By-Laws: International Statistical Institute

29 November 2011

1. Membership (Statutes Article 3)

1.1. Regular Membership 

a) Any individual who shares the values and objectives of the ISI can become a regular member of the ISI. 

1.2 Elected membership

a) The criteria for elected membership are described in Article 3.2.c. of the Statutes. For elected membership, an individual (regular member or potential new member) must be nominated. Elected members shall have made significant contributions in one or more of the following areas: statistical research, practice, education, administration of statistical service, or the promotion of the profession.

b) The information on election procedure for elected membership and relevant deadlines shall be made available and published on the ISI website.

c) A candidate for elected membership must be sponsored by three elected members of the ISI.

d) The candidate or one of the sponsors shall complete the Candidacy Form and submit it to the Permanent Office.

e) The candidate and sponsors shall be notified of the outcome of the membership election.

f) The names of those who are elected shall be published via the website or other appropriate means.

1.3 Membership Elections Committee

a) The Membership Elections Committee for elected membership is appointed before end of March every second year by the Executive Committee and shall be composed of at least seven elected members, two of whom shall be elected Council members. 

b) The committee shall review all applications and make a recommendation for election of members at least twice a year. 

c) The Executive Committee shall consider the recommendations of the Membership Elections Committee for elected membership and make final decisions.

1.4 Affiliated Members

a) An organisation that requests affiliation with the ISI shall submit all necessary information required by the Executive Committee.

b) Each affiliated organisation shall designate a representative to serve as liaison with the ISI.

c) In reciprocity, each affiliated organisation shall give the ISI the privilege to designate an ISI member as a liaison with the organisation.

2. General Assembly (Statutes Article 6)

2.1 Meeting Procedures

a) The Executive Committee shall convene meetings of the General Assembly.

b) Members wishing to propose any agenda items must submit them to the Director at least four months in advance of the date of the meeting. 

c) The final agenda will be decided by the President in consultation with the Executive Committee. 

d) The agenda and meeting documents shall be made available by the Director one month prior to the meeting.

2.2. Decision Making

1. Except for amendments to the Statutes, decisions by the General Assembly shall be made according to a voting prior to the General Assembly meeting, or at the meeting. The process for the voting through a process prior to the meeting shall be organised as follows:

a) Members can make a proposal for any decisions to be taken by the General Assembly. The proposal must be submitted to the ISI Director for consideration by the Executive Committee. The proposal must be supported by at least 10 members in writing

b) The Executive Committee or Council may also initiate proposals for consideration by the General Assembly.

c) The Executive Committee shall circulate the proposal to all individual members of the ISI. 

d) There shall be a period of at least one month between the circulation of the proposal and the date when voting can commence. 

e) The ISI Director is responsible for organising the voting. The voting may be conducted by mail ballot or electronically. 

f) The voting period shall be 30 days maximum g) Decisions shall take effect with a simple majority of the votes cast in favour 

h) The Director shall deliver a report on the outcome of the voting to the General Assembly. i) In case of voting in the General Assembly meeting paragraph 

g) shall equally apply.

2.3 Amendments to the Statutes (Statutes Article 15)

a) Amendments to the Statutes can only be decided at the General Assembly Meeting at the ISI biennial World Statistics Congress. 

b) Proposals for amending the Statutes can be submitted by the Executive Committee after consultation with the Council. 

c) Proposals can also be submitted by individual members and must be signed by at least 10 elected members. The delivery of the proposal has to respect the time schedule in this article.

d) The President shall ask the Director to transmit the proposal and the views of the Council to all members of the ISI at least two months before the General Assembly. 

e) The members shall be asked to express their opinion about the proposed amendment via electronic or other means. The members are also asked to provide a (electronic) proxy for the voting at the General Assembly in concordance with the opinion expressed by the member. 

f) The period for voting and providing of proxies shall be no more than thirty days before the decision making in the General Assembly 

g) The proposal for the amendment of the statutes shall be submitted to General Assembly, together with the outcome of the consultation process and the proxies provided accordingly 

h) A simple majority is required for the amendment to be successful, except in the case of dissolution of the ISI (see Statutes Article 16). 

i) Amendments shall be put for endorsement to the General Assembly if a simple majority of the votes expressed is in favour of the proposed amendments.

3. ISI Associations (Statutes Article 7)

a) Each Association’s mission and objectives must be in harmony with those of the ISI. 

b) An Association’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. 

c) The Associations shall provide an annual report of its activities and finances to the ISI Council. 

d) In addition to having their own programmes and conferences, the Associations shall participate in the scientific work of the ISI. In particular, the Associations shall be consulted regarding the scientific programme of the WSC. 

e) The Associations shall be supported as much as practically possible by the ISI Permanent Office. 

f) In case the activities of an Association seriously contravene the objectives or statutes of the ISI the Executive Committee may propose to the General Assembly, after consultation with the Council, to terminate the association with the ISI. The Association concerned shall be given an opportunity to appeal to the General Assembly by providing information on reasons to reconsider the decision. The General Assembly shall make the final decision on any appeal.

4. Council (Article 8) And Executive Committee (Statutes Article 9)

4.1. Nomination Committee for Election of the Executive Committee and Council members

a) The nominations for the positions of President-Elect, Vice-Presidents, and elected members of the Council shall be made by the Nominations Committee. 

b) The Executive Committee appoints the chair and the members of the Nomination Committee. 

c) The Nominations Committee shall be composed of at least seven appointed members, one of whom shall 4 serve as Chair. 

d) The Chair of the previous Nominations Committee and the Director of the ISI shall serve as ex officio members without voting rights. 

e) The Nominations Committee shall be installed at least six months in advance of the next World Statistics Congress. 

f) The Nominations Committee shall develop a slate of candidates and submit this along with a report to the President within six months following the World Statistics Congress. 

g) The slate of candidates shall be made available to individual members eight months following the World Statistics Congress.

h) The slate shall include: 

                       - one candidate for President-Elect, 

                       - four candidates for two Vice-Presidents 

                      - at least eight candidates for the elected members of Council

i) Individual members of the ISI can propose additional candidates within two months after the slate is presented. These nominations require the support of at least 20 individual members, coming from at least 3 different countries. 

j) At least four months before the year of the next World Statistics Congress the final slate of candidates shall be presented to the individual members for a vote. 

k) The voting may be done by electronic means or by mail ballot. 

l) The voting period shall be at least 6 weeks. 

m) The results of the voting shall be announced in the last month of the year before the next WSC.  

n) The Director shall deliver a report on the outcome of the voting to the General Assembly. 

o) Two Vice-Presidents, out of the total of four available positions, shall be elected during each election. 

p) Half of the total number of positions for elected Council members shall be elected during each election. 

q) For each office, the candidate or candidates having received the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. In the event of a tie, the candidate who has been member of the ISI the longest shall be declared elected. 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. 

r) The term of office for the President and President-Elect shall run from the end of the World Statistics Congress to the end of the following World Statistics Congress. The terms of office for the Vice-Presidents and Council members shall run from the end of the first WSC till the end of the second World Statistics Congress (four years). 

s) Elected members of the Council and Executive Committee must be elected or regular ISI member. 

t) No person shall be elected to the office of Vice-President for more than one term. u) Elected members of the Council are not eligible for immediate re-election.

u) Elected members of the Council are not eligible for immediate re-election.

4.2. Decision Making by the Council

a) The Council can make decisions in person or via electronic means. 

b) Any decision by the Council requires participation by at least three members of the Executive Committee and at least nine other voting members. Voting by proxy is not allowed for elected members of Council. An Association President can designate one of its Executive Committee members as representative. 

c) All decisions shall be taken by a simple majority. 

d) During the WSC, 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. The incoming members of the Council who are not also outgoing members of the Council do not have voting rights. 

e) The Council is responsible for all final decisions regarding the interpretation of any part of the Statutes and By-Laws and any issues concerning conflict of opinions.

5. President (Statutes Article 9)

a) The President is responsible for the execution of the policies and decisions of the General Assembly, the Council and the Executive Committee. 

b) The President presides over meetings of the General Assembly, the Council and the Executive Committee. 

c) The President has the authority to exercise any functions prescribed for the Executive Committee if unforeseen circumstances make such action necessary. In such cases, he/she shall promptly notify the Executive Committee of the action taken and the circumstances that necessitated it. 

d) The President may designate members of the Executive Committee to be in charge of specific activities/responsibilities of the ISI.

6. Executive Committee (Statutes Article 9)

a) The Executive Committee shall meet on the call of the President or at least three of its members. 

b) The Executive Committee may reach its decisions by a simple majority. Decision making can be done in person or by electronic means. The participation of three members, including either the President or President-Elect, constitutes a quorum. 

c) The Executive Committee shall submit an annual report to the General Assembly. The report shall contain a summary of the ISI’s activities including financial statements. 

d) The Executive Committee shall appoint the Director of the ISI. The remunerations of the Director shall be determined by the President and President-Elect. 

e) The Executive Committee shall appoint a Programme Committee for each World Statistics Congress. The President, the Programme Committee, the Local Organizing Committee in the host country, and the Permanent Office shall be responsible for all the arrangements for the World Statistics Congress. 

f) If the President-Elect is unable to fulfil the required responsibilities for any reason, the President shall appoint one of the Vice-Presidents as Acting President-Elect. 

g) If a Vice-President is unable to fulfil the required responsibilities for any reason, the Council shall select 6 one of its elected members to serve for the remainder of the term.

7. Permanent Office (Statutes Article 10)

a) The Permanent Office shall be located at or in the close vicinity of the seat of the Institute. 

b) The Director shall be responsible to the Executive Committee for the implementation of ISI’s activities. 

c) The Director shall take the minutes of the meetings of the General Assembly, Council and the Executive Committee and distribute the reports appropriately. 

d) The Director shall be responsible for collecting the dues and for the administration of ISI finances.

8. Dues/Fees (Statutes Article 13)

a) The annual dues of regular and elected members are set by the Executive Committee and are determined by the member’s country of permanent residence. Countries may be classified into different categories, ranging from developing to developed. This classification shall be determined by the Council. 

b) The annual dues shall be based on the Euro as the currency. 

c) The Executive Committee may temporarily waive or reduce the dues of a regular or elected member if it considers that the payment of such dues is unduly burdensome. 

d) The Executive Committee may temporarily wave or reduce the dues for an institutional or affiliated member if it considers that such action is in the interest of the ISI.

9. Languages

a) The working language of the ISI shall be English. 

b) The conference languages of the ISI shall be - the working language - any other languages for which adequate interpretation facilities can be made available at the expense of the WSC host country. 

c) The Local Organising Committee of any WSC shall be entitled to designate its national language(s) as additional conference language(s). 

d) The working language shall be translated into the conference languages at the General Assembly meeting at the expense of the host country.

10. Committees (Article 8b)

a) The ISI has three categories of Committees, other than the Standing Committees: - Operational Committees - Special Interest Groups - Outreach Committee These Committees shall be established by the Council. 

b) Members of the ISI may propose the formation of new Committees. 

c) The proposal for establishing a Committee shall include a clear statement of the objectives, the operational structure and a list of potential members. 

d) Committees are required to submit an annual report on its activities to the Executive Committee and Council. 

e) A Committee chair shall serve a maximum of four years. 

f) In case a Committee is inactive, the Council may decide to replace the chair and/or members, or abolish the Committee. This can be done on its own initiative or on the proposal of the Executive Committee.

11. Reporting (Article 14)

a) The Executive Committee shall submit an annual report to the members within six months of the end of each fiscal year, unless the General Assembly extends this period.

b) The annual report shall include the activities of the ISI and its Associations, 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. 

c) The financial statement must have been audited by a professionally qualified accountant. 

d) At least three months before the beginning of each fiscal year, the Director shall submit to the Executive Committee a proposed budget covering all anticipated expenditure and showing all estimated income for that year together with any recommendations concerning sources of additional income.