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Statutes for the International Commission on Acoustics(These Statutes were adopted by the International Commission on Acoustics in Antwerp 1996 March 31 and approved by the IUPAP General Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden 1996 September 20 to be effective from the first ICA General Assembly)
Revised at the General Assembly, September 5, 2007Article 1. Purpose
The purpose of the International Commission on Acoustics (ICA), is
to promote international development and collaboration in all fields of
acoustics including research, development, education, and standardisation.
Means for the Commission to fulfill its mission are:
a) i to maintain close contacts with national and regional acoustical societies and associations as well as other relevant professional
organisations and seek consensus in matters of mutual interest; ii to provide an information service on societies, congresses, symposia, etc., research and education organisations in the field of acoustics; iii to take a pro- active role in co-ordinating the main international meetings within acoustics.
b) to convene the International Congresses on Acoustics in accordance with
the Commission's guidelines and to act as the International Advisory
Committee for these congresses.
c) to sponsor or co-sponsor other topical and special international
conferences normally in close cooperation with national and/or regional
organisations and to give financial support (grants or guarantees), as a
grant to organising committees for such meetings or as a travel grant to
participants.
Article 2. Affiliation
ICA is a Scientific Associate of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and an Affiliated Commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM).
Article 3. Membership
Member Societies: Non-profit national societies concerned with the purpose of Article 1
above, provided they in turn are open to membership for individual persons,
shall be eligible for election as Members (Member Societies) of the
Commission.
International Affiliated Members: Such members are membership organizations active in the field of Acoustics at an international level.
Application for membership shall be made to the Secretary-General of the
Commission and may be considered and approved by the Board, subject to
ratification at the next General Assembly of the Commission. The General
Assembly is treated in article 8.
Article 4. Organisation
The work of the International Commission on Acoustics is directed by:
a) A General Assembly of the official delegates appointed by the Members.
b) A Board of fifteen members, elected at the General Assembly by the Member Societies. The Board
is formed by a President, a Past-President, a Vice-President, a Secretary-General, a
Treasurer, and ten other members. In addition, also at the General Assembly, every International Affiliated Member appoints a member up to a limit of 6; if there are more than 6 International Affiliated Members, 6 members are elected at the General Assembly by the International Affiliated Members.
In addition the Executive Council of
IUPAP and IUTAM may have a representative in the Board ex-officio.
The number of official delegates in the General Assembly and votes assigned
to the Member is determined according to the following IUPAP scale:
The number of shares of an International Affiliated Member is determined by agreement with ICA during the Membership admission procedure; it may be changed following the same procedures as for membership admission. The International Affiliated Members are represented by one voting representative carrying a number of votes proportional to the number of shares of the Member.
Article 5. The Board
The Board is responsible for the conduct of the Commission's business
between the meetings of the General Assembly.
The Board shall normally have one regular meeting each year. The Draft
Agenda for the regular board meeting is circulated by the Secretary-General
at least three months before the meeting. Subjects not on the Draft Agenda
may be added at the meeting with the consent of a simple majority of the
Board Members present. Quorum requires that at least a majority of the
Board Members is present.
All Board Members, with the exception of the Past-President, are elected by
the General Assembly, and as a rule their term of office is for three years
from October 1 in the year of the election.
The President will be elected for one term of three years, normally after
having served three years as a Board Member. In the event the President is
unable to continue his duties for the elected term, the Past-President ( or
if he is unable, the Vice-President) will act as interim President, or,
with the concurrence of the majority of the Board, will appoint one of the
Board Members as interim President.
The Vice-President will be elected for one term of three years, normally after having served three years as a Board Member. In the event the Vice-President is unable to continue his duties for the elected term, the President will, with the concurrence of the majority of the Board, appoint a substitute from among the Board Members.
The Secretary-General and Treasurer will be elected for a term of three
years and will be eligible for a second and usually final term of three
more years. If either is unable to continue his duty for the elected term,
the President will, with the concurrence of the majority of the Board,
appoint a substitute from among the Board Members.
Other Board Members will be elected for three years and will be eligible
for not more than one additional term of three years, except as described
in the above two paragraphs.
In exceptional circumstances and with the agreement of the Board the
officers may be re-elected for one additional term.
The Board may approve International Affiliated Members nominated by membership organizations. International Affiliated Members are entitled to vote at Board Meetings.
The Board may fill vacancies occurring in its membership during the
interval period between General Assembly meetings.
The Board may also elect Associate Board Members for liason with scientific
Unions and other organisations concerned with the purpose of article 1 and
2 above. Such liason elections should be done in consultation with the
organisation concerned.
Associate Board Members are not entitled to vote at the Board meetings nor
will they be eligible for IUPAP grants towards travel and living expenses.
Article 6. Finance
In addition to money directly alotted by IUPAP, the International Commisson
on Acoustics may have funds of its own consisting of subscriptions by the
Members and special donations or grants. The payment of annual dues is the
responsibility of the Members. Dues are payable on the first day of each
year. Certain specific projects may be financed independently of the
general resources of the Commission. The unitary subscription for the ICA
shall be decided by the General Assembly. The method of calculating the
payment for each Member shall be that provided in Article 14 of IUPAP.
In addition to the annual dues the ICA shall also get contributions from
the fees from the International Congresses in Acoustics. The contribution
from the congresses is calculated as a percentage of the registration fees
paid by the participants. The percentage is set in the by-laws for the work
of the Commission.
Article 7. Withdrawal and Resignation
A Member whose payments are more than three years in arrears is to be
regarded as having withdrawn. Any Member who has resigned is liable for the
unpaid payments up to the end of the year of resignation. Any Member
ceasing to belong to the Commission forfeits all rights to the ICA assets.
Voting rights and all other priveleges are lost for a Member whose payments
are two or more years in arrears.
An International Affiliated Member who does not fulfill their obligation during three consecutive years is to be regarded as having been withdrawn.
Article 8. General Assembly
The General Assembly of the ICA will usually meet in connection with the
International Congresses on Acoustics. The following business will be
carried out at these General Assemblies: a) election of the Board every
third year; b) examination of a Financial Statement presented by the Board;
c) agreement on a provisional budget for future years; d)
discussion of questions submitted by the Members, the Board or the
Executive Council of IUPAP, IUTAM and ICSU.
The voting powers of the delegations shall be in accord with those fixed by
the Statutes of IUPAP (Articles 14 and 16. See also Article 4 above).
Members of Member societies who are not official delegates, as well as
members of subcommittees appointed by the ICA, may attend meetings of the
General Assembly in a consultative capacity.
The President of the ICA may invite scientists who are not delegates to
attend meetings of the General Assembly as consultants.
The Draft Agenda for the General Assembly is circulated by the
Secretary-General to the Members at least three months before the opening
of the General Assembly. Subjects not on the Draft Agenda may be added at
the Assembly with the consent of a simple majority of the votes of Members
represented at the Assembly.
A Member whose delegation will not attend a given General Assembly but
wishes to vote on appropriate matters appearing on the agenda may send its
vote in writing to the President. To be valid, it must be received prior to
the voting.
Article 9. Relation with IUPAP (See also Articles 2 and 3)
The Commission will report concerning its work and its financial position
to each General Assembly of IUPAP and will receive mandates from that
Assembly. The Commission will report to IUTAM annually. Affiliation of the Commission with the Union can be terminated
either by the Commission at its General Assembly or by the Union at its
General Assembly. In the former case, the necessary resolution must obtain
a two-thirds majority among all members. In the event of disaffiliation,
the special funds of the Commission are to remain its property, but any
unexpected balance of money received from IUPAP shall be returned to that
body.
Article 10. Duration of the Commission
The life of the International Commission on Acoustics is not limited. In
the event of the dissolution of the Commission by a majority of two-thirds
of the votes of the Members, its assets will be allocated by the General
Assembly to one or more not-for-profit organisation with similar purposes
serving the acoustical sciences.
Article 11. Alterations of the statutes
Alterations in the statutes may be proposed by the Board of the Commission,
by one of the member societies, or by the Council of IUPAP. Such proposals
must be received by the Secretary-General of the Commission at least three
months before the date of the General Assembly.
Amendments or modifications may be adopted only by the General Assembly by
a two-thirds majority of the votes of the Members. Postal votes may be used
in between the triennial meetings of the General Assembly. Alterations of
statutes must be approved by the Council of IUPAP, which shall also
constitute the final authority in regard to interpretation of Statutes.
Article 12 Rules and codes of practice
The General Assembly may adopt by-laws for the conduct of business, specify
the powers of the Board and determine procedures for dealing with matters
not specifically laid down in these Statutes. They are meant to give
guidance in general terms to the Board and the Members in matters such as,
for example, the provision of grants from the funds of the ICA for
symposia.
Such by-laws and codes of practice may not contravene the Statutes of the
ICA. The adoption, modification, or abolition of any such by-laws or code
of practice shall require either a majority of two-thirds at a General
Assembly of the Commission, or alternatively a majority of two-thirds of
the total number of the Members in a postal vote on a proposal unanimously
approved by the Board of the ICA.
The text of any by-laws or code of practice applicable at any time shall be
communicated by the Secretary-General to each of the Member Societies, but
it shall not be required that any such text be printed with the Statutes of
the ICA.
Appendix
Articles from IUPAP which are referred to in the statutes
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