Preparations for Incorporation 1st Report 2006.9

The Society has continued its activities with the objective of "promoting the development of nursing science and the exchange of knowledge widely, thereby contributing to the health and welfare of the people," and has continued to grow, currently comprising more than 4,700 members. In 1998, the Future Vision Committee proposed the need to incorporate the Society in order for it to have a voice in society and the right to negotiate with other organizations in order to achieve its objectives. Since then, we have established an Incorporation Preparatory Committee, secured the necessary funds, and created the necessary environmental conditions, including the establishment of a permanent Society office.

At the general meeting in 2004, it was resolved that "the Japanese Society of Nursing Science aims to become an incorporated association as soon as possible. Based on this resolution, negotiations with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which is the competent authority to grant permission for incorporation, were conducted. However, due to the revision of the Public Interest Incorporated Association Law, it was concluded that incorporation as an incorporated association would be difficult at this time, and at the 2005 general meeting, it was approved to "consider registration as an intermediate corporation.

We are planning to propose to the 26th General Meeting (December 2, 2006) the acquisition of intermediate corporate status as an agenda item for discussion. Incorporation has been a longtime dream of the Society, but with incorporation, the existing "Constitution" must be changed to "Articles of Incorporation" and the terms of office of directors and auditors must also be changed. The Board of Directors has been preparing for the incorporation, while emphasizing the history of the Japan Academy of Nursing Science and what we have built up so far, and we think it is important to inform our members of our preparations, so we are posting the information on our website.

Future plans for incorporation

The Japan Academy of Nursing Science aims to become a "non-profit corporation with public interest" in the future, but at this time we are considering registering as an "intermediate corporation". Our future direction is as follows.

• Since incorporation entails a revision of the organization, the opinions of a wide range of members will be reflected. An extraordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held to hear the opinions of the Trustees as representatives of the membership, and to discuss the proposed organization and Articles of Incorporation.
  (Extraordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees scheduled for September 16, 2006, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.)
• A proposal will be made to the 26th General Assembly (December 2, 2006) to obtain intermediate corporation status for discussion.
• If approved by the General Assembly, the application for registration of the intermediate corporation will be filed with the Legal Affairs Bureau by the end of December.
• With the enactment of the "Public Interest Corporation Law" in 2008, "intermediate corporations" will cease to exist as a system, but intermediate corporations will automatically be changed to "non-profit corporations".
• After 2008, submit an application for "Public Benefit" to become a "Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation".

Reason for registering as an intermediate corporation at this time

Under the existing Public Interest Incorporated Association Law, the competent authorities for granting permission differed from each other, and it was quite difficult to clear the conditions for permission. Therefore, the Intermediate Corporation Law was enacted in 2002, and a system was initiated that allows a corporation to obtain its juridical personality through quasi-registration (registration), and many academic societies have obtained juridical personality as an intermediate corporation. Under the Public Interest Corporation Law, which was revised in May 2006, intermediate corporations under the Intermediate Corporation Law are automatically converted to non-profit corporations.

The new Public Interest Incorporated Association Law will come into effect in 2008. It is said that there are currently more than 26,000 public interest corporations, and it is expected that these public interest corporations will automatically become non-profit corporations and will then be given priority to be judged on their public interest status. Under these circumstances, it is expected to take a considerable amount of time for unincorporated organizations to obtain legal personality, and the Society hopes to obtain "intermediate legal personality" as soon as possible, which is possible under today's law.

What will change as a result of incorporation?

Incorporation of an academic society means that the society will have a legal personality, which will change the following

• The "Constitution" will be changed to "Articles of Incorporation".
• The organization will use terms such as "employees" and "General Meeting of Employees". However, the Board of Directors is considering the possibility of transitioning to the current organization with as few changes as possible.
• The term of office for board members will be 2 years for directors and 4 years for auditors. This is a requirement of the Intermediate Corporation Law and must be complied with. Elections for the Society have been held every three years, but this needs to be changed.
• We will pay taxes when we incorporate, but this matter was approved at last year's general meeting. We are not considering any increase in membership fees as a result of incorporation.
• The proposed Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for the General Assembly in the case of an interim corporation will be posted on the website immediately after the Extraordinary Meeting of the Board of Trustees, so please take a look at them before the General Assembly.

Please refer to the Journal of the Japanese Society of Nursing Science (Vol. 25, No. 1, p. 77-79, 2005) for a detailed history of our efforts toward incorporation.

June 5, 2006 Hiroko Minami, President