The International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC) is a forum for the exchange of information by experts undertaking and applying structural research. The aim of the ISSC is to further understanding in the various disciplines underpinning marine structural design, production and operation through internationally collaborative endeavours.

 

Specific objectives are:

 

a. to make recommendations for improvements in design, production and operations procedures;

b. to review research in progress and to facilitate the evaluation and dissemination of results from recent investigations; and

c. to identify areas requiring future research.

 

The structures of interest to the ISSC – subsequently referred as Structures – include ships, platforms

and other marine and offshore structures used for transportation, habitation and related civil

infrastructure, exploration, ocean clean up and harvesting of food, mineral, energy and

pharmaceutical resources in the ocean environment.

The ISSC shall be held once every three years. The host country shall be fully responsible for the

organisation of the Congress. The host country may decide to co-organize the Congress together with

another country. A host country shall be selected by the Standing Committee (SC) on the basis of

submissions made by interested countries at Interim Meetings of the SC at least a year before an

upcoming Congress. The decision will be made by a majority of votes of SC members who do not

propose hosting and co-organizing the Congress. In the case that there is a tie after a second vote

then the ISSC Chairman shall cast the deciding vote. The order of host countries shall aim to reflect

the worldwide geographic distribution of the industries relevant to the Structures, and the interest

and level of participation in the ISSC.

The duration of the working programme, consisting of the submission of committee reports and

subsequent discussion, should not exceed five days. Simplicity should be the aim in order to keep the

cost of the meetings to a minimum.

 

 

The Standing Committee members, Correspondents, Committee Chairmen and Official Discussers

shall participate in the Congress. Participation of Committee Members and Observers in the Congress

is conditional upon invitation by the ISSC Chairman. The total number of delegates should preferably

not exceed 300.

 

The chair of the Congress will be held by the ISSC Chairman.

 

The official language of the Congress is English.

 

A committee of preferably not more than fifteen members, all from different countries, will be

maintained through consensus. Experience in and commitment to ISSC, hosting of ISSC Congresses,

extensive experience relevant to the Structures and encouragement of worldwide participation in

ISSC are considerations in establishing SC membership.

The membership of the SC shall properly reflect the worldwide geographic distribution of industries,

research institutes and academia relevant to the Structures and the interest and level of participation

of each country in the ISSC. The SC advises the ISSC Chairman on matters relevant to the ISSC.

The SC members are representatives of their respective nations in the SC. An individual shall not be a

member of the SC for more than three consecutive periods. Where a member of the SC resigns office

between two Congresses, the ISSC Chairman shall appoint a replacement after consultation with

members of the SC, with the resigning member and with representatives of the member's country.

 

The duties of the SC shall be:

The Chairman of the SC, and thus the ISSC Chairman, is the representative of the host country for the next Congress. The ISSC Chairman is responsible for making the necessary detailed plans for the Congress with the assistance of the ISSC Secretary. The immediate past ISSC Chairman is an ex-officio member of the SC whose task is to provide assistance to the ISSC Chairman in dealing with matters pertinent to the successful conduct of the ISSC activities. An immediate past ISSC Chairman shall

automatically be a country's representative on the SC and may, in doing so, serve a fourth term on the SC.

 

After consultation with the SC, the ISSC Chairman decides on matters relevant to the ISSC. An SC member may request voting. The decision will be made by a majority of votes of SC members present at the meeting concerned. A minimum of half the SC members represent a quorum for any voting. In the case that there is a tie after a second vote then the ISSC Chairman shall cast the deciding vote. The ISSC Chairman shall respect the result of the voting.

 

The Secretary of the SC is the ISSC Secretary and shall be appointed by the SC on the basis of the ISSC Chairman's recommendation. If two countries co-organize a Congress then the ISSC Secretary must be from the other co-organizing country and his or her official position name shall be the ISSC co-Chairman. In these statutes only the term ISSC Secretary is used for simplicity.

 

The main meetings of the SC shall be held during the Congress. At such meetings, the SC shall:

a. review final preparation of the Congress;

b. select new Committee Members and Committee Chairmen (CC);

c. hold joint meetings with the outgoing and incoming CC and Correspondents; and

d. hand over responsibility to the new SC.

The SC shall also normally hold two Interim Meetings between Congresses in order to:

a. review progress of the Technical and Specialist Committees;

b. check on progress of the organisation of the Congress; and

c. select the host country for the subsequent Congress.

Technical and Specialist Committees

 

At each Congress, an appropriate number of Technical and Specialist Committees shall be formed to fulfil the objectives of ISSC.

 

The number of members of a Technical and Specialist Committees should not normally exceed 20 and 15, respectively. No individual shall be a member of more than one committee.

 

A worldwide geographic distribution of the committee membership shall be ensured.

 

Members shall be selected at a Congress from the previous committee members, official discussers, previous SC members and Observers. Members shall serve for the term of the Congress and are normally eligible for a second term. Continued membership of any one committee beyond a second term requires outstanding performance.

 

Members who have not been effective during their term should not be proposed for re-election, their names will be removed from the report and should not be invited to the Congress. A Committee Chairman may propose to the SC the replacement of ineffective members during their term in the event that a replacement member is needed to provide important input.

 

When a member resigns before completing their term, the ISSC Chairman may appoint a new member. A procedure described further on shall be followed.

 

After a minimum period of one term outside the Committee, renewed membership for an individual to the same Committee may be agreed to by the ISSC Chairman: nevertheless, such a situation must remain an exception.

 

The duties of each committee:

(a) at the Congress when the committee is formed; (b) between two

Congresses; (c) at the Congress when the committee is discharged; and (d) immediately after the

Congress when the committee is discharged shall be as follows:

 

The Committee Chairman of each committee shall be selected by the SC from a list of preferably three candidates nominated by the committee. The CC is ultimately responsible for the successful delivery of the committee's duties.

 

Following a request of the ISSC Secretary, the CC shall submit a brief report concerning the major accomplishments of the committee, possible adjustments to the mandate, evaluations of the performance of the Committee Members including a list of ineffective Committee Members, and other matters of concern to the ISSC.

 

CC shall be discharged at the end of each term. Re-selection is possible for one consecutive term only for the same committee. The SC shall take all necessary action to ensure the proper working of a committee and has the authority to change the CC to ensure such a proper working.

 

When a Committee Chairman resigns office during their term, the ISSC Chairman will, in consultation with the SC, appoint a new CC.

 

Correspondents (COR)

In order to simplify contacts with countries participating in the ISSC but not represented in the SC, the ISSC Chairman can ask a representative from each of these countries to act as a Correspondent. 

 

The Correspondent shall:

 

Observers are individuals who are qualified by reason of professional responsibility or published work and able to contribute usefully to the discussions at the Congress. Observers are selected and proposed to the Chairman by country representatives (i.e. SC members and correspondents).

Observers may participate in all technical and social activities of a Congress as well as in committee meetings at the invitation of the relevant Committee Chairman.

The Official Discusser shall critically assess the Committee's report as to its success in complying with its mandate, and that all significantly relevant progress in the subjects concerned have been addressed in the committee report. The Official Discusser should submit this assessment in writing before the Congress and should present it orally to the Congress. The presentation shall avoid

personal and commercial promotion.

Official Discussers shall be appointed by the ISSC Chairman, chosen from amongst three candidates proposed by each CC.

 

 

Committee reports shall be published by the host country and distributed to all delegates in ample time before the Congress.
 

After the Congress, the Official Discussers' and Congress discussions on the Committee's reports shall be published by the host country and distributed to all delegates not later than one year after the Congress.

 

Every effort shall be made by the host country to disseminate the publications to a target audience of practising engineers, researchers, academics and students with the aim to disseminate knowledge on the Structures.

 

All reports shall be produced in accordance with the format prescribed by the host country and should be consistent with international publishing standards. For the Committee reports, the names of the Chairman and effective committee members who contributed to the report shall be listed on the title page. If an individual provided a significant contribution to the report but was not the committee member then their name may be listed through an annotation “with contribution of”. The CC decides on the names in both lists based on the significance of contributions.

 

The host country is responsible for all of the costs involved in the mounting of a Congress covering both the technical and social programmes. For the technical programmes, this shall include the provision of assembly rooms, the recording of discussions, and the technical equipment necessary for presentations at the Congress. The host country shall be permitted to fix a registration fee payable by those attending the Congress to cover one set each of the Congress publications and all other costs required to host the Congress. All the fees and prices must be kept within reasonable limits and approved by the SC.

Additional copies of the Congress publications may be sold by the host country, at a charge subject to the discretion of the host country.

 

Annex