IUVSTA Procedures Manual
Function
The Executive Council is the managing body of the Union and exercises all the powers of the Union subject to review by the General Meeting.
Voting Members of the Council
Each member society has 1 vote, exercised by the Councillor or Alternate Councillor. At present there are 32 member societies, but two are in suspense. There are 7 Officers (President, President Elect, Past President, Secretary General, Treasurer, Scientific Secretary, Scientific Director) who each have 1 vote. There are therefore 37 voting members of the Council. Two-thirds (i.e. 25) of the votes must be represented at a Council Meeting for business to be carried out; i.e. to form a quorum.
Observers at Council Meetings
In addition to the voting members of the Council, the Division Chairs are expected to attend each ECM as Observers. Division Chairs may speak, but not vote.
Others (e.g. Division Secretaries, Committee Secretaries, representatives of member societies other than their Councillor or Alternate) may also attend the ECM with the permission of the President.
Observers do not have any right to vote on any issue, but may speak with the permission of the President.
Meetings
The Council meets at approx. 6 month intervals. The location is selected two meetings, i.e. about 1 year in advance, to allow members to apply to their funding agencies for support. The Executive Council selects the location from bids from member societies to host the ECM. Guidelines for hosting meetings are found here.
The host society is responsible for all the local arrangements (meeting room, audio-visual set up, providing information on accommodation, and local transport). The attendees are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. It is usual for the host society to provide one dinner and an introduction to the local culture.
The actual ECM lasts for a few hours, but committee meetings are held before the ECM and the whole series of meetings (referred to as the ECM) lasts about 2 days. The Committees of the Council are: Awards & Scholarships, Congress Planning, Emerging Societies, Education, Finance (chaired by the Treasurer), Long Range Planning (chaired by the President Elect), Publications, and Statutes (chaired by Secretary General). Any attendee at the ECM may attend any of the committee meetings but only members of the committee can vote. The meetings usually start on Friday after lunch and end at lunch on Sunday; the actual ECM is normally on the Sunday morning.
The schedule of meetings, and information on travel and accommodation, are sent by e-mail to all the Council members, Division Chairs and Secretaries, Committee Chairs and Secretaries before the ECM, by the Secretary General. The ECM agenda is sent out by e-mail shortly before the ECM. Please make sure that you inform the Secretary General if your e-mail address changes!
Proxy votes
Because it is important to have a quorum (i.e. 25 voting members) at the ECM, each Councillor and Alternate Councillor should assign a proxy to represent them if they are unable to attend, for any reason. Because of last minute commitments, it is advisable to do so, even if you do plan to attend. The Secretary General sends a proxy form with the schedule for the ECM. A proxy form for a Period is also available, for convenience. Completed proxy forms must be sent to the President and copied to the Secretary General.
A proxy can only be assigned only to a voting member of the Council; i.e. another Councillor or Alternate Councillor, or an Officer. The current list of such voting members is to be found here. A proxy issued by the Councillor or Alternate is invalid if either the Councillor or Alternate is present. (i.e. if the Councillor for Austria assigned his proxy to the President but the Alternate Councillor for Austria attended the ECM, he/she would vote for Austria; but, if both the Councillor and Alternate did not attend, the President could vote for Austria).
The Rules
Article 22 of the Statutes states that "two thirds of the members of the Executive Council present or represented are necessary to form a quorum".
THIS MEANS THAT THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CANNOT TAKE PLACE IF LESS THAN 25 MEMBERS ARE PRESENT OR REPRESENTED BY PROXIES. IT IS THUS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOMINATE A PROXY.
Article 19 of the Statutes states that “If a Member of the Executive Council or his alternate is not able to be present at an Executive Council Meeting, at least two (2) individuals who are already Members of the Executive Council should be designated in order of preference as proxies to represent the National Committee. The individual designated as proxy will exercise the voting rights on the Executive Council of the Member so represented. Each individual may only represent three (3) Members of the Executive Council, including itself.”
It is actually usual to ask members of the ECM to nominate 3 proxies to be safe.
Background
The list of Executive Council Members for the triennium is provided on the website. The names on this list are the only people who need to give proxies. These are also the only people to whom proxies may be given.
There is no point in nominating your own Councillor/Alternate Councillor as a proxy since both of them have already been approved as voting members by the General Meeting.
Suggested Action
Councillors and Alternate Councillors should contact each other as soon as they receive the announcement of the Executive Council Meeting and decide which of them will attend and fill in the proxy form, unless the Triennial proxy form has been submitted and is to be used. Officers should also fill in a proxy form. Even if a member plans to come to a meeting this should be done. The proxy is automatically cancelled on arrival at the meeting. Valid proxies should be selected from the list of Executive Council Members. It is useful to assign the third proxy to an Officer since it is more certain that he or she will be present.
If possible these proxies should be contacted to ensure that they plan to attend and advise them which way they should use this vote on any issues which you consider will be debated at the meeting. If no instruction is given the proxy will decide how to cast the vote.
A standing proxy form is to be found here