Membership is open to:

• Sovereign states from the European Union (EU)
• Other sovereign states associated to the EU’s Framework programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities
• Sovereign states from sub-Saharan Africa
• (Groups of) institutions specifically mandated for this purpose by the aforementioned states
• Alliances of sovereign states and/or mandated institutions from the EU, and
• Alliances of sovereign states and/or mandated institutions from sub-Saharan Africa

Regulations
Membership is regulated by the Articles of Association. Member countries of the EDCTP Association are also called Participating States.

How to become a member?
Countries interested in becoming Aspirant Members or Members of the EDCTP Association are required to apply for membership by submitting an official written request addressed to the EDCTP Executive Director with a copy to the Chairperson of the Board. For all your preliminary questions, please contact Ms Lara Pandya via email (pandya@edctp.org).

The official letter of request
The official request should be submitted in the form of a letter signed by an authorised government official confirming the country’s interest to become an Aspirant Member or Member of the Association and its agreement to respect all rules and procedures of the Association if they are admitted as an Aspirant Member or Member.

The request should follow the structure of the model letter of interest and should:

• State the name of the government ministry or mandated institution that will represent the country or alliance of countries as an Aspirant Member or Member of the Association
• Nominate delegates who will represent the Aspirant Member or Member on the General Assembly (GA), stating their name(s), positions and full contact details and indicate who will be the lead GA representative and the deputy(ies)
• Confirm active participation of at least one delegate in the GA (two meetings per year) and agree to observe all rights and obligations as set out in the Articles of Association and the Internal Regulations (IR) of the Association, including providing full financial support for the participation of GA representatives in the meetings
• If applying to become a Member, agree that the country or alliance of countries will commit to a minimum contribution of € 200,000 per year (cash or a combination of cash and in-kind), either individually or as an alliance
• If applying to become a Member:
  1) agree to submit annually by 15 September an annual Participating State (PS) work plan outlining the activities within the scope of EDCTP that the country will support;
  2) agree to report on the commitments for these activities as these commitments may count towards the annual membership contribution.

Contact person
The letter should be sent in copy by email to Ms Isabel Reis (reis@edctp.org) and the original should be sent to the EDCTP Europe Office by post.

Screening of the request
Upon receiving the application for membership the EDCTP Secretariat will screen the application to verify that the applicant meets the obligations of membership of the Association as specified in the Articles of Association and the Internal Regulations (IR) of the Association.

General Assembly approval
If all obligations are met the request for membership will be tabled at the next meeting of General Assembly of the EDCTP-Association. An application to join the EDCTP Association as Aspirant Member or Member must be unanimously approved by all EDCTP Association members entitled to vote. The country will be informed in writing on the outcome of the vote.