THE CONSTITUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE


Article 1. Status and functions of the Commission. The status, duties and powers of the Commission are defined in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Article 2. Membership of the Commission.

2.1 Number. The Commission shall ordinarily consist of 18 members or such larger number as the Commission may decide. The names and addresses of the members at any given time shall be published in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature.

2.2 Qualifications. The members of the Commission shall be eminent scientists, irrespective of nationality, with a distinguished record in any branch of zoology, who are known to have an interest in zoological nomenclature.

2.3 Representation of diverse interests. As far as practicable, the composition of the Commission shall be such as to secure a balanced representation:

Article 3. Term of service of members of the Commission.

3.1. Normal term. The normal term of service of a member of the Commission shall be reckoned as follows:

3.2. Maximum term of service and eligibility for re-election. A member whose normal term of service terminates may be re-elected but:

3.3. Prior termination of membership. The membership of any member of the Commission shall terminate:

Article 4. Election of members of the Commission.

4.1. Notice. The Commission shall publish, not less than one year before a general session of the Commission [Art. 11.1], a notice which:

4.2. Circulation. The notice specified in Article 4.1 shall be submitted to IUBS (or to its successor body, if any), to the organizers of the Congress where the general session is to be held, and to appropriate journals in different parts of the world, with a request for its dissemination.

4.3. Nominations. Nominations, accompanied by a statement of the fields of specialization and qualification under Article 2.2 of each nominee, are to be sent to the Secretary of the Commission. Unless the nomination contains the information, the Secretary shall require each nominee to give consent to the nomination and to provide a curriculum vitae, a list of publications and a statement of his or her nomenclatural experience.

4.4. List of candidates. The Commission shall at a general session:

4.5. Election. The Commission shall present the list of candidates to the Section of Zoological Nomenclature for an election by secret ballot.

4.6. By-elections. The Commission may by a postal ballot fill vacancies arising from prior termination of membership [Art. 3.3], or which have not been filled by election at a session of the Section of Zoological Nomenclature [Art. 4.4.1], or which result from an increase in the number of members decided by the Commission in accordance with Article 2.1.

Article 5. Duties of members of the Commission.

5.1. At sessions. It shall be the duty of a member of the Commission to attend each session of the Commission if it is possible for him or her to do so, and to attend each meeting during a session unless excused for compelling reasons by the presiding officer.

5.2. Between sessions. It shall be the duty of a member of the Commission to vote, within the prescribed period, upon each question submitted to him or her for that purpose by the Secretary.

5.3. Leave of absence. A member of the Commission who is temporarily unable to perform his or her duties should apply through the Secretary (if possible in advance) for leave of absence for a specified period.

Article 6. Officers. The Officers of the Commission shall be a President, a Vice-President, and such other officers as the Commission shall decide. The duties of the Officers shall be stated in the Bylaws.

Article 7. Council. The President, the Vice-President and four elected members of the Commission shall form a Council. This Council is charged to perform, on behalf of the Commission, the duties assigned to it specifically under the provisions of this Constitution and to supervise the work of the Commission between sessions, not specifically assigned to an officer or to the Secretariat nor deemed by the President to require a formal vote by the Commission. The Council may designate members of the Commission to serve in a special capacity.

Article 8. Election of Officers and members of Council.The Officers and members of Council shall be elected by the Commission by secret ballot as specified in the Bylaws.

Article 9. Secretariat. The Council may appoint an Executive Secretary for such a term and with such duties as may be fixed in the Bylaws; a member of the Commission may be appointed similarly as Secretary-General. The Executive Secretary may be an employee of an appropriate body, such as the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.

Article 10. Committees.

10.1. Appointment and functions. The Council, through the President, may appoint advisory and ad hoc committees to facilitate the editorial or fact-finding tasks of the Secretariat or to assist the Commission in any other way. Zoologists who are not members of the Commission are eligible to serve on such committees.

10.2 Submission of reports. Each ad hoc Committee shall report to the Council or the Commission at the time stated in the terms of its appointment or when called upon by the Council or Commission to do so. Ad hoc Committees dissolve on submitting their final report or if they are previously terminated by the Council.

Article 11. Sessions.

11.1 General sessions.

11.2. Special sessions. The Commission may convene a special session at any time or place of its choice, provided that:

Article 12. Voting. Unless otherwise specified in the Code or in this Constitution, the following procedures shall apply when the Commission votes on matters of zoological nomenclature.

12.1. In ordinary cases. In cases not involving the use of the plenary power, an affirmative decision shall be deemed to have been taken by the Commission when a simple majority of those voting votes in favour within the time period stipulated on the voting paper.

12.2. In cases involving the use of the plenary power or amendments to the Code or Constitution. In such cases (see Articles 78 to 81 of the Code for the use of the plenary power and Article 16 of this Constitution for amendments to the Code or Constitution) an affirmative decision shall be deemed to have been taken only when two thirds of the votes validly cast in a postal vote lasting three months are in favour of the proposal, and provided that notice of the proposal had been published in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature and submitted for publication to at least three appropriate journals at least six months (in the case of amendments to the Code or Constitution, twelve months) prior to the vote.

Article 13. Financial arrangements. The Commission when not prepared to raise or administer its own funds is empowered for such purposes to enter into a beneficent relationship with a body such as the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, that undertakes to act in accordance with the policy of the Commission and IUBS (or its successor body, if any). The Commission may terminate such a relationship at its discretion.

Article 14. Editorial duties of the Commission. The Commission shall issue and, finances permitting, may itself publish various communications, to be prepared and edited in the office of the Secretary under the guidance of the Council.

14.1. Decisions. It shall be the duty of the Commission to publish Declarations and Opinions embodying the decisions of the Commission, as specified in Articles 77 and 80 of the Code.

14.2. Information. Finances permitting, it shall be the duty of the Commission to publish a periodical, the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, for the purpose of keeping zoologists informed on cases pending before the Commission, for publishing the procedures of the Commission, for announcements, and for the general discussion of nomenclatural questions.

14.3. Maintenance of Official Lists and Indexes. The Commission shall compile and maintain the undermentioned Lists and Indexes:

14.4. List of Available Names in Zoology. The Commission may consider, adopt and publish notices concerning the List of Available Names in Zoology (or Parts thereof) as prescribed in Article 79 of the Code.

Article 15. Emergency powers. In the event of an emergency the Council or, failing this, the President may assume and exercise such extraordinary powers as it (or the President, if relevant) may consider necessary to secure the continued function of the Commission, provided that:

Article 16. Amendments to the Code and Constitution.

16.1. Procedure. The Commission shall:

16.2. Editorial Committee. In acting under this Article the Commission may be assisted by an ad hoc Editorial Committee appointed and acting in accordance with Article 10.

Article 17. Bylaws. The Commission is empowered to adopt a set of Bylaws governing those of its regulations and activities not covered by the Constitution. The Commission has authority to modify these Bylaws by a majority vote as the occasion demands. These Bylaws will deal with such matters as the duties of the Officers, the methods by which nominations are to be obtained for vacancies on the Commission, the relations between the Commission and the Secretariat, regulations concerning the treatment to be given to applications and the adoption of time schedules and priorities, and with other business matters of the Commission.

Article 18. Inauguration. This Constitution and all amendments to it shall take effect when it and they have been approved by the Commission and ratified by IUBS (or its successor body, if any) in accordance with Article 16.


Preamble | Articles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 | Glossary Appendices Constitution


Markup
GaryRosenberg   Art. 12. What about voting that does not involve cases, such as ZooBank policies? Should this be under 12.1 or addressed in the By-Laws?
2010-03-05 06:44:47
FranciscoWelterSchultes   Art. 16 should be modified:

"16.1.1. publish (at least in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, German, Polish and Hungarian) proposed amendments (unless they are amendments to the Code determined by Article 78 therein not to be major changes) in accordance with Article 12.2 of this Constitution;"

This is necessary because by using an extremely difficult English language (as shown in Zootaxa 1908: 57-67 (2008)) almost all non-English native taxonomists are systematically excluded from participating at the discussion. Most would not even be able to properly understand the main points of the introduction. The present regulation results in biased results favouring clearly too much the desires of North American taxonomists.
If the Commission is not able to translate in several languages, I would suggest as an alternative that French only should be allowed, for the publication as well as for the answers in 16.1.2. This would be equally fair for all continents.
2009-05-28 07:32:23

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