Ex officio

Ex officio is a Latin terms meaning “by right of office” or “by virtue of one’s office or position”. Ex officio members of boards and committees are persons who are members by virtue of some other office or position that they hold. For example, if the bylaws of an organization state that all board members are also members of the finance committee, a board member is said to be an ex officio member of the finance committee, since he or she is automatically a member of that committee by virtue of another held position (that of a board member). As seen in the example sentence below, ex officio is also used to indicate the ability of an agency or a state to render a decision under the powers of its office.

“A Member shall, ex officio if its legislation so permits or at the request of an interested party, refuse or invalidate the registration of a trademark.”