The organisational constitution of DEMHIST (Name, aims, membership, meetings, management, and finances) are defined and established by the statutes. The statutes of DEMHIST were adopted at the plenary meeting held in Peterhof/Russia in 1999. To adapt them to the new ICOM statutes and rules, they were amended by the General Assembly in Los Angeles 2012.

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Article 1: Name and Address
The name of the ICOM International Committee is: Comité International pour les Demeures Historiques-Musée, International Committee for Historic House Museums, Comité Internacional por las Residencias Históricas-Museo (DEMHIST), hereafter referred as the Committee.

The Committee Seat is in the care of the Chairperson in charge.

Article 2: Relationships with ICOM
The Committee is established under Article 17 of the ICOM Statutes. Its activities are at all times subject to the ICOM Statutes and Rules.

Article 3: Aims
The aims of the International Committee for Historic House Museums are to:

• support ICOM’s aims and objectives, in particular with reference to the sector of Historical Houses become Historic House Museums;
• contribute to the development and implementation of ICOM’s program;
• formulate and carry out a program of activities related to Historic House Museums;
• provide a forum of communication, co-operation and information exchange, between Museums, professional museum workers and others concerned with Historic House Museums;
• provide advice to ICOM on Historic House Museums and be a source of professional expertise to assist in the implementation of ICOM’s program;
• represent the interests of Historic House Museums within ICOM;
• co-operate with National Committees and Regional Organizations of ICOM and with other International Committee and Affiliated Organizations in matters related to the Committee’s specific mandate and to the broader interests of ICOM;
• create and spread publications relating to the items connected with the Committee aims and area of interest;
• contribute to the research in the field of those items connected with Historic House Museums and spread the results by all means.

Article 4: Committee Membership
The membership of the International Committee shall comprise those persons being Individual Members or designated representatives of Institutional Members of ICOM who request membership in the Committee.

Members of the Committee shall be either:
• Voting members, being members of ICOM who have nominated the Committee of Historic House Museums as the Committee of which they wish to be a voting member
• Non-voting members, being members of ICOM who have sought membership of the Committee of Historic House Museums, but are voting members of another International Committee.
Members of ICOM wishing to join the Committee, shall inform the ICOM Secretariat, which shall forthwith transmit details of the Member’s application to the Chairperson or the Secretary-General of the Committee, together with advice as to whether the member is a voting member of any other International Committee.

The Chairperson of the Committee shall refer all such applications to the Executive Board, which shall admit applicants to one or other of the classes of membership of the Committee depending on the voting affiliation (if any) of the applicant with another International Committee. A person shall not be denied the membership of the Committee on the grounds of lack of professional qualifications in the area of specialization of the Committee.

Membership of the Committee shall cease if the member:

• resigns from the Committee,
• acts against the ICOM’s Statutes or Code of Ethics.

Article 5: Rights of Members
Members shall have the right to participate in the activities and program of the Committee, and to participate in all its meetings.
Voting members shall have the right to vote in the meeting of the Committee, to stand for the election of the Executive Board, to vote in the Board Elections and to be designated as a representative to vote at the General Assembly of ICOM and in the election of the Executive Council.
Non-voting members shall have no right to vote, and may not be elected in the Executive Board of the Committee.

Article 6: Meetings of the Committee
The Committee shall hold such meetings as it considers necessary for the attainment of its objectives and the carrying out of its program. The General Assembly of the Committee shall take place every year, and every third year in conjunction with the triennial General Conference of ICOM.
The dates and place of DEMHIST Conferences shall be communicated at least six months in advance. The agenda of the General Assembly of the Committee shall include the following items:

• a report on the work of the Committee during the preceding year,
• a report on the finances of the Committee for the preceding year,
• a review of the programme of the previous year and adoption of the work program of the Committee for the forthcoming year,
• a review of the budget for the forthcoming triennium
• adoption of budget for the following year.
The quorum of the Board elections shall be 10% of the voting membership of the Committee present personally or by proxy.
Each voting member shall be entitled to represent by proxy a maximum of one other voting member. An institutional member may designate another member of the same institution to vote on his behalf, even if not member of ICOM or voting member of the Committee.

Every third year, the agenda of the General Assembly of DEMHIST shall in addition include the following items:

• a review of the triennial Strategic Plan of ICOM
• election of the Executive Board of ICOM.
All meetings of the Committee shall be held in principle in the three official languages of ICOM, or in a different language when a simultaneous translation service is available, or in accordance with the language spoken by the majority of participants.

The Committee may establish working groups, represented by a voting member of the Committee who shall be responsible for the working group activities, and shall report to the Committee at the annual plenary meeting.

The Executive Board of the Committee shall arrange date, place and subject of the DEMHIST meetings with the organizers where the meeting is expected to be held. The organizer is requested to collaborate with the Chairperson of the National Committee of the host country of the DEMHIST Conference.

Article 7: Management of the International Committee
The Committee shall be managed by an Executive Board consisting of a Chairperson, two deputy Chairpersons, one Secretary/Teasurer or one Secretary, one Treasurer and five or four Councillors, elected by the Committee’s voting members. Members of the Executive Board shall be elected for a period of three years and may be re-elected only once.
No more than two members from any one country may be elected to the executive Board.

The Executive Board shall be elected in conjunction with the triennial General Assembly of the Committee. The outgoing Executive Board shall invite nominations for the next Executive Board at least four months before the General Assembly of the Committee, and shall inform the voting members of the names and qualifications of candidates at least two months prior to the date of commencement of the General Assembly of the Committee.
If a member of the Executive Board ceases to office for any reason during the period between the elections the position may be filled by co-option of another voting member of the Committee until the next General Assembly of the Committee is held.
A member of the Executive Board shall cease to hold office if the member:

• resigns from the Committee or from ICOM;
• is no longer a voting member of the Committee.
The Executive Board shall meet at least once in each year.
The quorum for a meeting of the Executive Board shall be one third the number of Board members present personally.

Article 8: Finances of the Committee
The Committee is entitled to raise such funds for its operations as it considers necessary, including sponsoring, donations, grants and profits coming from the publications produced by the Committee itself.

The Committee may not impose any annual membership subscription on ICOM members, but is entitled to demand contributions for specific services.
The Committee may receive subventions from the ICOM Executive Council. The subventions are subject to ICOM rules.
The Committee shall not enter into any contract or any legally binding agreement involving expenditure by ICOM without the approval of the Executive Council first being obtained (other than contracts and agreements that relate to its own activities and can be paid for from its own funds).
All money received by the Committee shall be deposited in a bank account established for the purpose, and all payments made on behalf of the Committee shall be made from that bank account. The Board shall advise the Secretariat of ICOM of the account name and number and the name of the bank at which the account is established.

The Treasurer shall keep proper accounts of all monies received and expended on an annual basis, and shall present to the members a report on the finances of the Committee at each plenary meeting. The Committee shall transmit a copy of the above mentioned report to the Secretary-General of ICOM for presentation to the Executive Council.

Article 9: Role and Responsibilities of the Executive Board
The Executive Board is responsible for managing the affairs of the Committee and for ensuring that the requirements of the Statutes of ICOM, and of these Rules are met.

The Executive Board shall commit itself to promoting participation by members from all countries.
The Executive Board shall prepare each year a report on the Activities of the Committee during the preceding year, which shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General for submission to the Executive Council and Advisory Committee of ICOM. This report has to be established according to the requests of the ICOM Executive Council.

The Chairperson of the Executive Board or another Member of the Executive Board has to attend the annual Advisory Committee Meeting and the ICOM General Conference in Paris.

The Executive Board shall appoint five voting members of the Committee to vote on behalf of the Committee itself in conjunction with the General Assembly of ICOM and with the election of the Executive Council. The ICOM Secretariat has to receive respective proxies within the set deadline.

Article 10: Amendments
The present Rules of the Committee may be amended at any General Assembly of the Committee.

Any suggested amendment to the Rules must be proposed and seconded by voting members of the Committee. The text of any proposed amendment, together with any explanatory material, shall be sent to the voting members of the Committee at least one month prior to annual plenary meeting at which they are to be considered.

Article 11: Dissolution of the International Committee
The Committee shall be dissolved by decision of the General Assembly of the Committee in accordance with the ICOM statutes, article 28 and ICOM rules.
In the event that the committee is dissolved, its assets (if any) shall be transferred to the ICOM General Secretariat.

The present Rules of the Committee have been adopted by the three-quarters majority of the voting members at the plenary meeting held in Peterhof/Russia, on the 29th June, 1999.

They have been amended at the General Assembly at Los Angeles/United States of America, on the 8th November, 2012.