ICOMOS STATUTES
I. NAME AND HEADQUARTERS
Article 1
An association is hereby
established under the name of the INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON MONUMENTS AND SITES,
hereinafter designated by the initials ICOMOS.
Article 2
The location of the headquarters
of ICOMOS is at
II. DEFINITIONS
Article 3
a) The term "monument" shall
include all structures (together with their settings and pertinent fixtures and
contents) which are of value from the historical, artistic, architectural,
scientific or ethnological point of view. This definition shall include works
of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an
archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and all combinations of such
features.
b) The term "group of buildings"
shall include all groups of separate or connected buildings and their
surroundings, whether urban or rural, which, because of their architecture,
their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of value from the
historical, artistic, scientific, social or ethnological point of view.
c) The term "site" shall include all topographical
areas and landscapes, the works of man or the combined works of nature and of
man, including historic parks and gardens, which are of value from the
archaeological, historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of
view.
d) The terms "monument, "site", and "group of buildings" shall not include:
·
museum collections housed in monuments,
· archaeological collections preserved in museums or exhibited at
archaeological or historic
site museums,
·
open-air museums.
III. AIMS AND ACTIVITIES
Article 4
ICOMOS shall be the international
organisation concerned with furthering the conservation, protection,
rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites, on
the international level.
Article 5
a) Provide a mechanism for linking public authorities,
institutions and individuals concerned with the conservation of monuments,
groups of buildings and sites, and ensure their representation with
international organisations;
b) Gather, study and disseminate
information concerning principles, techniques and policies for the
conservation, protection, rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups
of buildings and sites;
c) Co-operate at national and international levels in the
creation and development of
documentation centres dealing with the conservation
and protection of monuments, groups of buildings and sites, and with the study
and practice of traditional building techniques;
d) Encourage the adoption and implementation of international
recommendations concerning monuments, groups of buildings and sites;
e) Co-operate in the preparation of training programmes for
specialists in the conservation, protection and enhancement of monuments,
groups of buildings and sites;
f) Establish
and maintain close cc-operation with UNESCO, the International Centre for the
Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Rome, regional
conservation centres
sponsored by UNESCO, and other international or regional institutions and
organisations pursuing similar goals; and
g) Encourage
and instigate other activities consistent with these statutes.
IV. MEMBERS
Article 6
a) ICOMOS
shall be composed of four categories of members: Individual Members: Individual
Members, Institutional Members, Sustaining Members and Honorary Members.
1) Individual Membership shall be open to any individual
engaged in the conservation of monuments, groups of buildings and sites (as
defined in Section II, article 3) as a member of the scientific, technical or
administrative staff of national, regional or local monuments, fine arts or
antiquities services, a decision-maker or
a specialist engaged in the conservation,
restoration, rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings
and sites, including, as appropriate,
architects, town planners, historians,
archaeologists, ethnologists, and archivists. Individual membership may
be accorded in exceptional cases to other individuals interested in supporting
the aims and objectives of ICOMOS. Only individual members shall be eligible
for office within ICOMOS, in accordance with Article 10.
2) Institutional Membership shall be open to any institution of
whatever nature concerned with the conservation, protection, restoration, rehabilitation, enhancement or
animation of historical monuments, groups of buildings and sites (as defined in
Article 3), institutions which own or have in their charge historical
,monuments, groups of buildings and sites and institutions which devote all or
part of their activity to one or more of the objectives listed above in
relation to monuments, groups of buildings or sites.
3) Sustaining Membership shall be open to any individual or
institution wishing to Support the aims ICOMOS or to contribute to
international co-operation in the field of the conservation of the cultural
heritage.
4) Honorary Membership shall be conferred by the General
Assembly, at the Proposal of a National Committee, upon individuals who have
rendered distinguished services in the field of the conservation, restoration
and enhancement of historical monuments, sites and groups of buildings.
b) ICOMOS members in each country shall be formed into National
Committees, as defined in Article 13. Applications for ICOMOS membership shall
be forwarded to the National Committee, where such Committee exists. All
members of ICOMOS National Committees shall have the right to attend and
participate in the General Assembly of ICOMOS. However, no National Committee
shall ever have more than 18 votes at the General Assembly. Any voting member
duly named in accordance with Article 13 (f) may give a proxy to another member
of his National Committee; however no member shall be entitled to have more
than 5 votes in addition to his own.
c) In countries where no National Committee exists, membership
applications shall be sent to the ICOMOS Secretariat, for approval by the
Bureau of ICMOS. ICOMOS members in such countries shall enjoy the same rights
as members of National Committees, except that they shall not have the right to
vote at the General Assembly.
d) Sustaining and Honorary Members shall
have the right to attend and participate in the General Assembly, without the right
to vote.
e) Individual, Institutional and Sustaining
Members of ICOMOS shall pay, on or before May 1st of each year, such
dues or subscriptions as shall be set by the Executive Committee of ICOMOS for
that year, for their respective categories. Any change in the amount of the
dues shall be ratified by the General Assembly of ICOMOS. In exchange for the
payment of his dues, each Member shall receive an
1COMOS membership card, ICOMOS periodical publications and such other
advantages as the Executive Committee shall from time to time decide. He/She
shall have the right to attend the General Assembly and to consult the ICOMOS
Documentation Centre. Honorary Members shall not be subject to dues.
Article 7
A member of ICOMOS shall cease to be a member:
a) If he should resign at the end of a calendar year after
having given his National Committee written notice to that effect three months
in advance, and after having paid his due for the current year.
b) If he should be formally struck off the register
by the General Assembly or Executive Committee for non-payment of dues or for
any other cause.
V. ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE
Article 8
a) The administrative organisation of ICOMOS shall consist of
the:
-General Assembly
-Executive Committee and Bureau
-Advisory Committee and Bureau
-National Committees
-Specialised International
Committees
-Secretariat
b) Each of these
bodies shall adopt its own rules of procedure with regard to its mode of
operation, including the election of its officers, according to the ICOMOS
statutes.
Article 9
The General Assembly shall be the
sovereign body of ICOMOS. It shall constitute itself and elect its own
Chairman, 3 vice-chairmen and a Rapporteur, whose
mandates shall be for the duration of the session. It shall adopt its own rules
of procedure.
It shall elect the President of
ICOMOS, 5 Vice-Presidents, the Secretary General, the Treasurer General and 12
members of the Executive Committee from among individual Members in good
standing selected to ensure that different specialisations are represented. It
shall determine the site of ICOMOS headquarters, adopt amendments to the ICOMOS
Statutes, establish ICOMOS programmes, approve the Secretary General’s and
Treasurer General's reports and the budgetary guidelines for the following
period, and oversee the achievement of the aims of ICOMOS. It shall ratify
changes in ICOMOS membership dues and shall confer Honorary Membership on the
proposal of an ICOMOS National Committee.
The General Assembly is open to
all members of ICOMOS. It shall be convened every three years in ordinary
session on the date and at the place chosen by the Executive Committee or in
extraordinary session at the request of the majority of the Members of the
Executive Committee or of one third of the members of ICOMOS. The requisite
quorum shall be one-third of all voting members calculated in accordance with. Article 6 (b). Should this quorum not be reached, the
General Assembly shall, 24 hours later, meet again at the same place; its
discussions shall then be valid, irrespective of the number of voting members
present.
Article 10
a) The Executive Committee is the executive body of ICOMOS. It
shall be composed of 26 members as follows:
- the President of
ICOMOS
- 5 Vice-Presidents
- the Chairman of
the Advisory Committee
- the Secretary
General
- the Treasurer
General
- 12
members elected by the General Assembly
- 5
co-opted members
All members of the Executive
Committee shall be Individual Members of ICOMOS chosen with regard to their
professional standing. They shall be in active service. Part shall be elected
by the General Assembly (see Article 9) and part co-opted by the Executive
Committee. They shall represent in an equitable manner the different regions of
the world. No country shall be represented by more than one member within the
Executive Committee (with the exception of the country to which president
belongs).
The President of ICOMOS or, in
his absence, one of the Vice- presidents shall preside at the meetings.
The Director of the Secretariat
shall be in attendance at all Executive Committee meetings in an advisory
capacity.
b) The Executive Committee shall be authorised to receive,
borrow, hold and use, on behalf of ICOMOS, the funds necessary for the
achievement of the aims set forth in these statutes, as well as to accept gifts
and bequests. It shall prepare draft programmes and budgets and shall supervise
their implementation. Between General Assemblies, the Executive Committee shall
act on behalf of the General Assembly. The Executive Committee shall approve
the Treasurer General's Report and the annual Budget of ICOMOS. It shall set
the rate of membership dues. It shall take note of the establishment of
National Committees, approve their composition, ascertain that their statutes
are in conformity with those of ICOMOS and ratify changes in existing statutes
of National Committees. It shall approve the appointment of members of international
committees in accordance with Article 14.
c) Past Presidents of ICOMOS shall remain as ex-officio non-
voting members of the Executive Committee.
d) The
members of the Executive Committee shall ordinarily be elected by the General
Assembly by secret ballot for a term of three years and shall be eligible to be
re-elected for two further consecutive terms of three years. At each statutory
election, or after a period of three years, one-third of the members of the
Executive Committee shall retire. A retiring Member may not be re-elected to
the Executive Committee before the expiration of a three-year term. The longest
continuous term of service allowed as a member of the Executive is nine years.
This rule shall apply equally to the Chairman of the Advisory Committee who is
appointed by the Advisory Committee.
An exception to this rule shall
be made in the case of a member of the Executive Committee who is elected to
the office of President, Secretary General or Treasurer General. Such a member
shall not, however, remain in anyone office for more than three consecutive
periods of three years. His/ Her term of service shall in no case exceed a
total of 18 consecutive years.
If the General Assembly does not meet before the term of the Executive Committee expires, a new Committee shall be elected by a postal ballot of all voting members of ICOMOS, as defined in Article 6 (b).
Should a seat fall vacant, the
Executive Committee shall elect, for the balance of the term of office of the
previous occupant, a successor from among the individual members of ICOMOS.
e) The Executive Committee shall be convened by the President
of ICOMOS in ordinary session at least once a year and, at the request of
one-third of the Committee members, in extraordinary session. During years when
the General Assembly meets, it shall meet before and after the meeting of the
Assembly. Decisions shall be taken by a majority vote of members present or
their representatives.
f) The President, Vice-presidents, Secretary General and
Treasurer General constitute the Bureau. The bureau shall be convened by the
President to meet between sessions of the Executive Committee and shall act
on behalf of the latter. Its decisions shall be taken by simple majority. The
Executive Committee may appoint an Assistant Secretary General and an Assistant
Treasurer General from among its own members, and may call for expert advice as
appropriate.
Article 11
a) The president of ICOMOS shall convoke
the General Assembly, convoke and preside over the Executive Committee and the
Bureau, and shall propose their agenda. He shall be an ex-officio member of the
Advisory Committee. He shall represent ICOMOS by proxy. With the approval of
the Bureau, he may delegate his signature for any purpose.
b) The Vice-Presidents shall assist or take the place of the
President. They shall assist him in representing ICOMOS and furthering its
activities throughout the world. In this connection, the President may delegate
powers to them.
c) The Secretary General is charged with the direction and
operations of the Secretariat in accordance with broad policy guidelines set by
the General Assembly and the Advisory Committee, and decisions of the Executive
Committee and the Bureau.
d) The Treasurer General is responsible for the financial
affairs of ICOMOS. He shall prepare financial reports and draft budgets for the
period 1 January - 31 December of each year, authorize expenditure according to
the instructions of the Bureau and make payments.
Article 12
a) The Advisory Committee shall be composed of the Chairmen of
the National Committees and the Chairmen of the Specialised International
Committees. The President of ICOMOS shall be ex-officio member. The Advisory
Committee shall be governed by its own rules of procedure. It shall elect its
own Chairman and it may also appoint one or more Vice Chairmen to assist or to
take the place of the Chairman. It shall be convened by its Chairman at least
once a year on the date and at the place chosen by the Executive Committee.
b) The Advisory Committee shall advise and make recommendations
to the General Assembly and Executive Committee of ICOMOS on matters of policy
and programme priorities. It shall examine proposals made by National Committee
and shall pass them, with its recommendations, to the Executive Committee for
implementation. It shall take note of the activities of National and
International Committees and shall recommend action as appropriate.
c) Within one year preceding any ordinary session of the
General Assembly, the Advisory Committee shall draw up a list of candidates for
election to the Executive Committee including all nominations received from
National committees together with such further nominations, as it shall itself
propose- This list shall be sent, not less than 120 days before the date of the
General Assembly to all members of ICOMOS, who may, in accordance with the
rules of procedure of the General Assembly,
propose further candidates.
Article 13
a) ICOMOS
National Committees may be organized in any country, which is a member state of
UNESCO, in accordance with the relevant laws of that country the number of
individual Members in a National Committee is subject to the agreement of the
ICOMOS Executive Committee at its next meeting, in accordance with Article 9
(b).
b) National
Committees shall comprise the members of ICOMOS within a country, as defined
under Article 6, including individual Members, Institutional Members,
Sustaining Members and Honorary Members National Committees shall receive and accept
applications for membership, and shall inform the ICOMOS Secretariat of the
names of all new members so accepted.
c) National Committees shall adopt their
town rules of procedure and shall establish and carry out national programmes,
which are in accordance with the aims of ICOMOS.
d) They
shall implement the decisions of the General Assembly and the programmes
proposed by the Advisory and Executive Committees of ICOMOS.
e) Generally,
they shall serve as a forum for discussion and for the exchange of national and
international information on matters of principle and of technical, legal and
administrative practice, affecting the conservation, restoration,
rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, sites and groups of buildings.
f) National
Committees shall assign their own voting privileges at the General Assembly,
within the numerical limits laid down in Article 6 (b) and in accordance with
their own statutes. A majority of the voting members of any National Committee
shall be Individual Members. The names of those members entitled to vote at the
General Assembly shall be communicated to the ICOMOS Secretariat not less than
one month before the General Assembly. Representatives of Institutional Members
shall have been duly designated by the relevant bodies.
g) The
National Committee shall be convened at least once each year in ordinary
session by the Chairman to examine the annual report to be submitted to ICOMOS
Article 14
a) The International Committees are the
technical organs of ICOMOS. They shall, in their respective fields, carry out
specialised studies on professional problems with which ICOMOS is concerned.
b) The
Executive Committee may set up and dissolve Committees and appoint their first
Chairman. The appointment of members of International Committees shall be
ratified by the Executive Committee, on the proposal of the Chairman of the
Committee concerned.
c) The
International Committees shall adopt their own rules of procedure and shall
establish and carry out their own programmes, subject to the approval of the
Executive Committee (see Article 10 b),
to which they address an annual report. They may form working parties among
themselves as sub- committees or commissions.
Article 15
a) The Secretariat shall implement and co-ordinate the
programme established by the General Assembly under the direction of the
Bureau. The Secretariat shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of
ICOMOS, under the direction of the Secretary General and the Treasurer General,
within the framework of decisions of the general Assembly and the Executive
Committee and in line with policy guidelines set down by the President. It
shall produce an annual report on its activities.
b) The
Director of the secretariat is appointed by the president on the proposal of
the Bureau, subject to the previous approval of the Executive Committee.
Article 16
UNESCO, the International Centre
for the Study of the preservation and the Restoration of Cultural property and
other international organisations as appropriate may be invited to send
observers to all ICOMOS meetings.
Article 17
Income of ICOMOS shall derive
from:
-
Subscriptions or dues of members
-
Gift and bequests
-
Subventions
-
Contracts for research and provision of services, in
accordance with Article 5
-
Other appropriate activities approved by the Bureau and
ratified by the Executive Committee
VI. LEGAL STATUS
Article 18
The Executive Committee may take
appropriate measures to acquire legal status for ICOMOS in the countries where
is exercises its activities. ICOMOS shall be represented vis-à-vis third
parties by the President, by one of its Vice-Presidents, or by the Secretary
General.
VII. AMENDMENTS
Article 19
The General Assemble alone shall be
empowered to amend the present statues, by a two-thirds majority of the votes
cast and after the proposed amendments have been communicated to all members,
at least four months before the opening of the General Assembly.
VIII. DISSOLUTION
Article 20
The decision to dissolve ICOMOS
may be taken only by the General Assembly, by a two-third majority of the votes
cast. In the event of the dissolution of ICOMOS, its assets shall be
transferred to an organization nominated by UNESCO.
IX. LANGUAGE
Article 21
English, French, Russian and
Spanish are the official languages of ICOMOS. The working languages shall be
English and French.
X. ENTRY INTO FORCE
Article 22
These Present Statues are adopted
by the Vth General Assembly of ICOMOS at
They shall come into force
immediately after the close of the General Assembly.