(effective 20 November 2003)*)
*) The Institute is established under, and subject to Dutch Law.
The name of the Society is:
International Statistical Institute; the seat is in
In these Statutes the
Society is called: the Institute.
The Institute is an
autonomous Society having as its objective the development and improvement of
statistical methods, and their application throughout the world, all this in the
widest sense of the words.
The Institute shall try to
accomplish this objective in particular
a.
by encouraging the international association of statisticians, the exchange
among them of professional knowledge, and the growth among them of a collective
interest in the advancement of such knowledge;
b. by aiding in the
establishment of such relations among statistical societies and other official
and unofficial organizations having statistical interests as will further the
international integration of statistics;
c.
by establishing and maintaining professorships,
lecturerships, and fellowships for advanced studies in statistics;
d.
by promoting the training of competent statisticians;
e.
by studying statistical theories, appraising statistical methods and practices,
encouraging statistical research and furthering the use of statistical methods
in diverse subject-matter fields wherever useful;
f.
by promoting the use in all countries of the most appropriate statistical
methods;
g.
by furthering international comparability of statistical data;
h.
by fostering public appreciation of sound statistical practice and the
usefulness of statistical methods;
as
well as by all other legal means, which may further the objective of the
Institute.
a. The Institute shall have
three classes of individual members, to be known as elected, Honorary and ex
officio members, respectively. There shall also be a class of corporate members.
Only individual members are members within the meaning of the law.
b. The admission of members
is in the competence of the Executive Committee which will decide on the
admission in accordance with the provisions laid down in the By-laws.
The By-laws of the Institute
shall be established by the General Assembly. The By-laws shall not contain any
regulation which may be in contravention of these Statutes.
The organizational structure
of the Institute includes:
a. The General Assembly;
b. The Council;
c. The Executive Committee;
d. The Permanent Office.
Composition and Function of
the General Assembly
aa.
The General Assembly shall be composed of the individual members of the
Institute.
ab.
The General Assembly is the highest authority within the Institute and may
convene in ordinary and special sessions.
The Institute's ordinary
sessions shall usually be held in alternate years.
ac.
The Executive Committee shall inform the members by written convocation of the
dates and places of the sessions.
ad.
Each individual member has one vote. Voting by proxy is not allowed.
ae.
Except as otherwise provided by law or by these Statutes (1) decisions shall be
taken by a simple majority of the votes cast; abstentions and spoiled votes
shall be deemed not to be cast; and (2) in the event of a tie, the presiding
officer shall have a casting vote, in addition to his ordinary vote.
Composition and Function of
the Council
ba.
The Council shall be composed of (i) the Officers of
the Institute, (ii) sixteen individual members of the Institute, (iii) the
immediate Past President, (iv) the Presidents of the
Sections, (v) the Secretary/Treasurer as an ex officio member without voting
rights. In addition, representatives of specified statistical interest groups
may be entitled to membership in the Council without voting rights. The
Director-General of Statistics Netherlands is also entitled to membership in the
Council without voting rights.
bb.
The Council shall formulate the policies and programmes of the Institute in
accordance with the decisions of the General Assembly.
Composition and Function of
the Executive Committee
ca.
The Executive Committee shall be composed of the Institute's Officers. The
Officers shall be a President, a President-Elect, and three Vice-Presidents.
cb.
The Executive Committee directs the Institute in conformity with the Statutes
and By-laws and decisions of the General Assembly and the Council.
Composition and Functions of
the Permanent Office
da.
The Permanent Office shall have a Director and such subordinates as the
Executive Committee shall authorize him to employ. The Director of the Permanent
Office shall be the Secretary/Treasurer of the Institute.
db.
The Director shall be appointed by and report to the Executive Committee.
dc. The Director shall
administer the Institute's activities and be in charge of the secretariat of the
Institute. No person shall simultaneously be Director of the Permanent Office
and a member of the Executive Committee. The Director need not be a member of
the Institute.
a. At each ordinary session
the General Assembly shall appoint a President-Elect and three Vice-Presidents,
as well as one-half of the individual members of the Council. The
President-Elect shall automatically become President; in the event that the
office of President-Elect is vacant, a President shall also be appointed. The
appointments shall be made from a binding nomination to be submitted in
accordance with the By-laws. If, however, at least two-thirds of the individual
members are present, the General Assembly may rescind the binding character of
the nomination by a vote in favour of at least two- thirds of the votes cast.
b. Officers and members of
the Council may at any time be dismissed or suspended by the General Assembly.
a. The Institute shall be
represented in law or otherwise by the Executive Committee or by the Director of
the Permanent Office.
b. The conclusion of
agreements to acquire, alienate or mortgage real property is in the competence
of the Executive Committee.
a. To promote the objective
of the Institute in particular geographical regions and in particular fields of
statistical specialization, the General Assembly may establish associations
which shall be known as Sections of the Institute, whose membership need not be
limited to members of the Institute.
b. The General Assembly or
the Council may establish committees, in the work of which non-members of the
Institute may be invited to participate.
c. A scientific organization
which consists chiefly of individual members and does not exist for profit may
become affiliated to the Institute upon approval by the Council if it
substantially furthers the objective of the Institute and is either a national
organization, or a regional or similar international organization (i.e. an
international organization having members in a group of countries) which has a
comprehensive interest in statistics, or an international organization concerned
with a field of statistical specialization.
Elected members, ex officio
members and corporate members are required to pay an annual contribution to be
determined by the General Assembly for members, and by the Council for ex
officio and corporate members.
The By-laws shall include
additional provisions concerning the annual contributions.
a. By written communication
sent not later than four weeks before the end of the fiscal year to the
Secretary/Treasurer, a member may resign, or an affiliated organization may
withdraw from affiliation.
b. The Executive Committee
may terminate a membership or affiliation in case of failure by the said member
or affiliated organization to pay the required annual dues for two consecutive
or non-consecutive years.
c. If the Council after
thorough investigation and after giving the member an adequate opportunity to
answer charges, shall be of the opinion that any or Honorary member not thus in
arrears acts in contravention of the Statutes or the By-laws of the Institute,
or behaves in an unreasonable way which is detrimental to the Institute, it
shall so report to the General Assembly with a full statement of the grounds for
its opinion; and the General Assembly shall thereupon vote upon such member's
expulsion at its next meeting.
Until the General Assembly
has acted, the Council may suspend the member from the exercise of his rights
and privileges, including the function of his office if he be an Officer or a
member of the Council. Any member who is thus suspended or is expelled shall be
promptly notified by the Secretary/Treasurer of such action.
d. No organization shall
continue to be affiliated if the Council shall decide that such organization has
ceased to further adequately the objective of the Institute.
The fiscal year of the
Institute begins on January 1.
The sources of the
Institute's financial support shall be:
a. The dues of the elected,
ex officio and corporate members, and of the affiliated national organizations,
payable annually at the beginning of the fiscal year;
b. The proceeds of
subscriptions to and sales of publications of the Institute;
c. Grants from governments
and other bodies. If any grantor so desires, the funds granted shall be expended
solely in the operation of the Permanent Office or in any other activity
specified by the grantor;
d. Endowments, gifts, and
bequests, which may be earmarked for any particular purpose;
e. Income from a reserve
fund which shall be established if possible, or from any other available
sources.
A decision to amend the
Statutes shall be made at a meeting of the General Assembly. Proposals for
amending the Statutes shall be submitted to the General Assembly in accordance
with the By-laws.
The Institute can be
dissolved only by adoption of an amendment to the Statutes, accomplished in
accordance with Article 12 and providing specifically for such dissolution, for
the appointment of one or more liquidators, and for the disposal of the balance
after liquidation.
BY-LAWS OF THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE
(effective
20 November 2003)
---------------------------------------
I. MEMBERSHIP
101. A person distinguished
for his contributions to the development or application of statistical methods
or to the administration of statistical services may be elected an elected
member.
Elected members shall be
admitted in the manner prescribed in Art. V.
102. A person who is or has
been an member and whose contributions to statistics
merit special honour may be elected an Honorary member.
An Honorary member has the
same rights as an elected member.
Honorary members shall be
admitted in the manner prescribed in Art. V. There shall be no more than 30
Honorary members at one time, of whom no more than 5
may be from any one state or confederation of states.
103. Occupants of specified
positions in official national statistical agencies and in appropriate
international governmental organizations which have a substantial statistical
interest may be entitled to ex officio membership in accordance with
para. 202c. A
representative of each affiliated organization is also entitled to ex officio
membership in accordance with para. 404.
Ex officio members who are
not also elected or Honorary members shall not propose candidates for elected or
Honorary membership or hold office in the Executive Committee.
No elected or Honorary
member shall gain an additional vote by reason of having simultaneous status
as an ex officio members.
104. National and
international statistical agencies and such cultural, educational and scientific
institutions, and commercial, industrial or business enterprises that may
substantially contribute to the objective of the Institute may be admitted as
corporate members.
Corporate members shall be
entitled to designate two representatives who may attend sessions of the
Institute and participate in the scientific programme of the sessions with the
same privileges as the individual members. Corporate members shall be entitled
to receive one set of the publications of the Institute on the same conditions
as individual members.
105. In
application of para. 102, the interpretation of the
phrase "from any one state or confederation of states" is in the competence of
the Council. However, any member or candidate who is a citizen of the state or
confederation of states in which he resides, is to be considered as belonging to
this state or confederation of states.
II. ORGANIZATION
201. The General Assembly
a. Decisions by the General
Assembly may be taken through personal vote at the ordinary sessions and, if so
stated in the Statutes or By-laws, at the special sessions.
b. At each ordinary session
the General Assembly will draw up a scheme for the time and place of future
ordinary and special sessions. At the following ordinary session the General
Assembly may, however, revise the scheme, so far as future sessions are
concerned. However, the Council may alter the time and place of a session if an
emergency makes such a change desirable. If at least one and one-half years have
elapsed since the preceding ordinary session, any session of the Institute must
be an ordinary session.
c. The General Assembly may,
at any ordinary session, determine that representatives of specified statistical
interest groups will be entitled to membership in the Council without voting
rights.
202. The Council
a. The Council shall make
decisions as to the meaning of any part of the Statutes and By-laws concerning
which there is a conflict of opinion.
b. The Council shall appoint
not later than at the beginning of each ordinary session of the Institute a
Nominations Committee of at least five individual members to propose Officers of
the Institute and individual members of the Council.
c. The Council is authorized
to specify the positions whose occupants shall be entitled to ex officio
membership in the Institute.
d. The Council may admit
scientific organizations as affiliated to the Institute in the manner prescribed
in Art. IV.
e. The Council shall meet at
each session of the Institute and on such other occasions as convened by the
President. A quorum shall be formed if at least 8 individual members and 3
Officers are present. Decisions shall be taken in the manner described in
Article 5ae of the Statutes. The Council may reach its decisions by
correspondence whenever it deems this to be expedient.
f. During a session of the
Institute, the President may convene a joint meeting of the outgoing and
incoming members of the Council. In such cases, this joint meeting shall be
deemed to be the meeting of the Council as specified by the paragraph 202e. The
incoming members of the Council, who are not also outgoing members of the
Council, have no voting rights as such joint meetings.
203. The Executive
Committee
a. It is the duty of the
Executive Committee to see that sufficient guidance is given to the Permanent
Office so that actual operations reflect the general orientations given by the
General Assembly and the Council.
b. The Executive Committee
shall appoint the Director of the Permanent Office, determine the remunerations
of the Director and other personnel of the Permanent Office and establish,
subject to ratification by the Council, a system of old-age, permanent
disability, and survivors' pensions for personnel of that office.
c. The Executive Committee
shall make, in co-operation with an organizing committee in the host country,
the arrangements for each session of the Institute.
d. The Executive Committee
may invite persons who are not members of the Institute to attend any specified
session of the Institute. Such persons shall have the privilege of participating
in the scientific programme of the Session.
e. The Executive Committee
shall meet on call of the President or of three of its members. Three of its
members shall be a quorum. Decisions shall be taken in the manner described in
Article 5ae of the Statutes. The Executive Committee may reach its decisions by
correspondence whenever it deems this to be expedient.
f. The President, subject to
the decisions of the General Assembly or of the Council, shall have general
responsibility for the execution of the policies and decisions of these bodies.
He shall preside over meetings of the General Assembly, the Council and the
Executive Committee. The President shall have the authority to exercise any
functions prescribed for the Executive Committee if unforeseen circumstances
make such action necessary; but he shall promptly notify the Executive Committee
of the action taken and the circumstances which necessitated it.
g. The President may
designate members of the Executive Committee to be in charge of the supervision
of specific administrative or scientific activities of the Institute; he shall
in any case designate a Vice President to supervise the financial management of
the Institute.
h. In the event that the
Presidency is vacant or that the President is for any reason unable to fulfil
his responsibilities, the President-Elect shall be Acting President until the
President shall again be able to serve, or until the term of office of the
President shall be completed.
If for any reason the
President-Elect is unable to fulfil these responsibilities, a Vice-President
shall be Acting President in his place. Solely for this purpose, (i)
the order of the Vice-Presidents shall be determined by the total length of time
which each has served in the Executive Committee; and (ii) as between the
Vice-Presidents having equal length of such service, the order shall be
determined by the total length of time which each has been a member of the
Institute.
i.
The Executive Committee shall submit to the General Assembly at each ordinary
session of the Institute a report of the Institute's activities since the
previous such report and a proposed programme of work for the immediate future.
204. The Permanent Office
a. The Permanent Office
shall be located at or in the close vicinity of the seat of the Institute.
b. The Director of the
Permanent Office shall be responsible to the Executive Committee for the
implementation of the Institute's activities.
c. Subject to the direction
of the executive Committee, the Secretary/Treasurer shall record or have
recorded the minutes of the sessions of the Institute and of meetings of the
Council and the Executive Committee; issue or have issued all notices of such
sessions and meetings; and receive, have custody of and disburse the Institute's
funds.
205. Sections
Each Section shall have its
own officers and statutes. The objectives of each Section must be in harmony
with those of the Institute.
Each Section's statement of
objectives, its rules of admission to and termination from membership, its
statutes, and amendments to the foregoing shall be subject to approval by the
ISI Council, and the sectional officers shall be responsible to the said Council
to whatever extent the Council regard as essential. In addition to having
sectional programmes, the Sections shall co-operate in the scientific work of
the Institute. In advance of each ordinary session, they shall be consulted
regarding the scientific programme of the session. They shall be served so far
as practicable by the Permanent Office of the Institute.
III. APPOINTMENT OF
OFFICERS AND COUNCIL MEMBERS
301. For the purpose of
appointing Officers and individual members of Council, a binding nomination
shall be made, not later than six months before the next ordinary session, for
submission to the General Assembly.
302. For purposes of
nominating the Officers and Council members, candidates shall be proposed either
(a) by action of a Nominations Committee to be appointed by the Council or (b)
by petition signed by at least 5 individual members. The proposals of the
Nominations Committee shall be announced to the members not later than 18 months
before the next ordinary session; petitions shall be made available not later
than 12 months before that session.
303. The binding nomination
to the General Assembly of Officers and members of the Council shall be decided
by the individual members. Voting shall be by secret mail ballot. The ballots
shall be returned in time to reach the Secretary/Treasurer within three months
from the date of despatch of the ballot to the individual members. For each
office the duly proposed candidate or candidates having received the highest
number of votes shall be declared nominated. In the event of a tie, the
candidate having the greatest total seniority as elected or Honorary member
shall be declared nominated, or the elder candidate if two candidates have the
same seniority. If the number of candidates for an office does not exceed the
number of vacancies, the candidates in question shall be declared nominated
without vote.
304. The term of office for
each Officer shall run from the end of an ordinary session until the end of the
next ordinary session. The term for individual membership in the Council shall
run from the end of an ordinary session until the end of the second following
ordinary session. However, no term of office shall not be
considered to have ended so long as an election for that office shall have been
completed.
305. No person shall become
or continue to be an Officer except while being an elected or Honorary member of
the Institute. No person shall become or continue to be an
individual member of the Council except while begin an individual member
of the Institute.
306. Vice-Presidents are
eligible for re-appointment, except that no person shall occupy the office of
Vice-President for more than two consecutive terms. Individual members of the
Council are not eligible for immediate re-appointment.
IV. AFFILIATED
ORGANIZATIONS
401 The Council shall
prescribe the submission of such information as it may deem appropriate by any
organization upon its requesting affiliation to the Institute.
402. Each affiliated
international organization shall have the privilege of participating through its
Secretary or other designated representative, without vote, in the consideration
of questions by the Council whenever such questions are of mutual interest. It
is not required that such a representative be a member of the Institute.
403. Each affiliated
international organization as one of the conditions of its affiliation, shall be
required to give to the Institute the privilege of participation through a
designated representative, without vote, in the consideration of questions by
the executive council of each such affiliated organization whenever such
questions are of mutual interest.
404. Membership in the
Institute and in affiliated organizations shall be mutually independent, except
that the Secretary or other designated representative of each affiliated
organization shall be entitled to ex officio membership in the Institute. The
persons designated under paras. 402 and 404,
respectively, shall not necessarily be the same.
405. In advance of each
ordinary session, the affiliated organizations shall be consulted regarding the
scientific programme of the session.
V. ELECTION OF
MEMBERS
501. Frequency of
Elections
In the event of vacancies
for elected or Honorary members, an election of members shall be held every
year, unless the Council shall determine that an emergency makes a postponement
desirable.
502. Presentation of
Candidates
Candidacies shall be
presented during the period specified by the Council for such action. Each
candidacy shall be presented, in writing, to the Secretary/Treasurer, together
with a detailed account of the candidate's qualifications. Such presentation
shall be made by three elected or Honorary members.
503. Elections Committee
Fore each election the
Council shall appoint an Elections Committee of nine elected or Honorary members
of whom two at least shall be officers or individual members of the Council.
This Committee shall be charged with the duty of examining nominations and shall
make a recommendation for consideration and approval by the Executive Committee.
The approved candidates shall be declared elected by the Executive Committee.
504. Termination of
Candidacies
Candidacies for elected
membership terminate either (a) by election, (b) by lapse after three elections
at which the candidate was eligible and not elected, or (c) by withdrawal.
Candidacies for Honorary membership terminate after one election at which the
candidate was eligible. Any candidacy may be withdrawn by the candidate or
(except during an election) it may be withdrawn by at least three of the
nominators.
Candidacies terminated by
lapse or withdrawal can be reinstated by a new presentation in the manner
specified in para. 503.
VI. LANGUAGES
601. The English and French
texts of these By-laws are equally authentic.
602. The Institute's
languages shall be Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian
and Spanish which may be used in the operations of the Institute in the manner
prescribed in para. 603.
603. A distinction shall be
made between working languages, official languages and conference languages.
a. The working languages of
the Institute shall be English and French.
Working languages may be
used and shall be equally valid for correspondence, articles and other
communications submitted to and by the Institute.
b. The official languages of
the Institute shall be Arabic, Chinese, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
Official languages may be
used and shall be equally valid as working languages provided that
communications submitted in official languages shall be accompanied by a
translation in one of the working languages and that publication by the
Institute, if any, of communications submitted in an official language shall be
limited to the translation in a working language.
c. The conference languages
of the Institute shall be (i) the working languages,
and (ii) those official languages for which adequate interpretation facilities
shall be made available at no cost for the Institute or for the host country of
a session. The Organizing Committee in the host country of any session shall be
entitled to designate its national language as a conference language.
Conference languages may be
used and shall be interpreted into the other conference languages at meetings of
the General Assembly and at scientific meetings for invited papers during the
sessions of the Institute.
VII. FINANCES
701. a.
The annual dues of the elected members are fixed according to the country of
residence of the member. For this purpose, the countries are classified into
four groups and the dues are determined in Euros by the General Assembly
according to the group in which the country is placed. The classification of the
countries into four groups is in the competence of the Council. The General
Assembly may alter at any ordinary session the annual dues to be paid by the
members. The Council may make suitable provision for compounding dues by
lump-sum payment. Honorary members shall not be required to pay dues. The
Executive Committee may waive or reduce the dues for which an elected member is
liable, for such a period as it designates, if it considers that the payment of
such dues proves, for whatever reason, unduly burdensome to said member.
b. The annual dues of ex
officio members shall be determined by the Council. Ex officio members occupying
a position designated in an agency that has been admitted as corporate member
shall be exempt from paying dues. The Executive Committee may, in exceptional
cases, reduce the dues for which an ex officio member is liable if it considers
that such action is in the interest of the Institute.
c. The annual dues of
corporate members shall be determined by the Council. Official national
statistical agencies in countries where the Government makes an annual
subvention to the Institute which is at least equal to the amount of the
dues, shall be exempt from payment of the dues.
d. The dues of affiliated
organizations shall be determined by the Council.
702. In accordance with the
law under which the Institute is incorporated, the Executive Committee shall
submit to a meeting of the General Assembly, within six months of the end of
each fiscal year unless the General Assembly extends this period, its report
including a financial statement covering all income and expenditure over the
preceding fiscal year and a statement of the assets and liabilities as of the
last day of the preceding year.
703. In advance of each
ordinary session, the financial statement to be presented to the General
Assembly, must be audited by a professionally
qualified accountant selected by the Council. As soon as the report has been
presented to the General Assembly, this shall designate two members of the
Institute as auditors for further examination of the report. They shall present
their findings to the General Assembly before its adjournment.
704. At least three months
in advance of the beginning of each fiscal year, the Secretary/Treasurer shall
submit to the Executive Committee a budget covering all proposed expenditure and
showing all estimated income for the Institute for that year together with any
recommendations concerning sources of additional income. No expenditure shall be
incurred in excess of that authorized by the budget as approved or subsequently
modified by the Executive Committee.
705. The Secretary/Treasurer
shall maintain such accounts as the Executive Committee may deem necessary to
ensure compliance with any limitations on the use of any property of the
Institute which shall have been attached by the contributors or grantors thereof
to the Institute at the time of contribution.
VIII. AMENDING OF
STATUTES AND BY-LAWS
801. Any proposal for
amending the Statutes and/or By-laws shall be sent to the President. It shall
include the precise terms of the proposed amendment and an adequate explanation
of its intent. It must be signed by at least 10 elected or Honorary members.
802. The President shall
cause the Secretary/Treasurer to transmit to all members of the Institute, a
complete copy of the proposal, the names of the signatories, the views of the
Council and (in case if elected and Honorary members) a ballot, on which an
affirmative or negative vote may be recorded. The ballots must be returned in
time to reach the Secretary/Treasurer within three months from the date of
despatch of the proposal to the members.
803. The proposed amendment
shall be submitted for a decision by the General Assembly at the next session if
at least two-thirds of the votes cast regarding it are favourable and if at
least one-third of the elected and Honorary members have voted upon it. However
if the proposed amendment concerns the dissolution of the Institute, it shall be
submitted for a decision by the General Assembly if votes favourable to it are
cast by a simple majority of the total number of the elected and Honorary
members.
Back to Home Page