Inaugural meeting
held on 10 April 1988 at the Beaufort Hotel in Bath (UK)

Participants were delegates from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA.It was decided the the organisation will have the name "Ankylosing Spondylitis International Federation" (ASIF).The discussion on the constitution was chaired by the US delegate who  presented a new version, so it was difficult for the participants to follow who were prepared to discuss the distributed draft. Many proposals were added. As a result, a preliminary constitution was accepted. Fergus Rogers was asked to register the organisation with this constitution.The following Executive Committee was elected:
Fergus Rogers (UK) as president,
Anita Berg (Sweden) as vice president,
Prof. Ernst Feldtkeller (Germany), Dr. Filipe Gonçalves da Rocha (Portugal) and Dr. Joachim Schupp (Switzerland) as further members of the Executive Committee.It was agreed that the membership fee consists of a flat annual fee of 30£ plus an amount of  £ 0.05 per individual member of the member societies.  

Participants of the ASIF inaugural meeting held  in Bath (England) at 10 April 1988 (from left to right): J. Keyes, A. Poglitsch, K. Thomson, J. Erlendsson, D. Thomson, A. Berg, J. Ampe, J. Schupp, P. DeCroix, H. Hümmer, F. Rogers, E. Feldtkeller, F. Kaltenbrunner, O. Romberg, D. Sahlberg, T. Sørensen, Mrs. Franovic, A. Franovic, C. Baumberger, F. da Rocha, H. Baumberger

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