By-laws of the NFKK
12-6-2012 Reykjavik, Iceland
§9 Revised 28-9-2018, Malmö, Sweden
§1 The name of the organization is “Nordisk Forening for Klinisk Kemi” abbreviated as NFKK. English name: Nordic Federation of Clinical Chemistry.
§2 The NFKK is an association for the full members of the scientific societies of clinical chemistry in the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The NFKK is currently registered in Denmark (CVR number 28058403).
§3 The purpose of the NFKK is to advance the field of clinical chemistry with an emphasis on Nordic co-operation in research, development and education.
§4 The language of the NFKK is English.
§5 The board of the NFKK consists of at least two members from each national society in the Nordic countries. These members are the chairmen of the five national societies and a further representative from each of the five national societies.
The chairman of the NFKK is elected from and by the members of the board for a period of four years and the chairmanship should alternate between the five Nordic countries. The change of chairmanship should take place in connection with the Nordic Congress in Clinical Chemistry.
• The treasurer of the NFKK is elected from and by the members of the board for a period of four years and should be from the country NFKK is registered.
• The secretary of the NFKK is elected from and by the members of the board for a period of four years.
• The board can appoint a number of additional members without voting rights, e.g. the chief editor of Klinisk Biokemi i Norden (KBN).
• The national societies may appoint substitutes for their members of the NFKK board who can attend the meetings in their absence with full voting rights.
§6 The chairman has the responsibility (in collaboration with the secretary) to send an invitation to the members of the board containing a detailed agenda and the minutes of the previous board meeting. This invitation must be sent within a reasonable time before the board meeting. The chairman should regularly report on the activities of the NFKK in the journal of the NFKK, KBN.
§7 Board meetings should be held at least once a year. Board decisions are made by majority of votes. In case of equality of votes, the chairman carries the decisive vote. Between meetings, proposals can be circulated to the members of the board. The chairman decides on the time limit for responding. A member not having responded after the expiration of the time limit is considered to consent to the proposal.
§8 The NFKK can create working groups with a specified, time limited mandate or committees with permanent mandates. The members of such bodies are appointed in collaboration with the national societies. The expenses will be paid either by the NFKK or by the national societies of the members. The chairmen of working groups and committees must regularly report on their activities to the board of the NFKK. Proposals for Nordic recommendations must be approved by the national societies and the board of the NFKK. After approval, such recommendations must be published on the website of the NFKK, in the KBN, in the Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation (SJCLI) or in other journals/websites as deemed appropriate by the NFKK board.
§9 The five national societies pay membership fees to the NFKK based on the number of members in the individual national societies. The amount of membership fees is proposed by NFKK and ratified by the national societies. All income is the property of the NFKK and must be placed in bank accounts approved by the Board. The treasurer is responsible for keeping accounts and balances and the board delegates responsibility for financial transactions to the treasurer. At the end of the year, the balance must be scrutinized by a professional accountant and a financial report must be written. Furthermore, two internal accountants preferably not from Denmark chosen among the members of the NFKK and appointed by the NFKK board must scrutinize the financial report with a particular emphasis on whether expenses are used in accordance with the purpose of the NFKK.
§10 Under the auspices of the NFKK, Nordic Congresses in Clinical Chemistry should be organized every second year on a rotational basis between the five membership countries. English is the language of the congresses. The national society organizing the congress carries full responsibility for the scientific program as well as for the finances of the congress. The board of the NFKK decides in advance of appointing the national society to arrange the congress a fee to be paid to the NFKK by the organizing society. The fee must be documented in the minutes from an NFKK board meeting.
§11 The NFKK publishes KBN. The editorial board of the KBN consists of the chairman of the NFKK, a representative from each of the Nordic countries as well as an editor-in-chief. The board of the NFKK appoints the editor-in-chief after nomination by the editorial board of the KBN. The editor-in-chief reports on a regular basis to the board of the NFKK. The individual national societies are responsible for distributing KBN in their own countries.
§12 The NFKK has the scientific responsibility for the Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation (SJCLI). SJCLI is owned by the publishing group of Medisinsk Fysiologisk Förening Forlag and is governed by the by-laws of this society. The editorial board consists of 11 persons. The national societies of Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway each appoints two editors and these 8 editors further appoint three additional editors.
§13 Changes in the by-laws of the NFKK must be approved by a minimum of 2/3 of the members of the NFKK board as well as of all five national societies.
§14 The NFKK can be dissolved if all five national societies so decide per capsulam. In this case, the assets of the NFKK should be distributed among the national societies according to the number of members of each society.
Malmö, September 28, 2018
Ólöf Sigurdardottir, Chairman of FKLL
Leifur Franzon, National representative of FKLL
Lise Bathum, Chairman of DSKB
Line Rode, National representative of DSKB
Maria Averina, Chairman of NSMB
Helge Rootvelt, National representative of NSMB
Lars Breimer, Chairman of SFKK
Per Bjellerup, National representative of SFKK
Anna Linko-Parvinen, Chairman of FSCC
Eeva-Riitta Savolainen, National representative of FSCC
Henrik Løvendahl Jørgensen, Chairman of NFKK