a SIG is proposed by four Councillors or twenty
Individual Members who submit an Inauguration
Document which describes the SIG and makes it
clear that a reasonable large number of experts
in the field are participating in the SIG ( they
are the Founding Members of the SIG! ).
Terminology:
The Promotors
(one or two persons) start the organisation,
the Proponents
(4 councillors or 20 Individual Members)
submit
the Inauguration
Document, which states
the SIG rules and gives
the list of Founding
Members.
Proposition of a SIG
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) can be formed inside
the ECA and must be proposed to the Council of the ECA (via
the Chairman or the Secretary) by at least 4 Councillors
or 20 Individual Members; they are the Proponents of the
SIG.
The usual procedure is:
One or more Contact Persons (Promotors) write a
letter (e-mail) to the Chairman or Secretary of
the ECA with the proposal to the Council to
establish a SIG, and this letter should be 'signed'
(e-mail is O.K.) by the Proponents (4 Councillors
or 20 Individual Members).
This letter or an enclosed document describes the
SIG, and includes enough names of participating
persons (Founding Members of the SIG) to ensure
that the SIG can act as an 'important scientific
body'. This letter or document is the
Inauguration Document of the SIG.
The Secretary circulates the proposal to the
Council, for an e-mail discussion and/or an e-mail
decision on the SIG.
The report on an e-mail decision or the final
approval of the SIG will be on the agenda for the
next Council Meeting .
To get 4 Councillors signing the proposing letter:
just ask four members of the Council to send an e-mail
message (to yourself and to the Secretary) saying that he/she
does agree with the proposal of establishing the SIG.
To find 20 Individual Members at the moment means you
have to find 20 colleagues who wish to become an
Individual Member! Because international payments of fees
are not so trivial, the following procedure is accepted:
the Contact Person (Promotor) writes a letter (e-mail) to
the Secretary or to the Treasurer with a list of those 20
people telling that they wish to become Individual
Members: payment (in any currency) is than possible
during the next ECM or IUCr meeting. [ Note: it is
beneficial to encourage Individual Membership, but it is
not needed to start a SIG. ]
