CONSTITUTION of the
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES


I   SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE FEDERATION 

1 The name of the Organisation is the International Federation of
Classification Societies (IFCS).

2 The Federation is an international scientific organization with
non-profit and non- political motives.

3 Its purpose is to promote mutual communication, co-operation and
interchange of views among all those interested in scientific
principles, numerical methods, and practice of data analysis and
classification in a broad sense and in as wide a range of applications
as possible; to serve as an agency for the dissemination of technical
scientific information related to these areas of interest; to prepare
international conferences; to publish journals and other publications.

4 The scientific activities of the Federation are intended for all
people interested in theory of classification and data analysis, and
related methods and applications.

II   MEMBERS AND ORGANIZATION 

1 The International Federation of Classification Societies is a single
Federation whose members are Scientific Societies or well-defined
subgroups (hereafter called Groups) of such Societies.

2 Additionally, there may be a 'Group-at-Large' (see II.5). 

3 The business of the Federation shall be conducted by a Council and
an Executive Committee in accordance with the IFCS Constitution,
By-Laws, Election Rules, and the other Working Rules established by
the IFCS Council.

4 The Council may accept the nomination of an existing scientific
Society or an organized Group as a new Member subject to the condition
that the Society have at least 30 members who declare themselves to be
interested in the IFCS. Acceptance is possible only if the problems of
representation on the Council, the internal structure, and the
affiliation and number of individuals of the new Member have been
resolved formally in accordance with the rules of the Federation.

To accept a new Member, a majority of two-thirds of the members of the
Council must be in favour. The application for membership must be
distributed to the Council members at least two months before the
voting procedure takes place.

5 If at least 10 persons are not represented geographically by an
existing IFCS Member Society and are willing to co-operate, as a
group, with the IFCS, then the IFCS Council can admit them to the
ÔGroup-at-LargeÕ by a simple majority.

6 Individuals shall be affiliated with the Federation only through
their Society or Group or through the Group-at-large.

III    THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

1 The members of the Executive Committee (general officers) are: 
	the President, 
	the President-Elect,
	the Past-President,
	the Secretary, 
	the Treasurer, and 
	the Publication Officer. 

The Past-President and the President-Elect are called the
ÔVice-PresidentsÕ in this document.

In cases of temporary unavailability the tasks of Secretary,
Treasurer, and Publication Officer may be combined or merged.

2 The President represents the Federation in its internal and external
relations, conducts the general activities of the Federation,
coordinates the organization of the Council meetings, establishes and
maintains contacts and cooperation with other societies, schedules and
takes new initiatives, checks and fosters the activities of committees
and working groups, carries out the policies of the Federation
according to the guidelines established by the Council, implements the
CouncilÕs decisions and assigns ad-hoc officers for special tasks of
the Federation. He reports to the Council at the end of each year.

The President is supported by the other members of the Executive
Committee as specified below.

The President chairs the meetings of the Council. When the President
is absent or is unable to serve, the Past-President takes the
chair. When both are absent or unable to serve, the President-Elect
chairs the Council meeting.

3 The Secretary supports the President in his tasks, conducts the
daily business, maintains correspondence with the Council members,
prepares and schedules the Council meetings, conducts mail ballots
inside the Council, controls the terms of officers and committees and
conducts other tasks as specified in this Constitution and the
By-Laws.

4 The Treasurer conducts all financial transactions of the Federation,
in particular: the cashing of the dues of IFCS Member Societies,
financial issues with regard to IFCS conferences or IFCS committees,
donations and bequests, and the budgets for prizes and awards. He
keeps the accounts and records, controls the expenses, and submits the
annual financial report to the President and the Council at the end of
each year.

5 The Publication Officer is responsible for the IFCS Newsletter and
matters concerning the publication, communication, and distribution of
information as authorized by the IFCS Council, including the
maintenance of list servers etc. He submits an annual report to the
Council.

6 The Secretary, the Treasurer, and the President are the formal
representatives of IFCS in any juridical or financial matters.

IV   ELECTIONS AND TERMS OF OFFICES

1 The President and the two Vice-Presidents

The offices of President, President-Elect and Past-President are
interlocking in the following way: The Council shall biennially elect
a President-Elect who has not earlier served a term as President or
Vice-President. The President-Elect shall serve for two years, then
automatically succeed to the office of President for two years, and
finally serve a further term of two years as Past-President.

A vacancy in the Presidency shall be filled by the Past-President. A
vacancy in the Past- Presidency shall be filled by the
President-Elect.

A vacancy in the office of the President-Elect shall be filled by an
acting Vice-President, chosen by lot from among the Members of
Council. A President or Acting Vice- President coming to office in
this manner shall exercise the full duties and responsibilities of
office until 31 December of the same year or until the Council shall
have taken steps to the appropriate succession of office, whichever
shall be later.

In the event of any unscheduled succession of a Vice-President to the
Presidency or any appointment of an Acting Vice-President, the Council
shall determine, as early as is practicable, what new elections may be
necessary to restore the regularity of succession to office. The
Council may choose to elect a new President, a new Vice-President, or
both, subject only to the provision that any person who has been
elected President-Elect shall subsequently serve two years as
President unless he or she be unwilling or incapacitated.

2 The Secretary, Treasurer, and Publication Officer

The Secretary, the Treasurer and Publication Officer shall be elected
by the Council and serve for a three-year term. Elections should be
held sufficiently long in advance of the end of their terms. Their
offices end with the end of the fiscal year. All officers can serve at
most two consecutive terms of office.

V   THE MEMBERS AND THEIR OFFICERS

1 Each Member Society or Group shall be governed by its own By-Laws
and shall select its officers in accordance with its own rules. These
By-Laws and rules are to be communicated to the Federation. The
officers of a Member Society shall include a President, a Secretary,
and a Treasurer (possibly combining the latter ones); a Member Group
must provide a Chairman (who has the same function as a Society's
President with regard to the Federation), the Chairman's
representative and a person responsible for financial matters.

VI  THE COUNCIL 

1 The legislative body of the Federation is the Council, which shall
make all policy decisions, e.g., concerning scientific orientation,
organizational matters, by-laws and guidelines, sponsoring of
activities and workgroups inside and outside the IFCS, and long-range
financial matters. It submits any vital question affecting the
Federation to its Member Societies for discussion and decides on the
basis of the returned proposals. It shall act upon proposals submitted
to it by the IFCS Executive Committee and by the Chairmen of other
committees, approve IFCS Committees and appoint representatives to
international or scientific organizations. It can fix dues for IFCS
Members and shall approve the receipt of gifts and bequests.

2 The Council shall consist of 

- the Executive Committee, 
- one or two Representatives (called Member Representatives) from each
  Member Society or Group that has paid its dues in a regular way; by
  default societies will have one member representative; the societies
  with more than a prefixed number of individual members will have two
  member representatives. The specific rules for deciding on this are
  regulated by separate working rules, approved by the Council.  
- four additional members.

The Group-at-Large can appoint one representative, without voting
rights, to the Council.

3 Each Member of the Federation shall decide the procedure to elect,
appoint or otherwise select its Member Representatives for the
Council. This procedure shall be communicated to the Federation.

4 If a simple majority of the Council members and also a simple
majority of the Member Societies is represented at a Council meeting,
this will constitute a quorum of the Council. If no quorum is attained
decisions must be taken by a mail (or email) vote.

5 The President votes only to break ties. When the Vice-President has
to replace the President in the chair of a Council meeting, he or she
has a second vote for breaking ties.

6 Basic election rules:

Elections are to be held and organized in accordance with the IFCS
Election Rules.

The incoming President-Elect shall be elected from the list of members
of the Member Societies.

The Secretary, the Treasurer and the Publication Officer may be
elected from the Council members or from outside of the Council (see
IV.2).

If a Member Representative in the Council is elected to become
President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, or Publication Officer he/she
should be replaced by new appointments to the Council by his/her
Member Society.

The four additional members of the Council shall be elected by the
Member Representatives only, each for a term of four years. Every two
years, when a new President-Elect is determined, two of the four
additional members are elected.

If a member of the Executive Committee (except the President or a
Vice-President) or an additional member of the Council resigns, the
Council elects a new person for this office for the rest of the
period.
 
7 Council votes can be performed during a business meeting, or by a
mail vote or email.  If voting is to take place at a business meeting
of the Council, each Council member can delegate her or his vote to
another person. A motion is accepted if it obtains
a. In a mail or e-mail vote: a simple majority of all members of the
   Council who vote (but see X and XI for exceptions);
b. In a business meeting: a simple majority of the Council members who
   are present and voting, including proxies (but see X and XI for
   exceptions) provided that the quorum has been attained. If the
   latter condition is not fulfilled or no majority attained, any
   decision must be ratified by a mail vote .

E-mail votes must be returned within 14 days of notification by the
Secretary. Mail votes must be returned within three weeks of
notification by the Secretary.

If the Council receives a mail vote proposal by one of its Member
Representatives it cannot reject it without serious reasons or without
a detailed explanation to its Members.

8 Vacancies on the Council created by the resignation or death of an
ordinary member of Council shall be filled by appointment by the
President of the Member's Society or Group for the period remaining to
be served or, if this cannot be obtained, by appointment by the
President of the Federation. Such appointments are subject to
confirmation by the Council.

9 The Publication Officer (if any) shall be empowered to vote on all
matters before the Council, with the exception of those matters
directly related to a journal or other publications of which he/she is
Editor or Managing Editor. The Editor is responsible to the Council.

VII  ACTIVITIES 

Any activities which fall within the sphere of interest of the
Federation may be authorized by the Council, such as international and
local scientific meetings, the issuing of scientific publications and
reports on the activities of the Federation, or statements containing
other matters of interest to the Federation. The Federation may
affiliate itself with international scientific organizations. Each
Member may affiliate itself with other international scientific
organizations.

VIII   FINANCES 

1 Financial matters of IFCS concern primarily the dues, donations and
bequests, and any support for, and income from, conferences, courses
or workshops, funding programs etc.  The regular budget may be
complemented by separated budgets for special funding programs.

2 The dues of IFCS Members to be paid to the Federation shall be fixed
by the Council from time to time, and may be varied according to
principles laid down by the Council and considering, among other
criteria, the feasibility of currency transfers and exchange
rates. The dues are based on the number of individual members of that
Society or Group, allowing, if necessary, for the special nature of
their internal structure.

If a Member Society or Member Group of IFCS is a part of a larger
established national society (such as a Statistical Society of a
country) only the members of the corresponding ÔClassification GroupÕ
are concerned. The dues to be paid by individuals belonging to the
Group-at-Large shall also be determined by the Council.

All Members of the Federation must provide the Federation with a list
of their individual members and their postal and e-mail addresses, for
direct IFCS information. They must update that list every two years.

No Federation dues will be charged for student members of the Members
of the IFCS.

3 The Treasurer shall submit a proposal for a budget before the
beginning of each fiscal year, which, after approval by the Executive
and Finance Committee, has to be formally accepted by a vote of the
Council.

IX   FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS

No part of the net earnings of the Federation shall ever inure to the
benefit of any private individual. No officer, member, trustee, agent
or employee of the Federation shall ever receive any compensation or
any pecuniary profit whatsoever from the operations of the Federation
except reasonable reimbursement for service actually rendered to the
Federation in effecting one or more of its proper objects and
purposes, or shall ever receive any part of its property or assets,
upon its dissolution or the termination of its corporate existence or
otherwise.

X    RESIGNATION FROM THE FEDERATION 

Resignation of a Society or a Group is effected by a written
declaration, to the President, by the Representatives on Council of
this Member or by the Member's President (Chairman) provided they have
a mandate from the members of that Society or Group. Moreover, the
membership can be terminated by a two-thirds majority vote of the
Council members if the conditions of membership are no longer
fulfilled, or for being in arrears with the payment of dues.

XI  AMENDMENTS TO THIS CONSTITUTION, THE ELECTION RULES 
AND THE BY-LAWS 

Amendments to the Constitution of this International Federation of
Classification Societies, to the By-Laws, and to the IFCS Election
Rules are possible with a two-thirds majority vote of the
Council. Amendments to other working documents and guidelines are
possible with simple majority of the Council.