ORGANIZATIONAL BYLAWS

INTERNAL REGULATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR ACOUSTICS

Table of Contents

IR 1. General
IR 2. Membership
2.1 Members
2.2 Observers
2.3 Affiliated Members
IR 3. The ICA Board
3.1 Election Procedure
3.2 Functioning of the Board
IR 4. The ICA General Assembly
4.1 Official Delegates at the General Assembly
IR 5. Technical Committees
IR 6. The International Congress on Acoustics
IR 7. ICA Symposia Sponsorship
7.1 ICA Sponsorship of Specialty Symposia in Acoustics
7.2 ICA Endorsement of Meetings
7.3 The use of the ICA Logo
IR 8. ICA Awards
7.1 ICA Awards
7.2 Early Career award
IR 9. ICA supports to young acousticians
9.1 Young Scientist Conference Attendance Grants
IR 10. ICA Office
IR 11. ICA Communications
IR 12. ICA as a member of International Organizations

IR 1. General
The Internal Regulations (IR) of the International Commission for Acoustics (ICA), cover issues which, according to the Statutes of the ICA, have to be specified and determined by the Internal Regulations of the Commission. They also include issues not covered by the Statutes, which are considered important for the fulfilment of the objectives of the Commission. The Internal Regulations and their modifications are proposed by the Board and approved by the General Assembly by a majority of two-thirds of the votes of Members represented at the General Assembly.

IR 2. Membership
The ICA accepts three types of membership: Members, Observers and International Affiliated Members
2.1 Members
Non-profit national societies concerned with the purpose of International Commission for Acoustics, provided they, in turn, are open to membership for individual persons, shall be eligible for election as Members (Member Societies) of the Commission.
The Member Societies pay a fee per share. This fee is decided by the General Assembly. The General Assembly consists of official delegates appointed by the Member Societies. Depending upon the number of shares, the different Member Societies have a different number of votes following the table of Article IR 4. of the Internal Regulations. The size and activity of the society provides a guide to the appropriate number of shares. Application for membership shall be made to the Secretary-General of the Commission and will be considered and approved by the Board, subject to ratification at the next General Assembly of the Commission by a simple majority. Applications should include the following information:
Name of Society or Organisation
Name and email for President, Secretary and Treasurer
Website of Society
Number of shares requested for membership
Copy of statutes/bylaws or similar document outlining the structure and operation of Society
Summary (200 words) on the status of the membership of the Society.
2.2 Observer Members:
National Societies and groups that are concerned with the purpose of Article 1 above but for various reasons cannot become a full member shall be eligible for admission as Observer Members. Reasons for not becoming a full member can be economic matters, legal matters defined by the societies own bylaws, etc.
The Observer Members may participate in the General Assembly of the Commission without voting privilege. An Observer Member can change its status to Member at any time, subject to application for change of the status and the General Assembly approval.
Application for accepting a Society under the status of the Observer Member shall follow the procedure described in article 2.2 of the Internal Regulations. No number of shares is to be requested.
A simple majority of the General Assembly (article 12 of the Statutes) is required for the approval of an Observer Member or for the change of its status.
2.3 International Affiliated Members:
Organizations active in the field of Acoustics at an international level shall be eligible for admission as International Affiliated Members of the Commission.
Application for accepting an Organization under the status of the International Affiliated Member shall follow the procedure described in article 2.2 of the Internal Regulations. No number of shares is to be requested.
A simple majority of the General Assembly is required for the approval of an International Affiliated Member.

IR 3. ICA Board
According to the ICA Statutes (ref. Art. 9), the Board of the ICA is composed of:
President;
The Past President;
Vice-President;
General Secretary;
Treasurer and
Ten (10) other members according to the terms described in article 3.1 of the Internal Regulations.
The five members mentioned above with their specific roles in the Board, form the Executive Board of the Commission.
The term of the Board is 3 years, starting the 1st of October in the year of the election.
3.1 Election Procedure
Member societies are invited to make nominations of Board members. Nominations should include not only the nominee’s name but also the nominee’s qualifications in terms of the acoustic field, experience from organising major international congresses, positions held in other national or international organisations, industrial experience, participation in international acoustics related activities and other relevant qualifications.
The deadline for the nominations is five months before the General Assembly meeting which will elect the new Board. The nominations shall be sent to the Secretary-General, who collects them and forwards them to the Nominating Committee.
The Nominating Committee consists of the current President, the immediate Past President, and the previous Past President. The Nominating committee prepares a slate (proposed candidate list), after consultation with the Board, to be presented to the General Assembly trying to get a good balance between geographical regions, fields in acoustics, academia – industry.
The slate shall be prepared considering the overall requirement that after the selection of the executive there shall be up to 9 dedicated seats for member societies from each of the regions according to the following:
(i) 3 for the Americas (northern and southern),
(ii) 3 for Europe (including Russia and Turkey) and Africa, and
(iii) 3 for Asia (including Australia and New Zealand).
The remaining seats are open to all member societies on the provision that a member society may have no more than one member on the Board
The President shall be elected from a slate of two names and the candidate with the most votes will be the President and the other candidate will be the Vice-President.
The Secretary-General shall be elected from a slate of one name
The Treasurer shall be elected from a slate of one name
According to article 4 in the Statutes, the immediate Past President stays on the Board.
The five executive officers (President, Past-President, Vice-President, Secretary-General, Treasurer) fill dedicated seats allocated to their region.
The nominations for the remaining dedicated Board seats will be listed in the three regions. Members for each of those regions will vote for the nominees for their region. Up to 3 from each region that receive the highest number of votes will be allocated to the remaining dedicated seats for each region.
After this round of voting any dedicated seats remaining vacant will be combined with the remaining open seats for voting by the entire General Assembly.
From the remaining list of nominees those nominees that receive the highest number of votes will be allocated to the available open seats.
The slate is to be sent out to the Member Societies three months prior to the General Assembly.
3.2 Functioning of the ICA Board
The ICA Board will meet in person or through teleconferencing at least once a year to discuss all the issues related to the ICA affairs. Additional meeting using teleconferencing or similar means is possible whenever there is an urgent matter for discussion.
Discussion through any electronic means is possible. Decisions made by this way should be filled and kept by the General Secretary.
For all the ICA Board meetings, minutes should be prepared by the ICA General Secretary and approved by the Board members. Approval of the ICA Board minutes is possible by electronic means.
The ICA Board will invite the ICA Office Director (IR 10) in their meetings and may invite individuals for discussions related to ICA affairs.
The decisions by the Board are adopted by a simple majority of the votes of the Board Members present at the Board meeting either physically or through teleconferencing, under the condition that there is a quorum of the Board. The quorum requires that at least half of the Board members are present either physically or through teleconferencing.

IR 4. The ICA General Assembly
The General Assembly (GA) is held every year if there are significant issues arising to discuss. In this case the GA will be held if possible in connection with the annual Board meeting. Every third year the General Assembly is associated with the elections for the Board and it will be held in connection with the International Congress on Acoustics. With the exception of the GA associated with the election of the Board, the GA can be held with live presence of its members or through any platform of e-conferencing. Combination of live presence and e-conferencing is possible. The decision on the way that the GA is held is taken by the executive officers (Aricle 3.1) and the Secretary General of the ICA informs the members of the ICA accordingly. For urgent matters requiring approval of the GA, communication and voting by e-mail is possible. This procedure is monitored by the Secretary General.
4.1 Official Delegates in the General Assembly
The number of official delegates in the General Assembly and votes assigned to the Member is determined according to the following scale:
Number of Shares Number of official delegates and votes
1 1
2 or 3 2
4 to 6 3
7 to 9 4
10 to 15 5
>15 6
Each International Affiliated Member is represented by one voting representative carrying one vote at the General Assembly.
Changing of shares is possible. For this change an application of the interested Society to the ICA Board submitted to the Secretary-General is required explaining the reasons for the requested change. Approval of the change is made by the GA by a simple majority.
The number of official delegates and votes according to the shares of each Member as expressed in the scale above, may be changed after a suggestion from the Board and accepted by the GA by a majority of two thirds of the votes.

IR 5. Technical Committees

In order to fulfil the objectives of the Commission and to promote international cooperation within different fields of acoustics, ICA may establish Technical Committees (TC). A TC will act as a forum for members who share a common interest in a specific field of acoustics.
The ICA Board decides on the establishment or the dissolution of a TC. The operation of a Technical Committee is dictated by specific terms to be suggested by the ICA Board and approved by the GA with a simple majority.

IR 6. The International Congress on Acoustics
The International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) initiates and sponsors the “International Congress on Acoustics” to be held every third year in a country of the ICA Member Societies according to the procedure described in Appendix A of these Internal Regulations.
All legal and financial responsibilities in connection with the International Congress on Acoustics rest with the Member Society which has accepted the invitation to organize the Congress.

IR 7. ICA Symposia Sponsorship
The International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) provides support and promotion of meetings on acoustics in several different ways:

7.1 ICA Sponsorship of Specialty Symposia in Acoustics
The International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) considers requests for sponsorship of Specialty Symposia in Acoustics. ICA sponsorship is normally limited to an international symposium on a specialized topic with an anticipated small attendance typically no more than 300. Symposia can include workshops, schools, and other types of meetings on acoustics. Support for regional specialist meetings or national meetings, especially in developing regions, may be considered if the meeting has an international character.
Additional funding may be obtained from other Societies like the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) for support of symposia in developing countries with an anticipated attendance less than 100.
Symposia sponsored by organisations that are members of ICA can apply for a Grant of up to 1500 Euros. This amount of financial support is mainly provided to contribute towards the expenses associated with participation in the symposia for Distinguished Speakers, Young Scientists and especially for Scientists from Developing Countries.
In the case of larger or non-specialized meetings, the application can be made for a grant from other Organisations like IUPAP, the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics or IUTAM, the International Union of Applied and Theoretical Mechanics.
The procedure for submitting an application for support for these Symposia is presented in Appendix B1 of the Internal Regulations.
7.2 ICA Endorsement of Meetings
Organisers of a meeting or event on acoustics (e.g., a conference or workshop) can apply for endorsement by the ICA. With the endorsement, organisers may display the ICA logo on their webpage and other promotional material. This display will help distinguish legitimate conferences from bogus conferences being advertised online. A listing of the meeting will be included in the ICA Calendar of Events.
The procedure for submitting an application of support for these Symposia is presented in Appendix B2 of the Internal Regulations.
7.3 The use of the ICA Logo
ICA member societies are entitled and encouraged to display the ICA logo as evidence of their membership on their websites. Member societies are also encouraged to use it in a similar manner as evidence of their membership of ICA on the promotional material, web-pages, and proceedings for their national and regional congresses/conferences/meetings.
This logo can be obtained from the ICA Secretary General.
Should ICA member societies wish to state on the promotional material for congress/conference that the event is “Endorsed by the ICA” and for it to be also identified as such in the ICA calendar of events, then they need to submit an application form so that the ICA has a record of the details.

IR 8. ICA Awards
8.1 The ICA may present awards to acknowledge distinguished contributions to acoustics or exceptional services to the acoustics community. These awards may be enacted on a permanent basis or may be presented on a case to case basis. The decision for a new permanent award will be taken by the ICA Board, based on a proposal by a Member Society or International Affiliate and must be ratified by the General Assembly. Decision for individual awards may be taken by the ICA Board. If a permanent new award is decided, the terms and procedure for presenting this award will become part of the ICA Internal Regulations
8.2 ICA Early Career Award
The ICA Early Career Award is a major international award that acknowledges excellence.
The ICA Early Career Award is presented at the ICA Congress to an individual who is relatively early in his/her professional career (about 10-15 years of active career), who has contributed substantially, through published papers, to the advancement of theoretical or applied acoustics or both and who has been active in the affairs of Acoustics through his/her National Society, other National Society(ies), Regional or International organisations.
The Award consists of an Award Certificate, a Medal, and an Honorarium to be decided by the ICA Board.
The Award shall be presented at the banquet or a Plenary Session of the ICA Congress by the President of the Board of the ICA. The Award recipient will be introduced by an individual from the nominating National Society and given the opportunity to make remarks in acceptance of the award. The award recipient will present a paper during the Congress and this presentation will be clearly identified in the program. A list of award recipients and a photograph of the most recent award recipient and his/her citation will be listed on the ICA website.
The Nomination Procedure and the approximate timetable appear in Appendix C of the Internal Regulations.

IR 9. ICA supports to young acousticians
9.1 Young Scientist Conference Attendance Grants
The International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) with the support of other Organizations has established the Young Scientist Conference Attendance Grants (YS Grants) Programme to help young acousticians attend International Congresses on Acoustics.
The amount of money attributed to each grant is decided by the ICA Board from which a portion will be used to cover the conference registration and the remainder provided at the time of the conference. The receipt of the award of the prestigious YS Grant may be used by the young acoustician to assist with obtaining additional funding from other sources. Candidates must be under 35 years on the day of the opening ceremony of the Congress and may be either undergraduate or postgraduate students, postdoctoral or young acousticians. Special attention will be given to applicants from developing countries.
Applications should be sent only by email attachment, and preferably as a single pdf file, with the title of the email as “ICA-ASA Young Scientist Conference Attendance”, to the ICA Young Scientist Grant Chair. Should acknowledgement of submission not be received the application should be resubmitted. Submissions by airmail cannot be accepted.
Note that the application form requires an indication of support from the candidate’s supervisor and, where practical, from an officer of the candidate’s local acoustical society. This society must be a member society of the International Commission for Acoustics. Details of the member societies can be found on the ICA website. The form requires an abstract of the paper (max. 200 words) that the applicant intends to submit to the Congress plus one page of theory/experiments/results/conclusions. A copy of the identity card or passport must also accompany the application. The successful applicants will need to complete the registration, comply with the deadlines for submissions as prescribed at the website for the upcoming ICA, and participate in the congress. To receive the residual grant money the successful candidates must attend the congress, present personally to the conference organizers with verification documents such as passport or identity card, and present their paper. Note that no payments will be made to the successful candidates prior to the congress.

IR 10. ICA Office

In order to sustain the continuity of the ICA administrative functions, in coordination and with the supervision of the ICA Board and the ICA General Assembly, the ICA Office is established.
The ICA Office is located at the headquarters of the ICA in Madrid (Spain) and it will be supervised by the ICA Office Director. The ICA Office Director will be appointed by the ICA Board for a period of three years and will assist the members of the Executive Board of ICA in all matters associated with the Spanish legislation, the Spanish authorities and the interaction between the ICA administration and the Bank holding the ICA accounts.

IR 11. ICA Communications
ICA shall provide its Member Societies Observers and Affiliates (mentioned hereafter as Members) with general information on ICA activities and events and any other information pertinent to the ICA mission. Members shall forward this information in due time to their members.
The Secretary-General of the Commission is responsible for sending the information to the Members via e-mail. The Secretary-General is also responsible for evaluating any request for the dissemination of some information coming from members or external organizations before sending the information to the Members. In exceptional cases he/she may ask the opinion of the Executive Board Members.

IR 12. ICA as a member of International Organizations

The ICA may become a member or change its membership status in any International Council, Union or Association referred hereafter to International Organisation. The proposal for such an action may be submitted to the Board, by any Board member or by a Member Society of the Commission or by invitation from the International Organisation. The Executive Board of the Commission will evaluate the proposal and make a suggestion to the Board explaining in a short report the reasoning for becoming a member or for changing the status in the International Organisation. The Board at their next meeting will decide on the suggestion made by the Executive Board.

Appendix A.

The International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) initiates and sponsors the “International Congress on Acoustics” to be held every third year in a country of the ICA Member Societies. Refer to the Congress Guidelines webpage for a description of the process used in selecting a Member Society to organize a Congress, the timeline of events, and the key action items.

Appendix B1.

The procedure for submitting an application for support for these Symposia is presented on the Sponsorship webpage.

Appendix B2.

The procedure for submitting an application of support for these Symposia is presented on the Endorsement webpage.

Appendix C.

The Nomination Procedure and the approximate timetable are described on the Early Career Award webpage.

OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES

The operational procedures for some of the activities provided in the internal rules are described in a set of guidelines.

• VOTING GUIDELINES FOR BOARD MEETINGS
• OBSERVER STATUS
• GUIDELINES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON ACOUSTICS
• GRANTS GUIDELINES
• AWARDS GUIDELINES