Rules & Procedures

RULES OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NOISE CONTROL ENGINEERING (I-INCE)

Part 1: I-INCE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Part 2: I-INCE TECHNICAL WORK

Part 3: I-INCE CONGRESS SELECTION COMMITTEE

Part 4: FUTURE CONGRESS TECHNICAL PLANNERS

Part 5: I-INCE CONGRESS EVALUATION COMMITTEE

Part 3: I-INCE CONGRESS SELECTION COMMITTEE

Article 1. ESTABLISHMENT

A Congress Selection Committee (CSC) was established as a standing committee of the I-INCE General Assembly at a meeting of the General Assembly held in Fort Lauderdale, USA, on 1999 December 05. The purpose of the committee is to provide guidance in the selection of venues for future INTER-NOISE Congresses.

Article 2. MEMBERS

The CSC shall have thirteen (13) members. The members shall be the following: nine (9) individual members of I-INCE Member Societies from the three I-INCE geographical regions appointed by the General Assembly, the I-INCE President-elect, and the three I-INCE Regional Vice Presidents. In addition, the I-INCE Secretary General shall serve ex officio without vote as a member of the committee.

The I-INCE geographical regions of the world are Europe-Africa, Pan-America, and Asia-Pacific. Each region shall be represented on the CSC by preferably three but at least one of the nine members appointed by the General Assembly. Each member of the CSC shall be able to send and receive electronic mail (e-mail), and be able to download attachments to e-mail messages.

A nominating committee consisting of the I-INCE President-elect and the I-INCE Vice Presidents of the three regions shall present a slate of nominees to the General Assembly for positions to be filled on the CSC. Each Vice President shall consult with Member Societies in the region when selecting nominees for CSC membership. The slate of nominees shall be approved by the General Assembly. Service as an appointed member of the CSC is contingent on the I-INCE dues of the Member Society (to which the member belongs) being current.

Article 3. TERMS OF SERVICE

Those members of the CSC who are appointed by the General Assembly shall serve for a period of three (3) years. Each three-year term shall terminate on a rotation schedule such that three (3) new members are appointed every year by the General Assembly.

The terms of service for the members appointed by the General Assembly run from the meeting of the General Assembly in which appointment occurred until the subsequent meeting of the General Assembly three years later.

The terms of service for the other members of the CSC shall coincide with their terms as officers of I-INCE.

Article 4. OFFICERS

The officers of the CSC shall consist of a Chair and a Secretary. The I-INCE President-elect shall serve as the Chair. The Secretary shall be selected by the CSC from among the members of the committee.

The Secretary of the CSC shall prepare the Minutes of meetings of the CSC. With the assistance of the I-INCE Secretariat, the Secretary shall maintain a roster of the members of the CSC with postal addresses, telephone numbers, FAX numbers, and e-mail addresses and shall make this information available to I-INCE Member Societies that have an interest in organizing an INTER-NOISE Congress.

Article 5. PRINCIPAL TASKS

The principal tasks of the CSC are to receive and evaluate proposals for future INTER-NOISE Congresses and to submit the committee's recommendation, in the form of a rank-ordered listing of the proposals, to the I-INCE Board of Directors, which has the responsibility for inviting a Member Society (or group of Member Societies) to host and organize an INTER-NOISE Congress.

Article 6. MEETINGS

The Congress Selection Committee shall meet at least once during, or immediately before, each INTER-NOISE Congress. The Chair of the CSC shall call each meeting and prepare the agenda. The agenda shall be circulated to the CSC members at least 30 days before the intended meeting date. The Chair presides at meetings of the committee. If the President-elect is unable to participate at a meeting, an I-INCE vice president shall preside. A quorum for the conduct of business is a majority of the members.

Article 7. PLANNING CYCLE

I-INCE operates on a three-year planning cycle for the organization of an INTER-NOISE Congress. The invitation of the Board for a Member Society (or group of Member Societies) to host an INTER-NOISE Congress is extended three years in advance, i.e., at the third annual meeting of the Board preceding the future INTER-NOISE Congress. If Y is the year of the future Congress, the invitation is extended in year Y-3. Preliminary planning starts two years earlier in year Y-5 with the Board decision on the geographical region for the Congress. Hence, a Member Society that is interested in hosting an INTER-NOISE Congress should be considering possible dates that are more than three years in the future, and preferably four to eight years ahead.

Article 8. REGIONAL DECISION

By no later than its annual meeting in the year Y-5, the I-INCE Board shall decide on the geographical region where the INTER-NOISE Congress will be held in year Y. The Congress shall be held at least once in each of the three I-INCE geographical regions over a four-year period. Within two months of the regional decision, the I-INCE Secretariat shall announce the selection of the geographical region to the I-INCE Member Societies. A Member Society in that geographical region may express a desire to host an INTER-NOISE Congress in the year Y by submitting an informal proposal to the Secretary of the CSC by e-mail, fax, or letter post.

Article 9. INFORMAL PROPOSALS

A Member Society (or a group of Member Societies) may express its desire to host a future INTER-NOISE Congress by submitting an informal proposal in writing to the CSC Secretary by e-mail, fax, or letter post at least 30 days prior to a meeting of the CSC. The informal proposal shall give only the following information:

the recommended city, or cities, within the proposed host country with suitable venues for the Congress;
the season of the year that would be most appropriate;
the names of one or two persons who have agreed to actively promote the organization of the proposed Congress.

During Y-4, the fourth year before an INTER-NOISE Congress is to be held in a geographical region determined by the I-INCE Board, the I-INCE Secretariat shall inform all Member Societies in that I-INCE geographical region of the desired content of an informal proposal as given above.

Article 10. DETAILED PROPOSALS

After consideration of informal proposals, the CSC shall recommend to the Board those Member Societies to be invited to submit detailed proposals for presentation to the CSC. This shall be done at least six months in advance of the annual CSC meeting by the CSC Chair who will, with Board approval, extend a written invitation to a representative of each of the Member Societies selected.

The Secretary of the CSC shall inform the selected Member Societies of the minimum content of a detailed proposal. The I-INCE Secretariat shall also send to the Member Societies receiving the invitation a copy of the agreement with I-INCE that the Member Society is expected to sign if the detailed proposal is accepted by the I-INCE Board.

A detailed proposal to host a future INTER-NOISE Congress shall include at least the following items:

a proposed budget detailing projected income and expenses;

the anticipated number of participants;

any potential sources of external financial support;

a comparison of congress center, hotel, and university locations for the plenary and technical sessions and for the exhibition;

the availability and experience of noise and vibration control engineers who could serve as members of the Organizing Committee;

the names of the proposed Congress President and members of the Organizing Committee;

if the services of a Professional Congress Organizer (PCO) are to be used, the detailed proposal shall state and justify the estimated cost of these services.

Approximately 30 copies of the written version of the proposal shall be delivered to the meeting for distribution to all of the members of the CSC and Board of Directors.

Article 11. ORDER OF BUSINESS DURING ANNUAL CSC MEETING

The first item of business at a CSC meeting is to evaluate the informal proposals which have been received in the year Y-4 from the geographical region where the Congress will be held in the year Y. In advance of the meeting, the Chair of the CSC shall offer a representative of each Member Society submitting an informal proposal the opportunity to make a five-minute presentation to the CSC. The presentation shall use not more than one overhead transparency, or printed page. The offers to make short presentations shall be in writing.

The CSC shall decide which Member Societies are to be invited by the Chair of the CSC to submit detailed proposals to host an INTER-NOISE Congress in the year Y. These detailed proposals shall be considered at the annual meeting of the CSC during year Y-3. No more than three (3) Member Societies, but at least one (1) Member Society, shall be invited to submit detailed proposals.

The second item of business at a CSC meeting is to evaluate the detailed proposals received in the year Y-3 from the Member Societies invited by the CSC Chair to submit these proposals. To augment the presentation of the written detailed proposal by a representative of the Member Society, visual aids should be used that have been arranged for in advance. During the CSC meeting, the presentation shall be limited to twenty (20) minutes and sufficient additional time shall be allowed for questions and answers.

Article 12. VOTING

Voting on all informal and detailed proposals shall be by written ballot. Only those CSC members who were present during the presentations as well as question and answer periods may vote. Each CSC member shall have one vote, except the Secretary General who serves ex officio, without vote. Proxy votes shall not be accepted. Votes shall only be recorded for members present at the CSC meeting. If a CSC member is unable to participate at a CSC meeting, the Member Society of the CSC member may appoint an alternate representative with full voting rights for that meeting. The written appointment shall be submitted to the Secretary of the CSC with copy to the President-elect at least 30 days prior to the CSC meeting. Approximately 30 days prior to the CSC meeting, the President-elect shall contact each member of the CSC to determine if he or she will be present at the forthcoming meeting.

The detailed proposals received by the CSC to host an INTER-NOISE Congress to be held in the year Y shall be rank-ordered by vote. The rank-ordered voting shall be carried out during the CSC meeting, so that the results are available to the I-INCE Board immediately after the CSC meeting.

Article 13. REPORT TO THE I-INCE BOARD

After each annual meeting of the CSC, the Board shall receive the report of the CSC Secretary, or designated alternate, with the rank-ordering of the detailed proposals and shall select the Member Society to be invited to host the INTER-NOISE Congress to be held in year Y. Only when the Member Society receiving the top ranking is not acceptable for reasons outside the knowledge or responsibility of the CSC shall the Board select the Member Society with the next highest ranking.

Article 14. INVITATION AND ANNOUNCEMENT

The I-INCE President shall announce the decision concerning the Member Society to host the INTER-NOISE Congress in the year Y no later than 90 days following the closing plenary session of the INTER-NOISE Congress in the year Y-3.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, the I-INCE President shall issue a written invitation which accepts the detailed proposal that was submitted by the selected Member Society to host the INTER-NOISE Congress in the year Y. This letter of acceptance shall be sent within 90 days of the announcement.

NOTE: Part 3 of the I-INCE Rules was drafted by the Board of Directors at its meeting in Berlin, Germany, on 1999 March 13, and subsequently posted on the web for review by the I-INCE Member Societies on 1999 April 27. The draft of the rules was further reviewed at the meeting of the General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, USA, on 1999 December 05, and approved by the General Assembly for adoption on that date (with minor editing). The rules were amended for approval by the General Assembly on 2005 August 7.

SUMMARY (The year in which a future Congress will be held is Y)

Y-5
- Board determines geographical region where Congress will be held in year Y.
Y-4
- Six months before INTER-NOISE Congress, CSC Secretary invites Member Societies in that region to submit informal proposals for year Y.
- Thirty days before INTER-NOISE Congress, last date to submit letter of intent to submit informal proposals for year Y.
- At CSC meeting, CSC reviews informal proposals and selects one to three Member Societies to be invited to submit detailed proposals for year Y.
Y-3
- Six months before INTER-NOISE Congress, detailed proposals invited by CSC Secretary.
- At CSC meeting, detailed presentations given to CSC, rankings established by CSC; Board invites host for INTER-NOISE Congress to be held in year Y.

Revised: 2005 November 25
Approved: 2005 December 7