Membership

EHFA was a membership association, and its members were its governing body. Every member held a vote at the general assembly, could stand for the board, and took part in the working groups that carried the association's programme.

Membership was open to every part of the sector rather than to one kind of organisation:

• National associations. The federations and trade bodies representing the sector in their own country. These were the association's founding constituency and its route into national regulation. See national associations.
• Operators. Public and private health and fitness facility operators and chains, from single sites to European groups.
• Industry partners. Equipment manufacturers, suppliers and service providers to the sector. See industry partners.
• Vanguard partners. A category for the sector's largest operators and suppliers, whose commitment let the association fund work the subscriptions alone would not carry.
• Education and accreditation bodies. Training providers, colleges and universities, and registers whose programmes met the accreditation criteria. See education partners.

Members paid an annual subscription set by category, attended and voted at the general assembly, and were listed as members of the association. In return they received the association's publications and reports, access to the members' area of this site, the right to take part in the working groups, and the right to describe themselves as members of the European body for the sector.

For operators and suppliers the practical value was the standards work. A sector that could not describe what a qualified instructor was had no way to compare what it was buying, and no answer when a government asked what the qualification on a certificate actually meant. Membership bought a seat at the table where that was decided.

• Members area - the pages that were restricted to members.
• Partners - the organisations the association worked with.
• EHFA statutes - the rules on admission, subscriptions and voting.