Statutes and By-Laws

The name of this organization is the International Congress on Fracture, (hereinafter referred to as the “Congress”). The initials ICF may be used as the abbreviated name of the Congress.

2.1 The objects of the Congress are to foster research in the mechanics and the phenomena of fracture, fatigue, and strength of materials for development of more failure-resistant materials and development of better design methods that lead to-safer structures; to promote international co-operation among scientists and engineers in the field, and integration of the many disciplines involved in such an inherently multidisciplinary field; and to provide means whereby results of such efforts may be publicly communicated.

2.2 For this purpose, the Congress shall, both solely and in co-operation with other bodies:
(a) hold the regular International Conference on Fracture at least once every four years;
(b) hold an appropriate interim Semi-International or International Symposiums on specified subjects within the objects of the Congress ;
(c) carry out such other activities as appear desirable to facilitate;
(i) the interchange of scientific and technical information relating to the research of the subject;
(ii) the extension of technical co-operation;
(iii) the education of young specialists.

3.1 Membership shall be open to organizations, societies, bodies and individuals maintaining an active interest in the objects of the Congress.

3.2 In this STATUTES the words “members” shall be understood to mean members of the Congress.

3.3 Bodies which desire to join the Congress shall make written application in such form as may be prescribed by the Council and shall undertake to be governed by the STATUTES and the Bye-Laws of the Congress. The Council shall consider such applications, and obtain the advice of the delegation of the country concerned, if there is, and make such other enquiries as it may think desirable. Membership shall be granted by vote of the Council.

3.4 The quorum shall be three-fifths of the total number of national delegations of the ICF.

3.5 The majority which shall be effective shall be two-thirds of the total number of delegations present or represented.

4.1 The Council shall consist of national delegations, one of which shall be appointed by each country. A delegation shall consist of not more than three members. In addition, the Founder-members[1] shall be permanent members of the Council. (Revised April, 1973)

4.2 The Founder-President shall sit permanently in the Council. (Provided April, 1973)

4.3 The national delegation for each country shall be nominated by that country.

4.4 The functions of the Council shall be:
(a) to manage the Congress by means of the Executive Committee described in Article 5;
(b) to prepare the general programme of the Congress;
(c) to elect a President, not more than three Vice-Presidents, not more than five Directors, a Treasurer and a Secretary-General from among its own members;
(d) To support ICF’s vision to truly become a world-wide organization, the ICF Council voted to expand its Executive Committee to include up to five additional voting directors. These members will be nominated by the Executive Committee and will be approved by the Council. The term of such directors will end with the quadrennium (approved at the Council meeting on June 18, 2013, Beijing).
(e) to elect members;
(f) to select date and place of the International Conference on Fracture as mentioned in 2.2 (a);
(g) to approve and amend as necessary the STATUTES and, after consultation with the Executive Committee, the Bye-Laws;
(h) to consider any other matters affecting the Congress.

4.5 A session of the Council shall be held during each International Conference.

4.6 The Council shall receive from the Secretary an annual report, a financial statement showing the income and expenditure of the Congress and its balance sheet duly approved by the Treasurer.

4.7 Voting by the Council shall be by national delegations, each of which shall have one vote. The Council may vote on matters other than applications for membership and amendments of the STATUTES if a quorum of at least one-third of the total number of national delegations of the ICF is present. A simple majority shall be effective.

4.8 When none of the members of a national delegation is able to attend the meeting of the Council, the delegation may, in due form, delegate their powers to another national delegation, and the Secretary-General shall be informed of their transfer of powers. No national delegation shall accept at any one time delegated powers from more than two other countries so that the maximum number of votes permitted to one delegation, including votes received by delegation is three.

4.9 For matters requiring interim action by the Council, decisions may be taken by postal ballot. This will require a majority vote for adoption.

5.1 The President, the Vice-Presidents, the Directors, the Treasurer and the Secretary-General shall hold office for one term, that is, from the close of the regular International Conference on Fracture to the close of the next one.

5.2 The President the Vice-Presidents and the Directors shall not be eligible for re-election until after an interval of one term. The Treasurer and the Secretary-General may be re-elected. (Revised March 1981)

5.3 The twelve Founder-members, shall be permanent members of the Executive Committee. When any of them becomes unable or unwilling to be an Executive Committee member, he may, on his request be excluded from the Executive Committee, but he shall retain the title of Founder-member. (Revised April 1979)

5.4 The Executive Committee is composed of the persons specified in Articles 4.4 (c and d) and 5.3. In addition, former Presidents shall sit on the Executive Committee, with the right to speak but not to vote, for a period of two terms after the termination of their term of office.

5.5 The functions of the Executive Committee shall be:
(a) to take all decisions necessary for the conduct of the Congress between meetings of the Council, with the proviso that it reports its actions to the Council at the next meeting of the latter;
(b) to approve and amend as necessary the Bye-Laws, decide upon the programmes of the Council and, between meetings of the Council, authorise the publication of documents prepared within or submitted to the Congress;
(c) to assist the Local Organizing Committee in the host country in the planning of the International Conference on Fracture;
(d) to make recommendations to the Council for its action either in session or by postal ballot;
(e) to fill any vacancy in the Officers of President the Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer and the Secretary-General that may occur between the International Conferences.

5.6 The Executive Committee may invite to attend its meetings such additional individuals as it considers necessary.

5.7 The Executive Committee may appoint from among its members committees for special purposes.

5.8 The Executive Committee shall meet during each International Conference, and at such other times as may be convenient.

5.9 The Executive Committee may vote if a quorum of fifty percent is present. A simple majority shall be effective.

5.10 The President of the Congress shall be the Chairman of the Executive Committee.

5.11 Against the decisions of the Executive Committee it is possible to appeal to the Council.

The functions of the President shall be:
(a) to preside at meetings of the Executive Committee and at sessions of the Council;
(b) to act on behalf of the Congress in the conduct of the affairs of the Congress in accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the Council and the Executive Committee;
(c) to designate the order of the precedence of the Vice-Presidents with respect to assumption of the duties of President under the circumstances referred to Article 7.

The functions of the Vice-Presidents shall be to assume the duties of the President in case the President is unavailable.

The functions of the Secretary-General shall be:
(a) to be responsible for the administrative and financial management of the Congress;
(b) to make all necessary preparations for the meeting of the Council and the Executive Committee;
(c) to maintain the records of the Congress;
(d) to conduct the correspondence necessary to the affairs of the Congress.

The Treasurer shall be responsible for the supervision of the finances of the Congress.

The regular assemblies may include the session of the Council, and the regular International Conference on Fracture, etc.

11.1 Operating expenses of the central office of the Congress shall be met by the national member in the country in which the registered office is located.

11.2 Each national member shall be responsible for meeting its own expenses.

11.3 The financial arrangements connected with arranging the International Conference and other meetings shall be the responsibility, in each case, of the host country.

11.4 The foregoing shall not preclude any members from voluntarily contributing to the funds of the Congress or to the organizing expenses of the International Conference.

11.5 The financial year of the Congress shall be the calendar Year.

12.1 The registered office of the Congress shall be located in the country of which the Secretary-General is a delegate. It is determined by the Council.

12.2 The official language of the Congress shall be English.

The present STATUTES shall be applied by means of the Bye-Laws prepared under the authority of the Executive Committee and approved by it and by the Council. The Bye-Laws may be amended by vote of the Executive Committee. All such amendments shall be reported to the Council in the annual report of the Secretary and shall become definite if not rejected by the Council.

14.1 The amendment may be proposed either by any national delegations or by the Executive Committee.

14.2 To amend the STATUTES, a quorum of three-fifths of the total number of national delegations of the Council shall be required.

14.3 Adoption of any amendment to the present STATUTES shall require two-thirds affirmative vote of the delegates present at the session of the Council.

14.4 The proposed amendments shall be circulated to all national delegations at least one month before the meeting at which they are to be considered.

The Congress shall award to appropriate individuals the grade of Honorary Fellow of the Congress, in recognition of work done by such individuals to further the objects described in Article 2. Such Honorary Fellows shall be elected by the Council by the same procedure as that used for election of Officers.

Four ICF Gold Medals and one Silver Medal may be awarded at each quadrennial conference; up to three individuals may share each award.

16.1.    ICF Takeo Yokobori Gold Medal: This medal is in honor of the vision of Prof. T. Yokobori in organizing the International Congress on Fracture. The award will be presented to a senior researcher in recognition of life-time service to ICF through his/her career. In addition to scientific achievements in the field of fracture, the impact of the service provided to ICF shall be a major criterion for selection of the winner. (Approved by the Council, July 14, 2009, Ottawa).

16.2.    ICF Sir Alan H. Cottrell Gold Medal: This medal is in honor of the many scientific contributions of Sir Alan Cottrell that have been recognized for decades and have provided deep fundamental understanding of fracture in structural materials. This award will be presented to a senior researcher in the field of fracture who through his/her work has made pioneering contributions to the understanding of the phenomenon of fracture. (Approved by the Council, July 14, 2009, Ottawa).

16.3.    ICF George R. Irwin Gold Medal: This medal is to honor the individual who is affectionately known as the “Father of Modern Fracture Mechanics”. This award will be presented to a senior researcher whose pioneering contributions have had lasting impact on engineering applications of fracture theories. (Approved by the Council, July 14, 2009, Ottawa).

16.4.    ICF Paul C Paris Gold Medal: This medal honors the many pioneering contributions of Prof. Paul C. Paris to the field of Fracture Mechanics. His contributions in field of sub-critical crack growth starting with the “Paris-Law” for fatigue crack growth were crucial to the adoption of fracture mechanics in structural integrity assessments. The Paris Gold Medal will be awarded at each ICF quadrennial to a senior researcher whose pioneering contributions have had a lasting impact on structural integrity assessment methods.

16.5.    ICF Constance Tipper Silver Medal: This medal is established by ICF to honor the memory and contributions of Constance Tipper who was a true pioneer among women in the field of fracture. The silver medal will be presented to a mid-career scientist/engineer who has made significant contributions in any aspect of research in the field of fracture.

The registered office of the Congress shall be located at Sendai. The President shall be authorized to establish a technical office, as he deems appropriate, to work with the registered office. (Approved at the Council, April 12, 1973, Munich)

2.1       There shall be a nomination committee whose chairman and members shall be elected by the Council at each meeting of the Council. The nomination committee shall propose new officers of the ICF at each international conference of the Congress (Approved at the Council, April 12, 1973, Munich. Revised at the Council, December 3, 2001, Honolulu)

2.2       The members of the Nomination Committee shall not be eligible for re-election until after an interval of one term, except that one member of the previous term may be nominated, but not as Chairman of the new Committee. (Approved at the Council, December 8, 1984, New Delhi)

The President shall appoint a Publications Committee consisting of 5 members and shall appoint one of them as the Chairman. Member of the Committee and the Chairman may serve more than one 4 year term, but at least one new member of the Committee shall be appointed at each quadrennial meeting. The Chairman is empowered to act in behalf of ICF in negotiating contracts with publishers, printers and others and these actions shall be carried out only with the consent of a majority vote of the Committee. The Publications Committee shall adopt the “Publications Policy for ICF” which was ratified by the Executive Committee in March 1981. The Policy may be amended by a majority vote of the Committee.

Copyrights to the ICF Proceedings and any other publications shall be property of ICF, but may be assigned by contract to a publisher under safeguards to be determined by the ICF Executive Committee.

Income from publications of ICF (other than conference preprints) shall be paid to an ICF account under the jurisdiction of the Treasurer of ICF. This money is to be used to help with the initial expenses of the ICF quadrennial conferences, to reduce the fees of the conferences, to sponsor special publications of ICF and for any other needs arising relating to ICF. Disbursements of publication funds shall be under the jurisdiction of the Executive Committee. (Approved at the Council, March 31, 1981, Cannes)

All Honorary Fellows shall be appointed non-voting members of the Council (Approved at the Council, on December 8, 1984)

In view of the responsibility of ICF as a central organization for the quadrennial conference, 5% of the registration fee for each quadrennial conference is to be paid to ICF in convertible currency. (Approved at the Council, March 23, 1989, Houston)

There shall be an Awards Committee whose chairman and members shall be appointed by the Executive Committee for each quadrennial term. The Awards Committee shall recommend Honorary Fellows and other awards, as appropriate, (Approved at the Council, December 3, 2001, Honolulu)

The maximum number of living Honorary Fellows, FICF(hc), should not exceed 50.

(Approved at the Council, March 22, 2005, Turin)

This Article was superseded by a decision to allow up to five additional Honorary Fellows at each quadrennial (Approved at the Executive Committee meeting in May 2011 in Anaheim and approved by the Council on June 18, 2013 via the acceptance of the Awards Committee Report)

There shall be a contract exchanged for the Organization of each conference between the Organization and ICF within four months of the decision by ICF Council on each quadrennial conference.

(Approved at the Council, March 22, 2005, Turin)

There shall be three ICF Honour Lectures at each ICF Quadrennial Conference: An Opening Honour Lecture; A Closing Honour Lecture: A Presidential Honour Lecture. The Honour Lectures are to be selected by the ICF President and ExCo for recommendation to the ICF Executive Quadrennial Chair so that these can be publicized in a timely manner as early “Star Feature” of each quadrennial conference.

In order to establish a network of organisations worldwide for ICF collaborations “Memoranda of Understanding” will be negotiated with suitable national and international organisations. These MoUs will be presented for approval by ICF ExCo progressively at a suitable stage, for formal agreement by ICF ExCo.