 1 approved question

The executive committee may introduce new modalities for point collection and may vote for up to 2 points per person for outstanding contribution.

2.2 The European Board of Ophthalmology acknowledges one outstanding achiever in the broader educational field of Ophthalmology once a year with the Peter Eustace Medal. Nominees can be proposed each autumn by each voting National Delegate and all nominations are subject to ballot, including electronic ballot. The elected person is invited to the Spring EBO meeting and receives a grant of up to 500 Euro to cover travel expenses.

2.3 Overall prize and Alan Ridgway award to the best candidates are given two times a year at Spring and Autumn ceremony.

Appendix 1

The EBO exam coordinator is appointed from the ExCo and must be a Board member. The term of appointment is 2 years for up to 2 terms (same as the term of the President). The chair is a part of the ExCo committee with full voting power. The chair is responsible for:

  • Organisation of one part of the examination (either MCQ or Viva Voce), including collection, selection, correction and preparation for final approval;
  • Compulsory participation in Autumn examination working body summit;
  • Lease with the relevant society in order to provide the best infrastructure for the exam;
  • Coordinate the exam organization;
  • Report to the President regarding any issues during the exam organization;
  • Coordinate Diploma ceremony;
  • Organize a symposium with the society in order to promote EBO;
  • Negotiate with the society possibilities for examiners and examinees to attend the Society Meeting.

The spring and autumn examination educational coordinators are responsible, together with the Chair of the Education Committee and the President, to form: Examination working committee. The Examination working committee consists of 16 experts in the fields of ophthalmology according to the four topics of the EBO examination (4 experts per topic, 2 per subtopic). They are appointed by the ExCo on the basis of their internationally recognized expertise, proven teaching background and other qualities which might contribute to the task. They are appointed for period of 4 years. Their role is to collect, select and correct the MCQ and Viva Voce questions. Once a year they participate in a working committee summit where they perfect the questions for the 2 exams of the following year.

During the working summit each group of 4 experts is expected to test and select pool of MCQ questions and Viva Voce questions for forthcoming autumn and spring examinations.
Residency Exchange Committee
This committee will organise and supervise an exchange programme of trainees and trainers between E.B.O. recognised training units.
Continuous Medical Education Committee
This committee will increase awareness of the need for continuing medical education (CME) to promote and ensure a high and uniform standard of practicing Ophthalmologists in countries that are full members of the U.E.M.S. It applies the requirements for CME in accordance with the European Accreditation Council for CME and the National Accrediting Authorities and validates educational events that fulfil these requirements.
Advisory Committee.
This committee will advise the E.B.O. and its Committees as needed to ensure continuity and good practice in administration. It will comprise Past Delegates of the E.B.O. with a record of outstanding contributions to the Board. It will be chaired by its most senior member. The Executive Committee will propose its members for nomination by the General Meeting. Their term will be 4 years and it can be renewed once. Upon termination of their office, the General Meeting may elect to confer them the title of Honorary Advisor to the E.B.O.

4.2
Committees can be established or wound as the General Meeting of the E.B.O. decides.

4.3
All countries are entitled to nominate at least one representative on all committees // at least one committee except the Executive Committee and the Advisory Committee. Representatives may be Delegates or nominated experts as each country decides. Each committee will have at least ten members.

4.4 
All standing committees except the Executive Committee and the Advisory Committee shall be chaired by a Vice-President of the E.B.O.

4.5
A Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary to each committee except the Executive Committee and the Advisory Committee shall be nominated or elected from the Delegates of the E.B.O. as the General Meeting decides.

4.6
Minutes of all committee meetings shall be recorded and transmitted to the Executive Committee through the Secretary General as soon as possible after each meeting.

4.7
All Delegates of the E.B.O. may, on request, attend any committee as an observer.

4.8
Meetings of the committees may be called by the Chair or Secretary of the committee or the President or the Secretary General of the E.B.O. as often as deemed necessary.

Relationship and European Ophthalmological Associations

5.0 
The E.B.O. will achieve its objectives by setting up standards and by encouraging health authorities, national and scientific ophthalmological societies through the specialist section, training institutions, ophthalmologists in charge of training and trainees, to live up to such standards.
Other European Scientific associations may request that they be allowed to send an observer to the meeting of the E.B.O. A decision on this request will be made by the Executive Committee.

5.1
The E.B.O. does not seek any legislative or executive power with the European Community Countries.

5.2
The E.B.O. will keep informed about national rules and regulations which concern the areas covered by its objectives. Conflicting rules and situations will be registered. The E.B.O. plenary session will be the appropriate assembly to discuss such situations and to work out recommendations and amendment procedures.

5.3
E.B.O. will conduct site visits of institutions that have formally agreed to live up to European standards as set by the E.B.O. Site visits will be carried out only with agreement of the visited institutions. Site visits may result in certification as E.B.O. recognised training institutions. In countries where residencies are already reviewed by national institutions, the E.B.O. could co-operate with such activities. Appeals against the decisions of the Residency Review Committee will be heard in the General Meeting of the E.B.O.

Amendments and Dissolution

6.0 
The procedure for amendments of statutes and rules of procedure and for the dissolution of this foundation are identical to those described in Article XV of the U.E.M.S. Statutes (2015/13 EN AMEND.04.15)

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