Statutes/Rules of Operation
(Under revision)
I - TITLE AND PURPOSE
Article 1: Title
The International Commission of Agricultural Engineering, founded in August 1930 at Liege, Belgium, has its logo and abbreviation CIGR after its original name "Commission Internationale du Génie Rural".
CIGR is a world-wide federation regrouping - in form of a Networking System - National, Regional and multinational Associations, Societies, Corporations and individuals working in science and technology applied to the different fields of agricultural engineering.
Article 2: Purpose
The general purpose of CIGR is to serve - on a world-wide basis and through its Members - the needs of humanity by fostering mutual understanding, improvement and rationalisation of sustainable biological production systems while protecting nature and environment and managing landscape through the advancement of engineering and allied sciences to be adequately applied to agriculture, horticulture, forestry, aquaculture, and fresh products processing.
This means for CIGR:
• to promote the improvement of science and technology in relation to the bettering of biological production and rural development;
• to encourage education, training and international experiences of young professionals;
• to support and encourage the inter-regional/national collaboration on scientific, technical and strategic subjects;
• to facilitate the transfer and applications of agricultural engineering knowledge;
• to represent the profession of agricultural engineers on the world-wide level.
These goals lead CIact as a world-wide networking service organisation in order to connect, co-ordinate and reinforce the activities carried out by its members;
• act as a world-wide representative Organisation of agricultural engineers and agricultural engineering ;
• co-operate in an effective way with related (Governmental and Non-Governmental) International Organisations;
• promote the founding of Regional and National Societies/Associations of Agricultural Engineering all over the world;
• develop all other adequate activities to serve the general purposes.
II - STRUCTURE AND INTERNAL ORGANISATION
Article 3: Membership
CIGR, as a world-wide federation, knows the following types of memberships:
• national, regional or multinational associations;
• individuals;
• corporate;
• honorary members.
All the National Associations/Societies as the federation members of a Regional Association/Society member of CIGR are automatically members of CIGR but the voting right adheres to the Regional Association/Society which pays the fee ( art. 7 ).
In regions or countries with more than one Association/Society on Agricultural Engineering a common solution has to be found for the regional/national representation in the CIGR General Assembly ( art. 6 and 7 ), taking into consideration that CIGR recognises only one Society/Association per Region/Country as official representative in the General Assembly.
Qualified individual specialists can apply for an individual membership. They are indicated as individual members . CIGR will do any effort to promote their membership through the National Society to which they belong.
In countries where more than ten specialists in agricultural engineering exist and are interested to be affiliated to CIGR, the establishment of a National Association/Society has to be promoted.
International bodies, enterprises, societies etc. involved in agricultural engineering can become affiliated to CIGR as corporate members .
A restricted number of persons that have special merits in favour of CIGR receive the title of Honorary Member during a General Assembly. They are members for life.
Applications for membership are approved by the General Assembly ( art 8-10 ). Termination of membership takes place by: a written request to the Headquarters October 31 of the year in effect; a decision of the Executive Board to be confirmed by the General Assembly.
Members pay to CIGR a yearly fee, the level of which is established in the General Assembly every two years.
Article 4: CIGR member Organisations
CIGR Regional/National affiliated Associations/Societies are autonomous organisations having their statutes and internal regulations. These should be consistent to those of CIGR in order to act as CIGR-Regional/National Organisation.
A member of a Regional or of a National Association/Society member of the CIGR Networking System is member of CIGR as well. He has the right to make use of CIGR facilities and services at special membership conditions.
The rights of a Member Organisation or Individual are:
• to receive from CIGR all current information given to CIGR Headquarters about activities of professional interest within the all Networking System;
• to represent CIGR in its own region of country;
• to make full use, within this context, of the CIGR logo for all types of activity undertaken including letterheads, journals, newspaper, books , proceedings etc as well as the announcements of congresses, conferences, seminars and so on;
• to nominate its representatives in the General Assembly ( art.7 )
• to propose members for the Executive Board, included the Presidium ( art.9 );
• to propose the location of the Headquarters and members acting as Secretary General and Auditors ( art. 10 and 11 );
• to directly organise or to promote participation of its members in the various CIGR activities;
• to promote and to participate in the various Working Groups;
• to propose specific activities to be carried out by CIGR as a whole or through the establishment of ad-hoc Working Groups;
• to make use of the CIGR information service and facilities with particular reference to special conditions for buying publications as well as for the subscription fees at congresses organised by CIGR and/or by its Member Organisations.
The duties of a member of CIGR Networking Systems are: to support the CIGR Headquarters with adequate and up-dated information with particular reference to coming activities;
• to provide in time CIGR Headquarters with information on intended dates and topics of coming conferences fit for international participation;
• to support the Executive Board and the Section Boards in their activity;
• to support CIGR with adequate initiatives or activities and to propose adequate initiatives falling down within the scopes of CIGR;
• to provide CIGR Headquarters with a list of its members by 31st October of each year;
• to support CIGR with a yearly fee.
The list of members of each Regional/National Association/Society is the base of the annual fee and the number of votes.
Article 5: Governing bodies
The Governing Bodies of CIGR are:
• the General Assembly (Chapter III);
• the Executive Board (Chapter IV);
• the Auditors (Chapter V).
The administration and the financial bookkeeping are carried out by a General Secretariat , acting as Headquarters (Chapter V).
III - GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Article 6: Composition, chairing, sequence
The General Assembly of CIGR consists of:
• the President, the Past President and the Incoming President;
• one Representative of each Regional or Multinational Association/Society;
• one Representative of each National Association/Society;
• one Representative of the individual members of those Countries where a National Association does not yet exist or there is a special reason for the association to be unable to become a CIGR member;
• one Representative of the individual members of an UN organisation having a relevant mandate to CIGR;
• one Representative of each direct corporate member;
• the Chairs of the Section Boards;
• the Honorary Presidents of CIGR;
• the Secretary General acting as Secretary of the Assembly.
Representatives of related International Organisations with interest in co-operating with CIGR can also take part as observers.
The General Assembly, representing all members, is chaired by the President of CIGR and, in his absence, by the Past-President or the Incoming President in this order.
The General Assembly meets every second year or as needed.
The agenda to be discussed by the General Assembly is prepared by the Executive Board, assisted by the Secretary General and has to be known by the delegates at least two months before the session.
Article 7: Voting, elections, periods of duty
Voting in the General Assembly is done by the representatives of the Member Organisations, by the Individual Members and by the Corporate Members. Each Regional/National Member Association has a number of votes related to the numbers of their members. Countries with only Individual Members and Corporate Members have one vote each.
The President, the Past President, the Incoming President and the Secretary General have one vote each. In case of parity the President has a casting vote.
Decisions are taken by simple majority, except in the case of dissolving (art.26 ). Voting on persons is done by ballots, on affairs hand raising is accepted.
The Honorary Presidents of CIGR have no right of voting.
Voting by correspondence in advance is possible for representatives not present at the assembly or for all representatives in case in which it is necessary to reach an urgent decision.
For the election of the Executive Board, proposals are made by the CIGR members. From these proposals, the Presidium (see Art.9 ) will provide the General Assembly with a total proposal, on which can be voted as well as a whole as in part.
The President, Past President and Incoming President can not belong to the same member Organisation and can not be re-elected for the Presidium. They are elected for a six -year term and serve 2 years in each position.
The other Members of the Executive Board are elected every four years and can be once re-elected.
The election of the Secretary-General is primarily based on his qualification in combination with the location and facilities of Headquarters. His time of duty is four years, re-electable.
The General Assembly elects the Auditors every four years on a proposal of the Executive Board.
Article 8: Tasks
The main tasks of the General Assembly are:
to govern CIGR in principal lines, taking into account: developments in Agricultural Engineering and allied Sciences; general developments in international relations and any other conditions that can be served by the profession through CIGR;
• to define the activities to carry out in favour of agricultural engineering development;
• to admit memberships;
• to elect officers and to establish the location of the General Secretariat;
• to nominate three Auditors;
• to nominate Honorary Members;
• to nominate Fellows;
• to recognise or give awards
• to approve the technical and financial reports and budgets of the previous biennium and for the next biennium;
• to decide on fees, levies and other income-sources.
IV - EXECUTIVE BOARD
Article 9: Composition, tasks, meetings
The Executive Board consists of the Presidium - composed by the President, the Past President, the Incoming President and the Secretary General - and of 11 Members. The Presidents have to be chosen from different geographical areas of the world.
The other 11 Members of the Executive Board have to be chosen from the different Regional Associations and the National Associations not represented in the Presidium.
The President chairs the Board assisted by the Secretary General, also acting as Treasurer.
The President is the official representative of CIGR. In his absence the Past President or the Incoming President will, in this order, replace him.
The Presidium is charged to directly manage the CIGR activities following the guidelines approved by the Executive Board and the General Assembly. It meets as required. The Executive Board meets at least once a year.
The main tasks of the Executive Board are:
• to manage CIGR according to the purposes (art.2) and the decisions of the General Assembly and to take adequate initiatives to that end;
• to harmonise - on a world-wide basis - the activities of and to promote the co-operation among Regional/National Associations as well as with other relevant Organisations;
• to- assure adequate representation of CIGR on relevant events;
• to prepare the General Assembly and the elections;
• to present for approval to the General Assembly the technical and financial reports on the previous biennium and for the next biennium;
• to establish sectional, intersectional and/or interregional ad hoc Working Groups and Committees and to carry out other CIGR activities according to the lines approved by the General Assembly;
• to promote dissemination of CIGR information and services.
V - HEADQUARTERS, GENERAL SECRETARIAT, AUDITING
Article 10: General Secretariat
The location of the General Secretariat (Headquarters) coincides with the working place of the Secretary General . He is responsible for running Headquarters in accordance with Statutes and decisions taken in the General Assembly.
The main tasks of the Secretary General are:
• to carry out the decisions, made by the General Assembly, the Executive Board and the Presidium;
• to prepare, according to the decisions of the Executive Board and of the Presidium, the agenda to be discussed in both bodies as well as adequate documents for this purpose;
• to maintain and update a membership mailing list for all individuals within CIGR;
• to give member service within CIGR in co-operation with the Member Organisation;
• to take care of a sound financial management;
• to prepare the technical and financial reports and budget proposals, to be approved by the Executive Board and the General Assembly and to contact the Auditors on this matter;
• to disseminate adequate reports and information on CIGR activities among the Regional/National Associations, Individuals and Corporate Members as well as outside;
• to support and supervise the carrying out of paid services and publication of proceedings and reports.
Article 11: Auditing
Auditing is carried out by the Auditors - chosen by the General Assembly - having the following tasks:
• to control yearly the financial management of CIGR;
• to comment the budgeting in the view of financing in the future;
• to report on these two items to the Executive Board yearly and to the General Assembly per biennium in proper time for approval.
The Secretary General acting as Treasurer supports the Auditors in an adequate way.
Auditing by a professional auditing office can take place if circumstances require so. The General Assembly can decide it.
VI - TECHNICAL SECTIONS AND TECHNICAL BOARD
Article 12: Activities
In relation to the development of the different scientific fields related to Agricultural Engineering, CIGR can be organised in Technical Sections. They have the task to carry out specific technical-scientific activities to promote the development of the considered field of science and technology.
They have to report yearly to the Executive Board through the Presidium on the activity carried out and the programmes for the future. These programmes have to be supported by the Executive Board.
Each individual member of CIGR can join no more than two Technical Sections following his own field of interest, without any extra fee payment.
The establishment and the dissolving of the Technical Sections have to be proposed by the Executive Board and ratified by the General Assembly.
The Technical Board consists of the Presidium and the Chairs of the Technical Sections. They will meet once a year for discussing technical activity and programmes.
Article 13: Section Boards
Each Technical Section is managed by a Section Board formed by the Chair one Vice Chair, one Secretary and normally up to 13 members.
The members of the Boards are proposed by the members of each Section on the basis of criteria of the maximum geographical representativeness. Latest one year before the term is out, the sitting Board makes a proposal for the next term, taking into account the scientific quality of the members as well as a balanced geographical world-wide representativeness. About a half of the section board members are elected every two years so that the continuity of the section activities is secured.
Normally no more than one representative per each Regional/National Association can be member of each Section Board.
The proposed lists are examined by the Executive Board of CIGR and submitted for approval to the General Assembly. The time of duty for the members is 4 years. The Members can be re-elected for a second period. The Chair can not be re-elected in the same position.
Inactive board members may be replaced upon the recommendation by the Presidium.
The participation of young qualified scientists or technicians in Section's Boards will be promoted.
VII - CIGR ACTIVITIES
Article 14: Types of activities
In order to reach the goals stated in art.2, CIGR knows the following main trans-associational activities:
• the promotion, in accordance with Regional/National Associations, of scientific conferences, seminars and workshops;
• the periodical co-ordination and dissemination of a yearly calendar of the various international events organised by its members as well as by other National and International Organisations;
• the establishment of ad-hoc international Working Groups for carrying out world-wide analyses and studies on educational, scientific, technical and economic subjects related to Agr. Engng;
• the dissemination of information through regular news-letters, electronic network and other type of means;
• the publication and dissemination of conference proceedings, books, electronic journals and technical and scientific reports prepared by the Working Groups;
• the active participation in scientific meetings, organised by other Organisations or in co-operation with them;
• the carrying out of specific studies and projects.
Article 15: CIGR meetings
CIGR recognises the following types of scientific meetings:
• "CIGR World Congress" on agricultural engineering in which all competencies contribute and co-operate;
• Sectional or intersectional world-wide CIGR meetings.
CIGR meetings are organised in strict co-operation with Regional/National affiliated Associations under their full financial and administrative responsibility. The meetings are, at any rate, supported by the Executive Board and the Headquarters according to circumstances. CIGR meetings are open to everyone interested. Members of CIGR shall have priority and participation facilities. Raised fees for non-members are allowed, reduced fees for young scientists too.
CIGR meetings know a levy on participation for the CIGR Headquarters. The amount of this levy is decided by the General Assembly and can be revised every two years.
The Headquarters will provide the publication and dissemination of the related proceedings in co-operation with the Member Organisation.
Article 16: CIGR world congress on agricultural engineering
A CIGR World Congress on Agricultural Engineering is organised by CIGR in co-operation with the Regional Associations assisted by the Association of the Country concerned, on adequate intervals, normally being four years.
The scientific content of the programme, mainly devoted to topics of world-wide implication and importance, is prepared by the Executive Board in consultation with Section Boards and the organising body in the Region/Country concerned. Each member organisation can propose topics to be included in the Congress programme.
Article 17: CIGR sectional or intersectional meetings
CIGR Sectional or Intersectional meetings are organised in co-operation with Member Organisations. The topics of the meetings have to be approved by the Executive Board in order to harmonize the totality of the activity of CIGR.
Article 18: Participation in other international meetings
CIGR can officially participate in international meetings, seminars and workshops organised by other Organisations, when the programme contains aspects related to Agricultural Engineering. The experts participating to these meetings, seminars and workshops as official CIGR representatives are appointed by the President of CIGR on the proposal of the Chair(s) of the relevant Section(s). They have to report the results of the meetings to the Headquarters for publication in the Newsletters.
When the content of the programme leads to a basic participation CIGR can also act as co-organiser.
Article 19: Working groups
Study and Working Groups (W.G.) for intersectional or sectional worldwide problems are established by the Executive Board.
The participants in a CIGR W.G. are normally not financially supported by CIGR. Headquarters can pay only administrative expenses, to be decided in the Executive Board.
Participation - as a representative of CIGR - in multidisciplinary W.G., organised by or in cooperation with, other Organisations - paid or unpaid - has to be approved according circumstances by the Presidium.
The results of the activities carried out and published by the W.G. leading to comprehensive reports will be distributed by CIGR Headquarters.
Article 20: Reporting and documentation
Organisers of CIGR meetings will provide Headquarters with the original of the relevant proceedings. The proceedings and reports have to follow standard guidelines provided by the Executive Board. The same has to be applied to the technical reports prepared by the Working Groups.
The Headquarters will also provide the publication of regular Newsletters to be distributed to the members and outside.
Article 21: Paid services
CIGR can carry out, through specific working groups (S.W.G.), studies on subjects falling within its scopes on demand of external private and public enterprises, bodies and organisations. Such S.W.G. are established by the Executive Board. The financial aspects are directly regulated by the Presidium.
VIII - LANGUAGES
Article 22
English is the working language of CIGR. Other languages may be used, when required. In scientific meetings the language of the hosting country may be used also, provided that adequate translation is available. In any case all the accepted papers have to be typed in English too and a simultaneous translation has to be assured for the oral presentation at the meeting.
IX - FINANCES
Article 23: Sources
The financial resources of CIGR are:
• annual fees from affiliated Regional/National Associations;
• annual fees from Individual Members;
• annual fees from Corporate Members;
• levies on participation fees of meetings;
• incomes from deposits;
• incomes from selling of publications and royalties;
• incomes from special services;
• income from the contribution fee for the electronic journals and proceedings
• any other legal contributions and income.
The levels of fees and levies are decided by the General Assembly on the proposal of the Executive Board.
Article 24: Expenditures
The expenditures of CIGR are based on a yearly budget proposal. They include:
• administration costs of Headquarters;
• general costs for the meetings of the General Assembly and of the Executive Board;
• specific costs of representation ;
• payments for member service material;
• specific costs of W.G.s and S.W.G.s;
• publication of reports, handbooks, electronic journals and newsletters;
• travel expenses for Headquarters upon approval of the Executive Board;
• other legal expenses
X - CHANGING OF STATUTES
Article 25
Changes in the Statutes can be proposed by:
• the Executive Board;
• any Regional/National Organisation, Individual and Corporate Member in written form, supported by at least two other members, to the Secretary General, who will submit them to the Executive Board.
These proposals have to be discussed and approved in the General Assembly by simple majority after being brought to the knowledge of all members at least two months ahead of the meeting concerned.
XI - DISSOLVING
Article 26
A proposal to dissolve CIGR can be done in written form by Regional/National Associations and Individual Members, supported by at least four other ones. This proposal is discussed in the Executive Board and prepared for decision in the General Assembly. This decision has to include regulations about the financial position of CIGR.
The proposal for dissolving has to be brought to the knowledge of the General Assembly at least four months ahead of the date on which it is convened. In voting a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes is needed for a decision to dissolve. In case of non-agreement the Executive Board convenes an extraordinary meeting within two months. In this second meeting a normal majority is sufficient for the decision.
XII - BECOMING INTO OPERATION
Article 27
The new Statutes will become in force upon and directly in the year following the approval by the General Assembly concerned.
