R U L E S (october 1980), amended at the plenary session of ICFA held on 18-19 june 1981 (Chairman : Timothy Clifford), in Madrid (2018) and Kyoto (2019)

1. Title:

The committee shall be known as the International Committee for the Fine Arts (ICFA).

2. Objectives:

(a) To serve as a specialist forum for members who are interested in all the problems concerning the Fine Arts.

(b) To endeavour to support in every way within its means the overall aims and aspirations of ICOM.

3. Membership:

The conditions of membership are governed by the ICOM Statutes, article 10, 31 and 33 (e).

4. Executive Board:

(a) The Executive Board is responsible for the working of the Committee.

(b) The Executive Board shall consist of a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and no more than twenty other members. There may be two Vice-Chairmen, in which case there shall be no more than eighteen other members.

(c) The members of the Executive Board are elected for a period of three years at a plenary session of the Committee. The Chairman may not remain in office for a period exceeding six consecutive years.

(d) A quorum for the Exceutive Board will consist of the Chairman, Secretary and one other member. In the event of the incapacity of the Chairman or Secretary, their replacement will be decided by the other members of the Executive Board.

(e) The Chairman shall have a vote, and in the event of a tied vote, a second vote.

5. Meetings:

(a) The Committee must meet in plenary session at least once every three years, at the same time and place as the ICOM General Conference.

(b) During this plenary session, the Committee must:

(i) elect its Exceutive Board

(ii) designate those members who will represent it at the General Assembly.

(iii) Approve applications for new membership of the Committee.

(iv) receive a report from the Chairman on the previous triennial programme,

(v) draw up its programme for the ensuing three years,

(vi) examine the reports of any working groups.

(c) The Executive Board is able to convene additional meetings of the general membership is it so desires.

(d) The quorum for a plenary session shall be 20% of the total membership.

(e) Privacy voting is permitted at metings, subject to the limitation that each member can carry a maximum of two proxy votes.

(f) Voting by post should be permitted on urgent matters raised between meetings of the committee. Thirty (30) days notice must be allowed for receipt of answer. If no answer is received from a member of the committee within thirty (30) days, then the member is deemed  to have abstained from voting on the issue or issues involved.

(g) Notice of meetings for the whole committee must be postmarked a maximum of ninety (90) days prior to the date of the meeting and notice of meetings for the Executive Board must be postmarked a minimum of sixty (60) days prior to the date of the Board Meeting.

6. Working groups:

(a) The Executive Board is able to create working groups in order to examine particular points of its programme and to elect the Chariman of each such group.

(b) Working groups are able to co-opt other persons, who do not need to be members of the profession, in order to assist in their functioning. Such co-opted members may not exceed 40% of the total of the worling group’s membership.

7. Other Activities:

(a) In order to permit the successful functioning of the Committee, it may use any funds which may be allocated by ICOM from its annual budget for such purposes, and may receive susidies, gifts or legacies obtained on the Committee’s own initiative for such purposes.

(b) The Executive Board may raise a subscription from the members of the Committee in order to finance the stationery, publications and other essential activities of the Committee.

(c) Expenditure shall be approved by the Treasurer and one other member of the Executive Board.

(d) Accounts will be the subject of an independent annual audit, the financial year to begin on 1st of July.

(e) The Committee shall issue at least one newsletter per year to its members and send a copy to each Chairman of the other International Committees of ICOM as well as to the ICOM Secretariat.

(f) The Committee may also publish other papers, such as those generated by any of its working groups.

8. Alterations of the Rules:

The rules of the Committee are only able to be altered at a plenary session of the Committee by a two-thirds majority of the voting members present. All rules of the Committee must conform to the Statutes of ICOM and in particular to Article 33.