1996 17th General Assembly - Amendments to Statutes and By-Laws not affecting adherence to the Union

In accordance with Statute 13.1, the amendments to the Statutes and By-Laws proposed by the Executive Committee had been sent to National Committees and Commissions in March 1996 [see Minute (4)].

(a) On behalf of the Executive Committee, the President explained the proposed modifications to Statutes 5.4 and 5.5 to allow postal ballots of the General Assembly. In the ensuing debate, several delegates expressed concern about the interpretation of `postal' and the problems of verifying safe delivery and receipt of information, including ballots. It was agreed that the term `postal' should be defined to include all verifiable means of communication including fax. C. E. BUGG felt that any call for an Extraordinary General Assembly must also allow for postal balloting. Following further discussion, it was agreed that postal balloting would be allowed at an Extraordinary General Assembly. The proposed modifications to Statutes 5.4 and 5.5 were then adopted (see Annex II).

(b) The President reported that the proposed changes to the By-Laws to incorporate the existence of the Finance Committee, to establish officially the position of Convener and to incorporate the existence of the Sub-committee on the Union Calendar were in part contradictory. A revised version had been notified to delegates on 9 August and discussion would be deferred until the third session of the General Assembly in accordance with By-Law 9.1 [see Minute (26)].

The President reported that he had received a letter from the US National Committee for Crystallography in which their proposed amendments to the Statutes and By-Laws to establish the position of President-Elect on the Executive Committee, replacing the position of Vice-President (as circulated to National Committees and Commissions in March 1996), had been withdrawn.

Continuation - Wednesday 14 August 1996

Further to Minute (8) the revised version of the proposed changes to the By-Laws to incorporate the existence of the Finance Committee, to establish officially the position of Convener and to incorporate the existence of the Sub-committee on the Union Calendar had been notified to delegates on 9 August. The President confirmed that the wording of the proposed By-Law 6.2 should be interpreted to mean that the Chairman of the Calendar Sub-committee should come from the Executive Committee. The proposed new By-Law 6 was adopted (see Annex II).

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