Article 1 

The Council acts in a disciplinary capacity pursuant to Article 23 Paragraph 6 of the AIIC Statutes. It shall consider any infringement by an association member of the Statutes, the Code of Professional Ethics or any other applicable regulation. It may act ex officio or on the basis of a complaint.

Article 2

Disciplinary Committee

Council shall appoint for its term of office a Disciplinary Committee, hereinafter named "The Committee".

The Committee shall comprise seven active or associate members who are not members of Council and who are preferably selected from among former members of Council or one of the Assembly committees: Committee on Admissions and Language Classification (CACL) or Budget Committee.

The Committee shall elect a Chairman from among its members.

The Council shall delegate some of its powers to the Committee as set out below.

Article 3

Procedure

1. To reduce the length of procedures as much as possible the Committee shall generally communicate by e-mail or telephone. However it may hold plenary or restricted meetings that can be covered by its budget.

2. The Committee may be apprised of any infringement committed by one or several members of the Association of the Statutes, the Code of Professional Ethics, the Professional Standards or any other applicable regulation. It may act of its own volition.

3. Any complaint from a member or group of members, from a body of the Association or a third party [i] shall be sent in writing to the Secretariat with grounds for the complaint supported by all relevant documents. It shall indicate clearly which regulation or regulations have been broken.

4. The Secretariat shall forward the file to the Committee for a decision on the admissibility of the complaint within two weeks.

5. The Committee shall decide on admissibility of the complaint by a simple majority of the votes cast. If the vote is tied the Chairman of the Committee shall have the casting vote.

• If the Committee decides that the complaint does not comply with the provisions of these regulations or another existing regulation it shall rule it inadmissible; it shall also reject any complaint that it does not feel qualified to hear or which is clearly pointless, vexatious or in bad faith. It shall inform the plaintiffs of its decision in writing, briefly outlining the reasons.
• If it decides to admit the complaint it appoints from among its members a Board of Enquiry comprising at least 3 members, including a coordinator. The coordinator shall administer the Board of Enquiry and ensure its smooth running (contact between members of the Board, contact with the parties, applying the procedure...)

6. The Chairman of the Committee shall notify by registered letter the members who are the subject of the disciplinary procedure that it has been initiated. The notification shall contain a brief description of the procedure and potential sanctions, announce the membership of the Board of Enquiry and give the respondents 4 weeks to reply, in writing, to the Board of Enquiry regarding the complaint, and to forward all relevant documents and indicate if they wish to be heard by the Board of Enquiry or, at the Board of Enquiry's discretion, by one of the members acting on its behalf.

A copy of the complete file shall be forwarded to the respondents at the same time.

The Chairman of the Committee shall notify the plaintiffs that the disciplinary procedure has been initiated. The notification shall contain a brief description of the procedure, announce the membership of the Board of Enquiry and give the plaintiffs 4 weeks to indicate if they wish to be heard by the Board of Enquiry or, at the Board of Enquiry's discretion, by one of the members acting on its behalf

7. The Board of Enquiry shall appoint one of its members to write the report. The rapporteur shall write the Board's report and conclusions and present them, in writing, to the Disciplinary Committee for discussion and decision.

8. Once appointed only the Board of Enquiry shall be responsible for investigating the case. It shall be bound only by the procedural rules set out in this Regulation or, where appropriate, any other regulation adopted by the Disciplinary Committee.

Any action that occasions costs for the Association beyond the budget allocated to the Committee shall be subject to prior approval by the Treasurer or, if appropriate, the Budget Committee.

The Board of Enquiry may take the following action:

• On request or ex officio the Board or one of its members chosen to act on its behalf, may hear the members against whom the complaint has been filed, or hear the plaintiffs. The parties shall in this event cover their own costs. The Board shall conduct hearings in a way that is appropriate and fair in the light of circumstances and within a reasonable period of time.
• The Board may approach other members of the Association, particularly representatives of the appropriate regions, to obtain any information or documents or to hear them.
• With the consent of the parties concerned, the Board may approach third parties to obtain information and documents or to take a statement from them. The Board may gather information or documents from third party plaintiffs or take statements from them without the permission of the members against whom the complaint has been filed.
• The Board of Enquiry may ask the plaintiffs and respondents to provide any explanation or to furnish any document as it sees fit. Refusal to do so may be held against the person to whom this additional request has been made.

9. Any new information relevant to the case shall be automatically forwarded to the parties, except for third parties, and to the Disciplinary Committee.

10. The Board shall in all circumstances allow parties a reasonable time in which to respond. It shall be free to grant any justified extension of the deadlines that are part of the disciplinary procedure.

11. At the end of its investigation the Board of Enquiry shall approve the draft report written by the rapporteur. The rapporteur shall forward the written report to the full Committee. The Board may recommend penalties.

The Board's report shall be forwarded only to members of the Disciplinary Committee.

12. The Disciplinary Committee shall consider the Board's report and reach a decision based on a simple majority of its members. If the vote is tied the Chairman of the Committee shall have the casting vote.

13. If the complaint has been filed against several members, the Committee's decisions must indicate clearly to which of the respondents they refer. The following questions shall be considered:

Has the member against whom the complaint has been filed breached the Association's regulations?

• If fewer than half vote YES the procedure shall terminate.
• If more than half vote YES the following issue shall be considered:

Does this infringement warrant a sanction?

• If fewer than half vote YES, the Committee shall recommend to Council that the President of the Association inform the respondent(s) in writing that there has been an infringement of the rules and issue a caution about future infringement of the Association's regulations. A caution shall not be deemed a sanction within the meaning of this Regulation.
• If more than half vote YES the Committee shall decide which penalty to recommend in the sequence set out below (only explicitly proposed sanctions shall be put to the vote and the harshest sanction that wins over half the votes shall be recommended):
• Expulsion,
• Suspension for three years, suspension for two years, suspension for one year,
• Reprimand,
• Warning (if none of the penalties listed above obtains the majority of the votes a warning shall be issued automatically.)

14. The file shall be forwarded to Council together with the Committee's report, conclusions and recommendations for a decision.

15. The Committee report shall be presented in Council by one or two Committee members.

16. The Council shall decide by secret ballot meeting in camera.

The Committee's findings shall be put to the vote. They may be amended. If sanctions are proposed the harshest shall be put to the vote first. The Council may decide to apply the procedure set out under Article 3.13 above.

Any decision to impose a sanction shall require a two-thirds majority of the votes cast.

The Council decision shall take immediate effect.

The AIIC President shall notify the parties in writing of the Council's decisions as soon as possible. The notification shall include grounds for the decisions drafted by the Committee or the Council. At the discretion of the AIIC President an exemption to this provision may apply to third parties.

• Expulsion shall be notified in writing to the respondents and plaintiffs; the members of the Association shall be informed.
• Suspension covers a minimum of one year and a maximum of three years; the respondents and plaintiffs shall be notified in writing; the members of the Association shall be informed.
• A reprimand shall be notified in writing to the respondents and plaintiffs; the members of the Association shall be informed.
• A warning shall be notified in writing to the respondents and plaintiffs.
• A caution shall be notified in writing to the respondents. It may be communicated to the plaintiffs at Council's discretion.

Any member who has been expelled may appeal against expulsion to the Assembly according to the relevant provisions in the Statutes and the Rules of Procedure for the Assembly. No appeal may be filed against a warning, reprimand or suspension

17. The language of the procedure shall be English or French. All records shall be kept in one of these two languages.

Article 4

Conflict of interest

No member of the Disciplinary Committee or the Council may attend or participate in discussions or in decisions in a case to which he, his regional bureau or region are an official party. This principle applies in any conflict of interest.

Article 5

Records

All documents on file, including all the correspondence, shall be forwarded to the Secretariat. The Secretariat shall keep the files of all disciplinary matters that have been subject to the procedure set out in this Regulation. The Council shall decide under what conditions the archives may be consulted.

Article 6

Procedure for amendment

Proposals to change this Regulation shall be decided by Council, if appropriate seeking legal advice, at a 2/3 majority of the votes cast.

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[i] "Third party" means any person who is neither a member, nor candidate nor pre-candidate of the Association and who is not a member of its staff.