PURPOSE
The Breed councils are to be established for each breed in order to serve as advisory bodies on breed standards and breeding rules. The Breed council is to channel opinions and suggestions from the individual breeder to the General Assembly of FIFe through the Breed Council secretary who shall be elected by each specific Breed Council.

ELIGIBILITY AND MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

• A member must have a FIFe registered cattery name.
• A member must be at least 18 years old or older and must be member in good standing, for at least 5 calendar years.
• A member must have bred and registered with a FIFe member at least 3 litters of the appropriate breed within the last 5 calendar years.
• A member must have bred at least one Grand Int. Champion or Grand Int. Premier of the appropriate breed.
• A member must have exhibited a cat of the appropriate breed owned by him/herself at FIFe shows at least 3 times per year within the previous 3 calendar years.

Membership by eligible individuals in any breed may be obtained by submitting to the General Secretary a completed membership application form and having paid the appropriate fee(s) to FIFe's treasurer. This application must be certified by the FIFe member. A membership runs from January 1 to December 31. Upon receipt of the membership application and fee(s), the General Secretary will place the member’s name on the membership list. Membership applications for any given year will not be accepted after August 1 of that year.
Membership in more than one Breed Council is permitted.

BREED COUNCIL SECRETARY
Requirements for Eligibility:
See Membership Requirements above.
A secretary may not hold his/her position in more than one Council at a time.
Election:
A secretary for each Breed Council is to be elected FROM the members and BY the members of that Breed Council.
Elections will be held every 3 years during the month of December.
A candidate must declare his/her intention to run for secretary of a Breed Council by submitting his/her declaration in writing to the General Secretary by the 1st August preceding the December in which the election is held.
Ballots for the election of Breed Council secretaries must be mailed to the General Secretary in accordance with voting instructions printed on the ballot and must be returned in the official ballot envelope.
Only those Breed Council members who have paid their dues by the 1st August preceding the December in which the election is held shall be eligible to vote in the election.
In the event of a tie vote between/among the candidates for Breed Council secretary, the membership that was eligible to vote in the election that resulted in a tie shall re-vote amongst the candidates who had equal votes. The re-election is to be done within 3 weeks of the close of the first election, allowing the voters 14 days to return the ballots to the General Secretary. If the vote is again a tie, the winner shall be determined by lot.
Vacancies:
The FIFe board shall appoint a replacement for any vacancy occurring in the office of a Breed Council secretary.

FEES
The annual registration fee (January 1 to December 31) shall be set by the General Assembly to help to cover expenses for the operation of the Breed Councils.

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Suggestions and opinions from the members of each Breed Council are to be forwarded to the elected secretary of the specific Breed Council. The Breed Council secretary will evaluate these proposals and obtain the opinions of other members of the particular breed in an annual poll to be taken before December of each calendar year.
To be eligible to forward proposals, the Breed Council must consist of members from at least 6 different FIFe members.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Breed council serves the General Assembly in an advisory capacity, the approval of a 2/3 majority of the members voting in the specific Breed Council(s) affected must be obtained.
The proposals of the Breed council accepted in the way described above have to be forwarded in all 3 FIFe languages to the respective commission, (Health and Welfare commission, Judges and LO commission), by the end of January each calendar year. They must also have the approval with a 2/3 majority of the commission concerned, to be eligible as a proposal for the General Assembly.