Article 7 The Council

The members of the Institute shall elect a Council from among their numbers. Representatives and substitutes shall be elected in equal numbers. Elections shall take place every three years.

Each State party to the European Patent Convention shall be a constituency in which such members shall be entitled to vote as have their place of business or employment therein. Each member shall have one vote. A member who has places of business or employment in more than one constituency must choose the constituency in which he exercises his vote.

The number of representatives to be elected in each constituency shall be determined by reference to the number of electors in accordance with the following table:

Depending on the constituency, representatives and substitutes shall either be elected by the votes of all the electors in the constituency taken together, or as to one half shall be elected by electors engaged in private practice and as to the other half by electors engaged in any other capacity.

A constituency with a non-unitary electorate may adopt the other method of voting if a majority of the electors engaged in private practice and a majority of the electors otherwise engaged so decide. A constituency with a unitary electorate may adopt the other method of voting if a majority of the electors engaged in private practice or a majority of the electors otherwise engaged so decide. The Council shall organise a vote for this purpose if called upon to do so by at least ten electors in either category, or one half of the electors of a category if there are less than twenty.

In each election in a constituency with a non-unitary electorate electors shall state the capacity in which they are engaged in their profession.

The Council shall take the necessary measures to provide for elections and in particular for voting by post.