STATUTE of the LATIN AMERICAN REGIONAL SECTION
(April 16, 2021)
- The Latin American Regional Section (LARS) of the International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC) is established by the Council in accordance with art. 12 of the IASC Statutes. It is composed of the members of the IASC residing in Latin America.
- IASC-LARS Mission
2.1 The mission of the IASC-LARS is to promote Latin American cooperation in pursuing the aims of the IASC. In particular, the IASC-LARS will, in the Latin-American context, aim to further the progress of the theory, methods, and practice of statistical computing and to foster interest and knowledge in effective and efficient statistical computing through international contacts among statisticians, computing professionals, organizations, institutions, and governments.
2.2 To achieve its mission the IASC-LARS may:
– organize international and regional seminars, conferences, schools, and other scientific meetings. In particular, the IASC-LARS shall be responsible for arranging Latin American conferences on computational statistics, especially the yearly Latin American Conference on Statistical Computing (LACSC);
– promote research and training programs on theoretical and practical aspects of computational statistics;
– foster evaluations of statistical computing techniques and programs;
– publish scientific periodicals and books, reports and newsletters, independently or in cooperation with other organizations;
– collaborate with other bodies having similar objectives.
- IASC-LARS-Organs
The principal organs of the IASC-LARS are:
3.1 The Regional Assembly;
3.2 The Board of Directors (BoD);
3.3 The Officers of the BoD.
- The Regional Assembly
4.1 The members of the IASC-LARS, in accordance with art. 1 of the present statutes, assembled at a meeting or casting their votes by email on questions referred to them constitute the Regional Assembly.
4.2 The decisions of the Regional Assembly shall be made by a majority of votes cast at a meeting or by email. Each individual member has one vote.
4.3 A Regional Assembly will be convened at least once each calendar year and, if possible, conjointly with LACSC meetings.
4.4 The Regional Assembly meeting may be held virtually. In the case of a virtual meeting, members are given the opportunity to participate online and vote.
- The Board of Directors
5.1 The BoD shall consist of:
– the Chairperson;
– the Chairperson-Elect;
– the Past-Chairperson;
– at least 6 and a maximum of 10 individual members (with 6 to 10 members proportionally distributed if there are between 60 and 100 IASC members from Latin America; half of them will retire every two years).
5.2 The Chairperson-Elect and the six to ten individual members of the BoD shall be elected by and from the membership of the IASC-LARS in accordance with the provisions laid down in art. 7.1 and 7.2 below. The Chairperson-Elect, Chairperson, and Past-Chairperson are appointed for a term of two years and the remaining BoD members are appointed for a term of four years; BoD members will not be eligible for immediate reelection. No more than half of the BoD members shall be from the same country. To ensure continuity the Chairperson will remain a member of the BoD for the two years after his chairpersonship.
5.3 The BoD shall promote the objectives of the Association, administer the affairs of the LARS and, for these purposes, shall:
– select the IASC-LARS Scientific Secretary, the Treasurer, and auditors, when needed;
– appoint committees, working groups, etc. for assigned tasks and delegate its power to such committees or to one or more officers or members of the BoD for assigned purposes;
– appoint necessary staff with approval of the IASC President and incur necessary expenditure for the work of the IASC-LARS.
5.4 The BoD shall conduct its business at ordinary meetings to be held during the LACSC conferences or at extraordinary meetings or by email as and when necessary. At least one month’s notice of an extraordinary meeting shall be given to all members of the Board of Directors. The quorum of the BoD shall be half of the members including proxy members. Proxies have to be IASC members. The BoD will decide its rules of procedure with a simple majority.
5.5 The President of the IASC will take part at the BoD meeting ex officio. The Director of the ISI Permanent Office shall be informed about each meeting of the BoD and shall receive the agenda and minutes of these meetings.
5.6 The Treasurer of the IASC will take part at the BoD meeting ex-officio. The Treasurer of the IASC shall be responsible for the maintenance of the accounts of the IASC-LARS.
- The officers
6.1 The Chairperson, the Chairperson-Elect, the Past-Chairperson, and the Scientific Secretary are Officers of the Board of Directors. The term of office shall be two years.
The Chairperson-Elect is elected by IASC-LARS members according to the art.7.2 below. Upon the expire of his term of office the Chairperson-Elect will assume the duty of Chairperson for the following two-year term. The Scientific Secretary shall be elected by and from the BoD members.
6.2 The Chairperson shall represent the IASC-LARS on all the official occasions and shall preside over the meetings of the Regional Assembly and the BoD and, shall have general responsibility for the execution of the policies and decisions of the Regional Assembly and the BoD. In the Chairperson’s absence, these roles shall be filled in order of precedence by: the Chairperson-Elect, the immediate Past-Chairperson, some member of the BoD nominated by the Chairperson.
6.3 The Officers shall assist the Chairperson in the formulation of the policy of the IASC-LARS and in all other important decisions.
6.4 The Scientific Secretary shall be responsible, under the guidance of the Chairperson, for coordination of the IASC-LARS-activities involved in arranging conferences, courses, and publications. The Scientific Secretary shall be also responsible of the preparation of BoD meetings and Regional Assembly including the preparation of reports, the recording of minutes of meetings and shall circulate to BoD members all required materials.
6.5 In order to ensure the continuity of management of the IASC-LARS, the Chairperson shall keep the Chairperson-Elect closely informed with respect to all relevant management and policy activities. The Chairperson-Elect shall utilize his term to get acquainted with the business of the IASC-LARS.
6.6 At the conclusion of their term of office, it shall be the responsibility of the Chairperson and the Scientific Secretary to prepare a comprehensive report to the IASC-LARS about its activities during the previous two years (or since the last report). This report shall be presented to the Regional Assembly and at the ordinary meeting of the IASC-LARS BoD, at which time the outstanding funds and the relevant correspondence shall be transferred to the new Treasurer and the new Scientific Secretary.
- Elections of the BoD and Officers
7.1 During the year prior to an election, the BoD must set up an Election Committee (EC). The Committee will invite all members of IASC-LARS to suggest candidates for the BoD as well as for the Chairperson-Elect.
The number of candidates for the BoD must be at least 20% higher than the number of vacancies (i.e., greater, or equal to five if four BoD members are to be elected). The Election Committee shall prepare a list of candidates for the BoD which shall include:
– all candidates who have been nominated at least five times by IASC-LARS members;
– additional members proposed by the Election Committee in order to assure a sufficient geographical representativeness.
The Election Committee will also indicate one or two candidates for the position of Chairperson-Elect, chosen among prominent scientist in the field of Computational Statistics. Candidates must have expressed their willingness to serve on the BoD.
7.2 The elections will be held every two years. The election shall be held by an electronic ballot among all IASC-LARS members under the direction of the Election Committee.
The candidate for Chairperson-Elect with the highest number of votes will be appointed. The other BoD members are elected in decreasing order of the number of votes for a total equal to the number of available positions, and not belonging to countries already present in the current BoD with five members. The elected officers will take office during the subsequent LACSC meeting or the next Regional Assembly.
7.3 The IASC-LARS Scientific Secretary shall be elected by the BoD with secret vote in occasion of ordinary BoD meeting held during LACSC meeting.
- Finances
8.1 Financial resources of the IASC-LARS shall consist of part of conference fees, conferences, and courses benefits if any, publications royalties, gift, grants from public or private bodies, any other sources.
8.2 Profits or benefits from conferences or any other activity organized by the IASC-LARS must be divided equally between the IASC-LARS and the corresponding organizing institution or local organizing committee.
8.3 Profit/benefit/surplus shall be understood as that amount generated by deducting from income all expenses derived from the organization of an IASC-LARS event or activity.
- By-Laws
9.1 The BoD shall have power to draw up By-Laws for purposes mentioned in the Statute. The By-laws of the IASC-LARS shall not contain any regulation which contravenes to the IASC and IASC-LARS statutes.
- Amendments of the Statute and By-Laws
10.1 Proposals to amend the IASC-LARS-Statute and By-Laws may be made in writing to the Chairperson by any five members of the BoD or by any ten members of the IASC-LARS.
10.2 An amendment to the Statute shall take effect if it is approved by at least two thirds of the members of the BoD, and by the Executive Committee of the IASC.
Any change in the By-Laws shall be decided by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast in the BoD.
10.3 The approved amendments shall be published in the regular newsletter of the IASC-LARS.