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19

5. ORGANISATIONAL

STRUCTURE OF THE IUVSTA

The organisational structure of the IUVSTA

is shown in Fig. 1. The Union currently has

35 National Vacuum Society, or National

Vacuum Committee, members. These are

listed in Table I. It should be explained that

some countries do not have a National

Vacuum Society, but may have a National

Vacuum Committee. Such Committees

are usually a group within a larger National

Professional Society or the National

Academy of Sciences of the country.

For the sake of brevity, the term National

Society will be used here to mean either

a National Vacuum Society or a National

Vacuum Committee.

The Union is composed of four organs:

The General Meeting (GM)

The Executive Council (EC)

The Scientific and Technical

Directorate (STD)

The Divisions

The GM is the highest authority of the Union.

It is composed of delegates nominated by

the National Societies they represent. The

delegation from each Society consists of

not more than three people and is led by

a Head of Delegation who casts all votes

assigned to his Society. It has the sole

power to elect Union officers and members

of the EC, to admit new members, to set

the value of the unit contributory shares

paid by its members, to amend the statutes

and determine the by-laws, to approve the

annual account and the annual budget,

to discuss, approve or reject the reports

submitted by the EC, and to confer the

title of Honorary President of the Union.

An Ordinary General Meeting is held once

a year, convened by the EC, with the sole

purpose of approving the accounts of the

previous year and setting the budget for the

following year. In addition, at the end of each

triennial period, the agenda also includes

election of the President-Elect and other

Officers, ratification of the representatives

of National Societies to EC, and setting of

subscriptions for the forthcoming triennial

period. In addition, at the end of each

triennial period, an Extraordinary GM is

held immediately after the Ordinary GM,

which includes a review of the activities of

the Union during the previous triennium and

a statement of the activities proposed in

the forthcoming triennium by the incoming

President.

Since 1971 each National Society member

proposes a single candidate for Councillor to

represent it on the EC, subject to ratification

by the GM. Prior to 1971 some National

Societies had more than one Councillor

while others had none. Since 1983 each

National Society also proposes an alternate

Councillor candidate to the GM. Whilst

it is intended that this alternate can act

as an authorised replacement should the

Councillor become unable to continue to

serve, it is also accepted that the alternate

can stand in, with full voting rights, for

the Councillor at any individual Executive

Council meeting which the Councillor

is unable to attend. The EC proposes a

candidate to the GM for the President-Elect.

The Secretary General, Treasurer, Scientific

Director and Scientific Secretary are elected

by the GM from candidates proposed by

the new President. Terms of office for the

officers and councillors of the EC are for a

triennial period.

SUMMARY