Colonel R. T. L. Rogers: 
To enable the ISP to fulfill its desired role, it is 
useful for us to make periodic re-assessments 
of how well the Society is serving its members 
and what improvement are necessary. Such a re- 
assessment has been in progress since our last 
Congress and, because the implications are 
mainly financial, | have been asked to report on 
this aspect. | will summarize some of the more 
important problems and will amplify these verbally 
when this report is presented. No one knows 
these better than our new President and our Trea- 
surer has commented on most of them in a recent 
memorandum to me. 
The first and most important item is the necessity 
for increasing the annual revenue of the Society. 
This is essential if we are to expand the services 
to members including communication of all kinds, 
both written and verbal. You will have seen the 
Council’s recommendation on this matter which 
includes doubling the present unit of members’ 
annual contribution from S.Fr. 30 to S.Fr. 60 as 
well as establishing a new category of Sustaining 
Member which will be open to commercial enter- 
prises which exhibit at our Congress and Sym- 
posia. This recommendation is based on a ”mod- 
el” expenditure budget of S.Fr. 40000 as forecast 
recently by the Treasurer. It should be noted 
that the unit of contribution has remained at S.Fr. 
30 since 1968 and an increase is warranted in any 
case, to take account of inflation since that date. 
The second item with financial implications was 
mentioned briefly by the Secretary General at the 
General Assembly on 13th July. As you know, the 
scale of the annual fee paid by each member so- 
ciety is based on the number of individual mem- 
bers in those organisations. It is the responsibility 
of each national society to re-assess the annual 
fee based on their up-dated membership and in 
accordance with ISP Statutes, Article 11, and 
bye-Laws, Article 1 and it is recommended that 
members should take appropriate action forth- 
with. 
The third item concerns the administrative struc- 
ture of the 1.S.P. It is apparent to me that the Coun- 
cil would greatly benefit by having one of its 
senior members acting in the capacity of a ”chief 
executive" and by that | mean being able to de- 
vote a definite proportion of his time to the affairs 
of the society at a minimal cost to the Society. 
It appears that the Council may find itself in that 
happy position, at least for the next four years 
and | strongly recommend that the necessary 
slight administrative reorganisation is undertaken 
so that full advantage is taken of this situation. 
Provision for corresponding secretarial services 
and other related expenditure has already been 
made in the "model" budget. 
The fourth item is the factual report of the Trea- 
surer that the capital of the Society has increas- 
ed by approximately Dfl. 20 000 to just over Dfl. 
50 000, in the past four years. He rightly points 
out, however, that this increase has only been 
achieved because the expenses of the Society 
have been heavily subsidised by the parent orga- 
nizations of some senior Council members. | sub- 
mit that this embarrassing situation should not 
be allowed to continue any longer. 
The fifth item concerns long overdue payments 
of annual fees by society members. At its last 
meeting the General Assembly expelled three 
member countries from whom no payments had 
ever been received. In addition, there is one 
member whose fees are outstanding for 6 years 
and two for 5 years. It is my firm recommen- 
dation that the expulsion penalty should in future 
be applied to any member whose fees are out- 
standing for more than three years. 
The sixth item concerns the vast amount (and 
weight) of technical papers received by the Con- 
gress Director during the run-up to the present 
Congress. This involved the Secretariat in a large 
expenditure of time and distribution costs. It is 
suggested that the number of technical papers 
accepted for a Congress should be reduced by, 
perhaps, eliminating some presented papers and 
dividing the flow more evenly between inter- 
Congress Commission Symposia and the Con- 
gress itself and, in addition, establishing a 
"Screening" procedure in each national society. 
Lastly, my predecessor Mr. Sven Móller, in his Re- 
port to the Ottawa Congress, made some useful 
recommendations regarding amendments to the 
Statutes and Bye-Laws of the ISP in respect of 
the role and duties of the Financial Commission 
and also the relationship of the Council with 
Commission Presidents. The present Council 
has already recommended a review of the Sta- 
tutes and Bye-Laws and | would remind the re- 
viewing body of these important recommenda- 
tions made by Mr. Móller in 1972. 
In submitting this report to the General As- 
sembly | would request their approval that action as 
recommended should be taken on the first five 
items mentioned above and that consideration 
should be given to the sixth and final items. 
In amplification, Colonel Rogers made the follow- 
ing remarks: 
1. To increase its income, the I.S.P. should seek 
support from the U.N., UNESCO in particular, for 
financing its publications, for example, which 
are of great use to the developing countries, 
among others. 
2. As to the proposed category of sustaining 
members, it would enable discussion between 
exhibitors and the Council, an arrangement of 
great benefit to both parts. 
3. The ISP should be able to cover independently 
its own administrative expenses, without sub- 
sidies from parent organizations of its Council 
members. Such financial aspects should not have 
a bearing on the election of I.S.P. officials. 
4. The Treasurer had already dealt with Mem- 
bers in default of dues. 
5. To solve the problem concerning the vast 
amount of technical papers delivered at I.S.P. Con- 
gresses, it was suggested that a "screening" 
procedure by National Societies be established. 
— This suggestion was modified by Mr. P.G. 
Mott of the U.K. who proposed that authors send 
their papers in singular copy to the Congress 
Secretariat by a fixed deadline. The Secretariat 
would then have them mimeographed and bound 
into paperback form to form the Archives at the 
same time. — Mr. M. Carbonnell of France further 
modified the proposal by suggesting that the 
screening be the responsibility of the Technical 
Commissions and not of the National Societies. 
— The representative of Switzerland observed 
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