Chapter I General Rules

(Denomination)
Article 1
The Association shall be denominated The Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International.

(Object)
Article 2
The Object of the Association shall be to contribute for progress and advancement of regional science by developing synthetic and interdisciplinary research upon region and providing a place for mutual communication among the members as well as their academic exchange with other related associations/institutions.

(Internationalization)
Article 3
The Association shall widely give regional scientists and other scholars of related fields in the world a place for both presenting their research results and exchanging research views among them, affording the members an opportunity of exchanging research views internationally.

Chapter II Undertaking

(Activities)
Article 4
In order to attain the object of Article 2, the Association shall do the following activities:
(i) Organization of the Annual Meeting;
(ii) Organization or co-organization of meetings such as workshop, institute, etc.;
(iii) publication of the Journal of the Association, Studies in Regional Science, and other casual publication;
(iv) Cooperation with related associations/institutions both within and without Japan;
(v) Promotion of research and scientific survey;
(vi) All the other activities necessary for attainment of the object.

Chapter III Member

(Category)
Article 5 The Association composed of regular, institutional, and honorable members.

(Qualification)
Article 6 A regular member shall be an individual of learning and experience in the field of the Association or in the related fields, who has completed the prescribed procedure.
(2) An institutional member shall be a juridical person, or its equivalent, who would agree with the object of the Association, or would support the activities of the Association, and has completed the prescribed procedure.
(3) A honorable member shall be an individual or an organization, who or which has done a great achievement in the field of the Association, and has completed the prescribed procedure through recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Association.

(Membership fee)
Article 7 The regular member and the institutional member must both pay the prescribed membership fees.
(2) The honorable member shall be exempted from the membership fee.
(3) The membership fee once paid shall never be refunded irrespective of reason.

(Admission and withdrawal)
Article 8 An individual or an organization who would enter the Association shall submit the form of application for membership of the Association, and shall have an approval of the Board of Directors for the entrance.
(2) A regular or institutional member of the Association who would withdraw from the Association shall submit a notice of withdrawal, referring to a reason, and shall have an approval of the Board of Directors.

(Lapse)
Article 9 The membership of the Association shall lapse for either of the following reasons:
(i) Withdrawal;
(ii) Decease or disappearance of the regular member, or dissolution of the institutional member;
(iii) Expulsion.

(Expulsion)
Article 10 The member may be expelled from the Association through resolve of the Board of Directors if either of the following items does apply:
(i) when the membership fee is unpaid;
(ii) when the member does not fulfill member’s obligation;
(iii) when the member libels the Association, or acts against its object.

(Advantages of membership)
Article 11 The member shall have the right to take the following advantages:
(i) To receive a subscription for the Journal of the Association, Studies in Regional Science, and a several issues of the informative JSRSAI NEWSLETTER, etc.;
(ii) To submit a copy of an article for the Journal, the JSRSAI NEWSLETTER, etc.;
(iii) To participate in the Annual Meeting, workshop, institutes, etc., which are organized by the Association.

Chapter IV Officer

(Officer)
Article 12 The President, Vice-president, Directors, and Auditors are Officers of the Association. The three among the Directors shall each hold whole-time positions.
(2) The Officer must be a regular member of the Association.
(3) Neither the President nor the Vice-president nor the Director shall be the Auditor concurrently.

(Prescribed number of Officers)
Article 13 The prescribed number of Officers shall be as follows:
(i) The number of Presidents must be one;
(ii) The number of Vice-presidents must be one;
(iii) The number of Directors shall be neither more than thirty, nor less than twenty;
(iv) The number of Auditors must be two.
Notwithstanding the above item (ii), the number of Vice-presidents may be increased to three or so through an approval of the Board of Directors.

(Term of Office)
Article 14 The term of office of the Officer is two years.

(Reappointment)
Article 15 The President, Vice-president, and Auditors may each serve for another term of office through reappointment, but the period of office of thus reappointed Officer in the same role shall be no more than six years in total.
(2) The Directors may serve for another term of office through reappointment.

(Functions of Officers)
Article 16 The President, representing the Association, is wholly responsible for its business.
(2) The Vice-president shall act as an advisor to the President, and shall act for the President if an accident happened to him/her.
(3) The Directors, acting as advisors to the President and Vice-president, shall control the business of the Association.
(4) The three Directors prescribed in the latter part of the first paragraph of Article 12 shall take partial charge of affairs of the Association (general management, general affairs, and financial affairs, respectively).
(5) The Auditors shall audit the management of business, and shall inspect the accounts of the Association.

(Election of Officers)
Article 17 The President, Vice-president, and Auditors shall be elected by the Board of Directors.
(2) The Directors shall be appointed through an approval of the General Business Meeting of the Association from the list of regular members, that shall be made up through the ballot taken by the members.
(3) The three Directors prescribed in the latter part of the first paragraph of Article 12 shall be elected from among the Directors.
(4) When a vacancy occurs for an Auditor, the successor shall be appointed by the President through the earliest recommendation of the Board of Directors. Thus appointed Auditor shall remain in office during what remains of the term of his/her predecessor.

(Board of Directors)
Article 18 The ordinary meeting of the Board of Directors shall be convoked by the President three times or more every year in principle.
(2) The President must determine convocation of an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors without delay when one third or more of the present Directors makes the demand specifying agenda items of the meeting by letter.
(3) The Officers shall attend the meeting of the Board of Directors.
(4) The President shall preside at the ordinary meeting of the Board of Directors.
(5) The presiding officer of the extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors shall be elected from among the Officers present other than the Auditors.
(6) The Board of Directors may nominate a certain number of members of the Association for the Assistant to the Directors in order to smooth the daily affairs of the Association.
(7) The Auditor, the President, and the three Directors prescribed in the latter part of the first paragraph of Article 12 shall each permit persons to attend the meeting of the Board of Directors.
(8) The presence of one third or more of the present Directors shall make a quorum of the meeting of the Board of Directors. Those Directors who have submitted letters of proxy in advance shall be counted among the presence.
(9) All matters in the meeting of the Board of Directors shall be decided by a majority of the Directors present, except as elsewhere provided in the Constitution, and in case of a tie, the presiding officer shall decide the issue.
(10) If the General Business Meeting of the Association would be held, the President must convoke a regular meeting of the Board of Directors within seven days before it irrespective of the provision of the first paragraph.

Chapter V General Business Meeting

(General Business Meeting)
Article 19 The President, with the advice of the Board of Directors of the Association, shall convoke the ordinary General Business Meeting within the period of the Annual Meeting of the Association.
(2) An extraordinary General Business Meeting shall be convoked within a month upon the demand of the Board of Directors.
(3) The President shall preside at the ordinary General Business Meeting.
(4) The Board of Directors shall elect the presiding officer of the extraordinary General Business Meeting from among the members of the Association on each occasion.
(5) The following matters for decision must be laid on the table of the ordinary General Business Meeting, and shall be given its approval:
(i) Undertaking program and the revenue and payment estimates;
(ii) Undertaking report and the settlement of accounts;
(iii) All the other necessary items, which have been approved by the Board of Directors.
(6) The Auditor shall make a report of audit on both the activities of the Association and the settlement of accounts in the ordinary General Business Meeting.
(7) The presence of one tenth or more of the present members of the Association shall make a quorum of the General Business Meeting.
(8) All matters in the General Business Meeting shall be decided by a majority of the members present, except as elsewhere provided in the Constitution.
(9) For an extraordinary reason such as cancellation of the Annual Meeting, the matters in the fifth paragraph, which should have been otherwise decided by the ordinary General Business Meeting, may be done by a majority of the voting by mail provided that the matters for decision have been noticed for the members in writing by mail with a period of notification of thirty or more days.
(10) The members of the Association shall be informed of the outlined proceedings of the General Business Meeting and the matters settled by it.

(Committee)
Article 20 The following Committees of the Association shall be organized in order to smooth its management of undertakings:
(i) Committee on General Management;
(ii) Committee on General Affairs;
(iii) Committee on Financial Affairs;
(iv) Editorial Board of Studies in Regional Science;
(v) (deleted)
(vi) Committee on the Association Prize.
(2) The other Committees of the Association than those prescribed in the first paragraph may be organized through an approval of the Board of Directors, in order to smooth its management of undertakings.

(Bylaw on the Committee)
Article 21 The organization and management of the Committee shall be fixed by making inner rules through an approval of the Board of Directors.

Chapter VII Special Interest Group

Article 22 The Special Interest Group of the Association in a specific magnitude research area may be organized, through an approval of the Board of Directors, in order to make academic contribution for development in its objective science.

Article 23 The management of the Special Interest Group shall be fixed by making inner rules through an approval of the Board of Directors.

Chapter VIII Secretariat

(Secretariat)
Article 24 The Secretariat of the Association shall be organized in order to smooth execution of its whole business.
(2) The Director prescribed in the latter part of the first paragraph of Article 12 who is responsible for general management of the Association shall concurrently serve as Executive Secretary, the chief of the Secretariat.
(3) The Secretariat may employ its staffs.
(4) The selection of the Secretariat staffs shall be made by the Executive Secretary.

(Bylaw on the Secretariat)
Article 25 The activities of the Secretariat and its management shall be fixed by making inner rules through an approval of the Board of Directors.

Chapter IX Amendment

(Amendment to the Constitution)
Article 26 Amendments to this Constitution shall be initiated by either the Board of Directors, or the twenty or more members which has submitted a writing application, through a concurring vote of two-thirds or more of the Directors present at the meeting of the Board of Directors, and shall then be submitted to the members of the Association for ratification, which shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of all votes cast at the General Business Meeting. The votes at the General Business Meeting, which should have been cast following the first part of this paragraph, may be substituted with the voting by mail. Regulations concerning the voting by mail shall be fixed by making inner rules.

Chapter X Miscellaneous

(Place of the Secretariat)
Article 27 The Association shall have the Secretariat, for the time being, in Prof. Dr. Higano Study Room, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba.

Bye-law (Amendment on 1st September, 1992)

(Date of enforcement)
Article 1 This Constitution shall be enforced on 1st September, 1992.

(Interim measures concerning Officers)
Article 2 (omission)

Bye-law (Amendment on 16th October, 1993)

(Date of enforcement)
Article 1 This Constitution shall be enforced on the date of enactment.

Bye-law (Amendment on 2nd October, 1999)

(Date of enforcement)
Article 1 This Constitution shall be enforced on the date of enactment.

Bye-law (Amendment on 8th October, 2006)

(Date of enforcement)
Article 1 This Constitution shall be enforced on the date of enactment.

Bye-law (Amendment on 13th October, 2013)

(Date of enforcement)
Article 1 This Constitution shall be enforced on the date of enactment.