INTEREST GROUP REGULATIONS: The ASIL amended the Society’s Constitution this year. The members present for the Annual Business Meeting of all members of the Scoiety approved those changes. Below, I provide you with the latest IG regulations, subject to one change which I proposed on the floor (having been told the day before that this matter had already been amended by the Executive Council–that IG chairs may serve up to three years, but have the option of scheduling more frequent elections. I have conducted one each year since becoming the UN Decade IG Chair in 1995):

[from the ASIL Constitution]

1. The Executive Council may authorize the organization by members of the Society of ASIL Interest Groups designed to broaden interest in and study of international law and to encourage inquiry into particular fields of international law. Twenty or more members of the Society desiring to form such an Interest Group may submit a statement to the Executive Director describing the proposed Group and its activities in accordance with Administrative Guidelines issued by the Executive Director. Creation of new Interest Groups shall be subject to approval by the Executive Council.

2. Preliminary designation of an Interest Group may be made by the Executive Director, pending approval of the Executive Council, upon a determination that at least 20 Society members are interested in joining the proposed Interest Group and that there is no significant overlap with any existing Interest Group.

3. Society members may join Interest Groups at any time. Each approved Interest Group shall finance its activities through dues and fees, as approved by the Executive Council or the Executive Committee, to be paid by interested members and participants in any programs, sufficient to support its activities. Interest Group dues will be assessed and collected by the Society, and funds for Interest Group activities from such dues will be disbursed by the Society in accordance with an annual budget which each Interest Group shall prepare and pursuant to procedures authorized by the Executive Director.

4. Each Interest Group shall elect a Chair, who will communicate his/her election in writing to the Executive Director and shall serve up to a term of three years, which may be renewed. The Chair may conduct more frequent elections. Each Chair shall prepare reports to the Executive Council prior to the Council’s annual fall meeting on the activities of the group for the preceding year and its future plans.

5. The activities of each Interest Group will be evaluated by the Executive Council in 1999 and at five year intervals thereafter. Any group that is not sufficiently active to justify its continuation may be terminated by the Executive Council.

6. No work of any Interest Group shall be published or attributed to the Society without prior approval of the Executive Council or the President. No Interest Group shall endorse a policy position or make recommendations on any public issue in the name of the Society.