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Statutes and By-Laws

Statutes

• Objects of the Association
• Members of the Association
• National Committees
• Administration of the Association
• Secretariat
• Finance
• General Meetings of the Association
• Budget
• Voting Power
• Validity of Statutes
• Commissions

By-Laws

• Resolutions Committee
• Nominating Committee
• Meetings of the Bureau and of the Executive Committee
• Conduct of Meetings

Statutes*

* Adopted by the General Assembly of the Association, Grenoble, 1975, and amended by the General Assembly, London, Canada, 1981.

1. Objects of the Association

   1. The purpose of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior is:
      1. To promote the study of problems relating to earthquakes, to the propagation of seismic waves, and to the internal structure, properties and processes of the Earth;
      2. To initiate and co-ordinate the conduct of researches which depend on co- operation between different countries, and to provide for their scientific discussion;
      3. To facilitate particular researches on scientific and applied seismology, such as the comparison of instruments used in different countries, researches on blasting and generally all matters to which seismology is related.

2. Members of the Association

   2. Each country having adhered to the Union is a member of and has the right to send representatives to the Association. The word "country" has the same sense as in the statutes of the Union.

3. National Committees

   3. Each National Committee for the IUGG should include a section, or sub- committee, of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior. The functions of this Committee and of its section or sub-committee are to facilitate and co-ordinate in their respective countries the study of the different questions relating to Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior in accordance with the objects of the Association. The Committee and the Section or Sub-Committee shall be empowered to propose to the Association for discussion questions falling within the competence of the Association.

      The National Committee on the recommendation of the Section nominates the delegate or the delegates who shall represent it at the General Meeting of the Association. One of these delegates shall be designated as the principal delegate of the country and shall cast the vote of that country in all questions except the purely scientific ones (see article 18).

      Official communications sent by the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior to an adhering country shall be addressed to the Seismological Section or in default to the National Committee of Geodesy and Geophysics.

4. Administration of the Association

   4. The work of the Association shall be directed by the General Meeting of the delegates of the Member countries of the Association.

   5. The General Meeting of the Association shall elect the following: a President, a First and Second Vice-President, a Secretary General, a Treasurer and four additional persons. It is desirable that each of these four be Chairman of a Commission. These, plus the immediate past President shall constitute the voting members of the Executive Committee of the Association.

      A single person may, with the approval of the Executive Committee, be elected both Secretary General and Treasurer.

      The President, the Vice-Presidents, the Secretary General and the Treasurer shall constitute the Bureau of the Association.

   6. Elections shall be held at each Ordinary General Meeting held in conjunction with a General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. The President may not be reelected to the same office, and no person may hold any one office for more than twelve consecutive years.

   7. The transfer of duties takes place at the close of the General Meeting at which the election occurs. The interval between successive elections is called a period.

   8. The National Committee, or in default the adhering organization, names in each country a correspondent, whose duty is to provide liaison between the Association and the Section in each country.

   9. The Executive Committee may appoint members to such committees and working groups as may be needed and may approve their terms of reference.

      Urgent matters arising in the interval between General Assemblies shall be referred by the Bureau to the Executive Committee.

      The Executive Committee may appoint an Associate Secretary who will be ex-officio a member of the Executive Committee, but without vote.

      Should a vacancy occur among the elected officerships, the Bureau shall fill the position provisionally and an election shall be held for this office at the next General Meeting of the Association.

5. Secretariat

   10. A Secretariat placed under the direction of the Secretary General shall conduct the correspondence, preserve the administrative archives, arrange the General and other meetings, and prepare and distribute the Comptes-Rendus of the Assemblies.

6. Finance

   11. The resources of the Association are derived from:
       1. The allocation by the Union;
       2. The sales of publications, subscriptions, advertisements, etc.;
       3. Grants.
   12. The Treasurer shall administer and disburse these resources under the direction of the Executive Committee. The administration of resources shall include the permanent delegation of authority to manage any bank accounts which have been opened in the name of the Association in different countries.

       As a precaution, the right to sign as an authorized agent for any account opened in the name of the Association, shall be extended to at least one other Member of the Bureau of the Association.

       But the Treasurer shall alone retain responsibility toward the Association for all banking operations.

7. General Meetings of the Association

   13. Ordinary General Meetings shall be held in conjunction with General Assemblies of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and normally at least once between each such meeting. Business sessions shall be held at all General Meetings, but elections shall normally be held only at General Meetings held in conjunction with General Assemblies of the Union.

       The Bureau of the Association may, with the approval of the Executive Committee, summon an extraordinary General Meeting. It must do so at the request of one-third of the votes of the members of the Executive Committee.

   14. Members of a National Committee who are not delegates may attend the meetings of the Association and take part in the discussion, but shall have no power of voting.

       The Bureau of the Association may invite representatives of scientific organizations and also scientists not officially delegated by the National Committees of their respective countries, but only after having obtained the approval of these Committees. Such invited guests may take part in the discussion, but shall have no power of voting.

   15. The agenda of business to be transacted at a meeting are prepared by the Bureau and sent to the adhering organizations together with the notices of the meeting.

       No question which has not been placed on the agenda shall be discussed without the consent of at least one-half of the votes of the countries represented at the General Meeting.

   16. In the intervals between the General Meetings and by agreement with the Bureau of the Union, the Association may, either separately or jointly with other Associations, hold additional meetings. But in any case the Association shall hold a General Meeting at the same time as the Union itself.

8. Budget

   17. The Executive Committee shall prepare for each period and submit to the General Meeting an estimate of the budget relative to the expenses of the Secretariat.

       A committee, nominated by the General Assembly shall examine the accounts for the preceding years and the estimate for the next period. It shall give discharge to the Treasurer for the accounts prepared by the Treasurer for the preceding period and submitted to the General Meeting.

9. Voting Power

   18. In a General Meeting, resolutions concerning purely scientific questions shall be decided by a majority of the votes cast by all the delegates present.

       In all other questions which appear on the agenda, the voting shall be by Member countries, each member country having one vote; a country not represented may forward its vote to the Secretary General in writing. Such votes shall be counted only if received before the result of the ballot is ascertained.

       In case of doubt as to the category to which a question belongs, the President shall decide.

       When there is an equal division of votes, the President shall have a deciding vote.

       The election of the Bureau and of the Executive Committee is counted as an administrative question.

10. Validity of Statutes

    19. These statutes may be revised by any of the following means:
        1. At any business meeting, by the approval of two-thirds of the member countries.
        2. By the approval of a majority of the member countries using a mail ballot authorized by the Executive Committee, provided that the revision is favoured by two-thirds of those countries which vote.
        3. By a two-thirds majority vote of the member countries represented in person at a business meeting of an ordinary General Meeting, plus those who have forwarded their vote to the Secretary General in writing, provided that the proposed modification was read at a plenary session of the preceding General Meeting or was included in the agenda mailed in advance to all member countries.
    20. In voting on revisions of the statutes, a delegate may represent only one country.

    21. The English text shall be used exclusively in interpreting these statutes.

11. Commissions

    22. Establishment of Commissions
        1. The Association may establish commissions to study scientific topics and to stimulate and coordinate research on these topics or research related to a specific region.
        2. The Association may also establish joint commissions with other organizations.
    23. Officers of commissions shall not hold the same office for more than two periods.

By-Laws*

* Adopted by the General Assembly of the Association, Grenoble, 1975 and amended by the General Assembly, London, Canada, 1981.

The following by-laws are established in order to provide for continuing guidance in conducting the affairs of the Association. Their revision comes under the purview of Article 19 of the Statutes.

1. Resolutions Committee.

At the first business meeting, the President shall appoint a Resolutions Committee consisting of one officer of the Association and two other persons. All resolutions to be presented at the last general business meeting must be transmitted in writing to the Resolutions Committee at least four days before the said meeting. It is the responsibility of the Resolutions Committee to word the resolutions consistently with the terminology of the Association and of the Union. The Committee shall post all Resolutions, and its recommendations on each of them at least one day before the final business meeting.

2 Nominating Committee

Not later than the opening day of each ordinary General Meeting of the Association at which an election is to be held, the President of the Association, with the approval of the Executive Committee, should appoint a Nominating Committee to bring before the Business Meeting of the Association a slate of officers for the ensuing four years including the four elected members of the Executive Committee besides the officers. The names of this Committee should be announced at the first Business Session of the Association.

This Committee should be charged with finding the persons best able and willing to direct the work of the Association, keeping in mind the need for persons of executive ability, comprehensive scientific interests and broad national representation. The Nominating Committee should consult with all former Presidents of the Association present at the meeting. At the business meeting, additional nominations for each office may be made from the floor.

Where there is only one nominee for an office, the election may be conducted by acclamation. If there are additional nominations, the elections should be by written ballot, one ballot passed out to the delegate of each member country or to an official alternate.

3 Meetings of the Bureau and of the Executive Committee

The Bureau of the Association should meet at least every year. The Executive Committee should meet as often as necessary and at least once every Ordinary General Assembly.

Payment of the travel expenses of members to these meetings is a high-priority Association expense.

4 Conduct of Meetings

Except if otherwise provided in the Statutes, business meetings shall be conducted according to Robert's Rules of Order. A copy thereof shall be provided to each officer of the Association.

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Last modified: November 20, 2007
Maintained by: Alice Walker abw@bgs.ac.uk at the British Geological Survey