Membership

I. All Membership categories – see the relevant section in the Constitution

II. Membership acceptance procedure

Candidates for membership must be submitted through the dedicated online application . Membership benefits will begin as soon as the annual membership fee is received. The Council member who is in charge of memberships is the Secretary General. 

III. Membership fees for members living in developing countries.

The Council approved the proposal to reduce the membership fee for members living in developing countries.

The selection of the countries will be based on their official annual income (GDP – Gross Domestic Product per Capita) according to the World Bank database. All those countries that have an official annual average income below USD 10,000 will be included. The calculation was done, for the first time, in 2012 taking into account the GDP of 2011 and was valid for the membership fees for three years (2013-2014-2015). After this period the situation will be re-evaluated and updated every three years accordingly.

IV. Membership status

Members must pay their annual membership fee to receive the membership benefits (i.e. voting for the ordinary council member elections; voting during the General Assembly; access to the members’ restricted area; discounted congress membership fee; etc.). Members who do not pay their annual membership fees and who are therefore not “active”, will remain in the database of ERA members and will continue to receive regular information regarding ERA for at least ten years but will not be able to receive the membership benefits. If they pay their membership fee within the said ten years their membership will be re-activated, after this time, if they wish to pay their membership fee, they might have to re-apply as a new member. Membership is however considered to be uninterrupted only if the annual membership fee is paid regularly (i.e. every year with no interruptions).

V. Payment of outstanding membership fees and Uninterrupted membership

It is not necessary to pay for outstanding membership fees to pay for the current annual membership fee.

Benefits for active members with uninterrupted membership, to be considered at the time of request of the benefit: apply for senior membership (15 consecutive years), apply to be part of specific ERA committees (i.e. Ethics Committee – 5 consecutive years), apply for Council (ex-officio positions – 5 consecutive years), apply for FERA (5 consecutive years), etc. If an active member has not paid a membership fee for a year and wishes to apply for uninterrupted membership, he/she must settle the pending past year/s.

VI. Parental leave

Members on parental leave will be allowed to suspend their membership for the year they are on parental leave (1 year only). They will remain a member without any

interruption and will not be asked to pay an annual membership fee, but they will not be able to benefit from membership benefits (“frozen membership”).

VII. Membership categories

Council can decide at any time new membership categories with the respective linked membership fee. For more details check out the specific section of the ERA website. 

Last update: December 2023