Guidelines for the National Groups

1. A National Group shall consist of no less than 10 individuals all of whom should qualify for individual membership in the Association in accordance with the bylaws of the AIDP.

2. All members of a National Group must be individual members in the Association. Individual membership may be acquired or renewed online through the webpage of the AIDP or through the National Group by filling the appropriate membership application form and payment of the individual annual dues (see here for different types of contributions permitting to acquire individual membership, including a reduced fee for certain countries).
3. Each National Group shall pay annual dues of 110 €.
4. A National Group will receive one free copy of each issue of the International Review of Penal Law.
5. National Groups and individual members in countries having restrictions on currency transfers and who cannot obtain an appropriate transfer permit shall deposit the dues in special accounts in their country which funds shall be used at the direction of the President, Secretary General or Treasurer of the Association.
6. All payments for individual membership, subscription to the Revue and dues of National Groups are to be made through the webpage of the AIDP. If that is impossible, the group should contact the secretariat to find an alternative way.
7. Each National Group should compose their own by-laws, which must conform to the rule of law and to the respective standards of the United Nations as well as to the By-laws and Internal Regulations of the AIDP. National Groups are invited to pay particular attention to Articles 2, 3, 7 and 32 of the By-laws and Articles 7 and 32 of the Internal Regulations.
8. The by-laws of the National Group must provide for the election of the governing bodies of the National Group including the President, the Secretary General and the Treasurer. The mandate of the governing bodies should not exceed five years and is renewable. The by-laws of the groups shall provide for a representation of young penalists in the board of directors of the National Group itself.
9. Each National Group – only one in each country – needs to be endorsed by the Board of Directors. For this purpose, a new group has to send to the Secretary General the by-laws (in one of the languages of the association), the list of members and the composition of the governing body as well as pay the membership fee. The Secretary General will verify the compliance with the rules and issue a recommendation to the Board.
10. The officers of the National Groups shall communicate every year to the secretariat the list of registered members of their group as well as the composition of the governing body (President, Secretary General, Treasurer, etc.). In any case, the composition of the governing bodies shall be notified to the AIDP on the occasion of each renewal.
11. The President of a National Group shall be the spokesperson for the group and the liaison person with the officers and the Board of Directors of the Association. He or she can be assisted in that task by the Secretary General or any other member of the governing body of the National Group.

12. National groups shall appoint official delegates to the Board of Directors of the Association, who may participate in its meetings without the right to vote. They shall provide for rapporteurs and experts to participate in the various scientific activities of the Association. They commit to respond to the questionnaires issued as part of the international colloquia and to appoint a delegate to the colloquia, provided that it is consistent with their financial capacities.

13. The Treasurer shall be responsible for sending annually the dues of the National Group. By special arrangement with the Association’s Treasurer, he or she may also collect the dues of individual members of the National Group and forward them to the Association’s Treasurer.
14. At the central level, the Secretary General is responsible for liaising with National Groups of the Association as well as ensuring that they fulfill their obligations. The Secretary General acts in that respect with the assistance of the Deputy Secretaries General responsible for regions they represent.
15. Individual members of the Association will receive every year (directly) two Newsletters informing the members of various events and activities relevant to the life of the Association.
16. The By-laws and the Internal Regulations of the AIDP contain rules on the procedure as to the groups that cease to comply with the rules for National Groups for longer periods. This procedure may lead to losing the status of an AIDP National Group (see: Title II of the AIDP Internal Regulations regarding Article 7 of the AIDP By-Laws).
17. In general, it is important that a National Group strives to be representative of the country's criminal lawyers. The group should aim at including and involving in its works academics, legal practitioners, policy makers and experts and, in general, representatives of the various sciences interested in the activity and aims of the Association. It should also involve representatives from different parts of the country. A National Group of the AIDP should aim to integrate the young penalists of the country.
18. National Groups are free to organize their own events. However, in order for the event to be under the auspices of the International Association of Penal Law (e.g. using the logo of the AIDP), the event has to be endorsed by the Scientific Committee. In order to obtain this endorsement, the National Group shall send, at the latest three weeks in advance, the information about the event to the Vice-President in charge of scientific coordination and to the Secretary of the Scientific Committee.
19. For publications resulting from events of a National Group, the groups are encouraged to use a dedicated format of RIDP libri. While the series grants a lot of liberty to the group, including as to the choice of the publication’s language, the groups benefit from uniform AIDP templates and open-source style sheets. For further information, please contact the Director General of Publications.