1. to secure the continuing international exchange of scientific information relating directly or indirectly to organic petrology and
2. to develop and publish definitive descriptions and methods in furtherance of object 2(a).

1. There shall be five categories of membership: Associate, Full, Retired and Honorary and Institutional Members.
   1. ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP: shall be the first category in which organic petrologist may participate in ICCP activities. An Associate Member shall pay an annual fee determined in accordance whith Statute 4.
   2. FULL MEMBERS: shall be experts in organic petrology with long-standing experience and participation in ICCP activities. A minimum of five years experience in organic petrology shall be required before an Associate Member may be elected to Full Membership. A Full Member shall pay an annual fee determined in accordance with Statute 4.
   3. RETIRED MEMBERS: Associate and Full Members may exercise the option to become Retired Members and shall then retain their former rights including voting rights on payment of a reduced annual fee determined in accordance with Statute 4.
   4. HONORARY MEMBERS: shall be those, if any, drawn from the Full and Retired membership in accordance with Statute 3(b)(iv) below. An Honorary Member shall not be liable to pay an annual fee. Honorary Members shall retain the rights of Full Members.
   5. INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS: Institutional Members shall be those firms, institutions of higher learning, or other organisations interested in fostering the science of organic petrology. Institutional Members shall have the right to appoint a person as their designated representative. Such a person does not have to be a member. Institutional Members shall enjoy all the privileges of the Society except that they, or their representatives, shall not hold office or vote. Notwithstanding any of the above limitations, a designated representative of an Institutional Member, who is also an individual member, may so continue to exercise his/her membership rights and privileges on his/her own behalf.
2. Election to Membership
   1. ASSOCIATE MEMBERS: Proposals for election to Associate membership or Institutional Membership shall be sent to the General Secretary on an approved form which may be obtained from any of the officers of the ICCP. The application shall be supported by a sponsoring Full Member. The Council of the ICCP shall consider the application together with the sponsor?s statement, and then, on behalf of the General Assembly, determine whether it is to be accepted or rejected.
   2. FULL MEMBERS: To attain Full Membership candidates must demonstrate their level of experience by sending to the General Secretary a curriculum vitae comprising a candidature letter, a list of their publications and the name of one sponsoring Full Member. The Council of the ICCP shall consider the proposal together with sponsor’s statement, and then, on behalf of the General Assembly, determine whether it is to be accepted or rejected.
   3. RETIRED MEMBERS: Full and Associate Members shall inform the General Secretary and the treasurer of the date of their retirement and shall then be deemed elected as Retired Members.
   4. HONORARY MEMBERS: Proposals for the nomination of Honorary Members shall be made by the Council of the ICCP and determined by the General Assembly.
   5. INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS: Proposals for the nomination of Institutional Members shall be made by the Council of the ICCP and determined by the General Assembly.

1. Membership fees shall be determined by the General Assembly of the ICCP taking into account the advice of the Treasurer to the Council.
2. Annual fees shall be due on 1st January of each year.
3. In addition to normal payment of membership fees, the ICCP runs a Friendship Scheme, where financial members sponsor a petrographer by paying their membership dues. Existing rules for applying for membership still apply. Potential candidates can be nominated by any member or the sponsoring member. In the former case, the Council can allocate funds to petrographers on the waiting list. The Treasurer shall indicate to the Council any money that has been collected through this scheme.

1. Members who have not paid subscriptions for two or more years shall no longer be considered as members of ICCP.Note: during the transitional period from the present rule that allow a four years period of grace, those members who have not paid for between two and four years will no longer receive full mailing lists but will be warned in advance of this decision by a message attached to the next copy of the ICCP Newsletter.
2. Any member may resign from membership by giving 30 days notice in writing to the General Secretary.
3. Expulsion
   The Council shall have power to expel a Member when, in their opinion, it would not be in the best interests of the Association for him to remain a Member. A member shall not be expelled unless he is given 60 days written notice to attend a meeting of Council and written details of the complaints made against him. The member shall be given an opportunity to appear before the Council to answer complaints made against him and shall not be expelled unless at least two thirds of the Council then present vote in favour of his expulsion.

1. General Coal and Organic Petrology
2. Application of Coal and Organic Petrology to Geology, including the Prospecting for Oil and Gas
3. Application of Coal Petrology to Utilization

Each Commission shall be presided over by a Chairman. Minutes of the work of each Commission shall be kept by its Secretary. The minutes of each meeting shall be confirmed at the beginning of the next meeting of the relevant Commission.

Other Commissions may be formed as necessary. The number of Subcommissions and Working Groups may vary. The Commissions, Subcommissions and Working Groups are competent to answer questions within their field, including those dealing with nomenclature and analysis. General problems of nomenclature and analysis within Commissions II and III also should be referred to Commission I. At the final plenary session of the full meeting of ICCP, the Commissions shall report generally on the results of their work and, in particular, the activities of the Working Groups.

Normally, any Full or Associate Member is eligible to become a member of a Commission, Subcommission or Working Group. However, the membership of some Subcommissions or Working Groups may be appointed by the Chairman of the appropriate Commission upon approval by Council. Membership requires active contribution to the work of that particular body; Members who do not participate for two years may be excluded from further activities.

1. President (who shall be Chairman)
2. Vice President
3. General Secretary
4. Treasurer
5. Chairmen of the Commissions
6. Secretaries of the Commissions
7. Editor

The Council shall normally meet before each annual meeting of the Association. Council shall only be quorate if 6 such officers are present. The Council will manage the affairs of the ICCP and be responsible for submitting proposals on various topics to the General Assembly, inter alia:

1. formulating the programme for ICCP meetings,
2. maintaining regulations for membership,
3. considering and making recommendations on applicatioons for membership,
4. nominating candidates for election to Council,
5. approving methods of election,
6. determining financial policy, and
7. recommending subscription rates to the General Assembly on the advice of the Treasurer.

1. President (who shall be Chairman),
2. General Secretary, and
3. Treasurer

1. Period of Office
   1. The President, Vice President and General Secretary of the ICCP and the Chairmen and Secretaries of the Commissions of the ICCP shall be elected normally for periods of four years. All officers may be reelected for only one further period of four years except that the Treasurer and the Editor may remain in their posts as long as the Council agrees.
   2. No officer other than the Editor may hold more than one Council post at any one time.
   3. As a general principle it is in the interests of continuity of the work of the International Committee that the offices of President and General Secretary of ICCP and the offices of Chairman and Secretary of individual Commissions should not fall vacant at the same time.
2. Voting eligibility
   1. Executive Committee
      Only FULL MEMBERS of the ICCP shall be eligible to vote in elections for the offices of President, the Vice President, the General Secretary, the Treasurer and the Editor.
   2. Commissions
      The Chairman and Secretary of any Commission may be elected only by the FULL MEMBER and ASSOCIATE MEMBERS of that commission.
   3. Subcommissions and Working Groups
      No formal elections shall be held to select members of Subcommissions and Working Groups, but care should be taken to ensure that as wide a spectrum of opinion as possible is represented on such groups. The progress of a Subcommission or Working Group shall be subject to regular (not greater than four years) reviews by the Council on the basis of recommendations by the Chairman of the Commission.
3. Voting procedures
   1. All elections shall be conducted by secret ballot. The Council shall invite a member of long standing, who is not currently associated with any elective position, to act as Returning Officer for elections to elective positions. The duties of the Returning Officer shall be to confirm votes sent in by members,  and to send a summary of the votes cast to the General Secretary.
   2. The Council shall prepare a list of candidates for any vacancy on the Council. The list of candidates will normally contain two names, but the Council may, at its discretion, submit one or three names for any given position. All candidates for Council office should be Full Members. Normally, candidates will be selected so as to ensure that the President, Vice President and General Secretary on one hand, and the Chairmen and Secretaries of Commissions on the other hand, will be of different nationalities. The list of candidates shall be presented to the General Assembly at a plenary session. Eligible members may then nominate no more than two additional names for election to any office except that of Editor. The votes of more than 10% of eligible members present at the plenary session shall be required for nomination of candidates from the floor of the General Assembly.
   3. The General Secretary shall ascertain that all candidates nominated are willing to stand for election.
   4. All members eligible to take part in the election shall receive voting information from the General Secretary. This information shall contain the names of all candidates duly nominated. The vote will be made by clearly indicating the name of the preferred candidate. Completed election forms shall be sent to the Returning Officer.
   5. Where the General Secretaty stands for re-election or as a candidate for the Presidency, the President of the ICCP shall act in place of the General Secretary for the elections for those offices.
   6. Subject to Rule 11(c)(v), the election results shall be communicated to the candidates in writing by the General Secretary. All results shall be presented orally at the closing plenary session of the General Assembly next following the date of the election. Members shall also be notified of the results in the ICCP Newsletter and in the Minutes of the General Assembly.
   7. Where the General Secretary is elected as President, that person shall also act as General Secretary until the election of a new General Secretary.

1. There shall be established a Committee to consider the award of the Thiessen Medal. The Award Committee will consist of the five most recent and available past holders of the Medal, one of whom will be elected Chairman.
2. At any time, the Thiessen Medal Award Committee or any other Full Member of the ICCP may propose a name of a person for the award. In the case of nominations by persons who are not members of the Thiessen Medal Award Committee the reasons for and justification of the proposal shall be forwarded to the Chairman of the Award Committee. The nominee need not be a member of the ICCP.
3. The Award Committee shall consider all proposals and make a recommendation to the President six months before the following ICCP General Assembly meeting. Council will decide whether or not to make the award. Not more than one Medal may be awarded annually. The presentation of the Medal will take place at any full meeting of the ICCP.
4. The Medal shall be awarded by the President and the Chairman of the Award Committee of the ICCP during the closing plenary session of the General Assembly.The text of a “laudatio” shall be prepared by the Chairman of the Thiessen Medal Award Committee and incorporated in the ICCP “Compte Rendu” for publication in an appropriate scientific journal with which the ICCP is linked.

1. A “Compte Rendu” shall be prepared during the President’s fourth year of office for submission to Council and publication in an appropriate scientific journal.
2. Two Newsletters shall be produced between successive Annual meetings, one based on the Minutes of the past Meeting and the second announcing the next Meting of the ICCP.
3. A Brochure shall be edited and maintained in up-to-date form for general distribution.A Newsletter Editor shall be nominated by Council and confirmed by the General Assembly in accordance with Rule 11(c)(ii). The Editor shall become a Member of Council.

1. A resolution to dissolve the Association shall only be proposed at a meeting of the General Assembly and shall only carried by a majority of at least three-quarters of the Full and Honorary Members present and voting.
2. The dissolution shall take effect from the date of the resolution and the members of the Council shall be responsible for the winding-up of the assets and liabilities of the Association.
3. Any property remaining after the discharge of the debts and liabilities of the Association shall be given for such scientific or educational purpose as is charitable as determined by the last Committee.