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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