1.18 General Meetings
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This article is from the Table Tennis (Ping Pong) FAQ, by ttennis@bu.edu with numerous contributions by others.
1.18 General Meetings
1.18.1 Place and Time
1.18.1.1 A BGM shall be held at the place, and during the period, of the World
Championships or, if the World Championships is not held at the due
time, at such other place and date between one and three years since
the last BGM as the Council may determine.
1.18.1.2 The BGM shall normally comprise at least two sessions, one after the
beginning of the World Championships and the second near their end; so
far as is practicable, the sessions shall be held at times other than
those scheduled for finals and other closing stages of events in the
Championships.
1.18.1.3 An Extraordinary General Meeting may be convened at any time by the
Council and shall be convened by the Secretary-General within ten
weeks of his receiving a requisition in writing to that effect given
by not less than one quarter of the Associations in membership and not
in arrears of subscription.
1.18.2 Notice of Meeting
1.18.2.1 Notice of the meeting, giving details of the place, date and time and
the business to be transacted, together with a proxy form, shall be
sent by post to each Association; the person and address to which the
notice is sent shall be as last notified by each Association to the
Secretary-General.
1.18.2.2 For a BGM the notice shall be sent not later than two calendar months
before the date of the meeting.
1.18.2.3 For an Extraordinary General Meeting the notice shall be sent not later
than one calendar month before the date of the meeting.
1.18.3 Notice of Business
1.18.3.1 Details in writing of business and propositions to be brought forward
at a BGM must reach the Secretary-General not later than four calendar
months before the date of the meeting.
1.18.3.2 Notice of the actual closing date in each year for the receipt of
business and propositions shall be sent to all Associations by the
Secretary-General not later than six calendar months before the date
of the meeting.
1.18.3.3 Business and propositions of which due notice has not been given but
which, in the opinion of the Standing Orders Committee, relate to the
business in hand without introducing a new principle or relate to an
emergency may be admitted by a vote in favour of two-thirds of the
votes cast at the BGM; a recommendation by the Standing Orders
Committee to exclude such business or propositions may be challenged.
1.18.3.4 The requisition for an Extraordinary General Meeting shall specify
the business for which the meeting is to be convened and no other
business except the confirmation of the Minutes of the previous General
Meeting shall be transacted at such a meeting.
1.18.4 Proxies
1.18.4.1 If an Association wishes to appoint a proxy to represent it at a
General Meeting, notice of the appointment together with a declaration
that the Agenda and the necessary instructions as indicated in the form
of appointment have been given to the proxy must reach the Secretary-
General not later than two weeks before the date of the meeting.
1.18.4.2 No Association shall give a proxy to another Association where the
territories over which both exercise authority form part of the same
state unity.
1.18.4.3 No Association shall hold more than one proxy on behalf of other
Associations, but in addition each member of the Council may hold a
proxy in his own right.
1.18.5 Business
1.18.5.1 All business and propositions received in due time or later admitted
shall be examined by the Council and may be referred for consideration
by an appropriate Committee; any such reference shall be reported to
the first session of the BGM.
1.18.5.2 All competent business and propositions shall be referred to the BGM
in due course, together with the reports of any Committee that has
studied them.
1.18.5.3 Proceedings at a BGM shall include:
1.18.5.3.1 the appointment of a Chairman;
1.18.5.3.2 the adoption of the report of the Standing Orders Committee;
1.18.5.3.3 a roll-call of the Associations present and the verification of
proxies;
1.18.5.3.4 the appointment of scrutineers;
1.18.5.3.5 the confirmation of the Minutes of the previous General Meeting;
1.18.5.3.6 the consideration of applications for membership;
1.18.5.3.7 the receipt of reports from Officers which, with the exception of
that from the President, shall be given in writing;
1.18.5.3.8 the receipt of reports from Committees and the Olympics Commission;
1.18.5.3.9 the receipt of the audited statement of accounts for the previous
two years;
1.18.5.3.10 the consideration of propositions and other competent business;
1.18.5.3.11 the election of Officers, the Council, the Olympics Commission,
Committees and Auditors;
1.18.5.3.12 the consideration of arrangements for future World Championships.
1.18.6 Procedure
1.18.6.1 No speaker shall speak more than once on a proposition except that
the proposer shall have the right of reply and that the Chairman may,
at his discretion, allow a speaker to speak more than once to answer a
query arising from his original speech.
1.18.6.2 The Chairman shall decide how many speakers will be permitted to speak
on a proposition and when the vote shall be taken, except that a motion
"that the question now be put" shall be voted on immediately, without
further discussion; if such a motion is carried the proposition or any
amendment before the meeting shall then be voted on immediately,
without further discussion, subject to the right of reply by the mover
of the substantive proposition.
1.18.6.3 A question once decided may not be reverted to for re-discussion and
re-vote unless the Chairman rules, as a matter of urgency, that a case
has been made for supposing that the decision taken may jeopardise the
whole welfare of the ITTF; a motion to challenge the Chairman's ruling
that the matter is not of sufficient urgency to justify reconsideration
must be taken whenever it may be moved.
1.18.7 Voting
1.18.7.1 Each Association in full membership shall have two votes and each
Association in membership "in good standing" shall have one vote.
1.18.7.2 Questions at a General Meeting shall be decided by a simple majority
of the votes cast except that:
1.18.7.2.1 the acceptance of belated or emergency business or propositions and
the revocation of a World Championships option require a majority of
two-thirds of the votes cast;
1.18.7.2.2 expulsions from membership, changes to the Laws of Table Tennis and
variations of penalties require a three-fourths majority of the
votes cast;
1.18.7.2.3 dissolution of the ITTF requires a four-fifths majority of the
votes cast.
1.18.7.3 If there is an equality of votes on an administrative or financial
matter the Chairman shall have a casting vote; if there is an equality
of votes on any other matter the motion shall fail and the meeting
shall proceed with the next business.
1.18.7.4 Voting other than in elections shall be by roll-call in alphabetical
order, starting with a name drawn at random, except where the Chairman
is satisfied after a show of hands that such procedure is not
necessary.
1.18.7.5 Each Vice-President shall nominate two persons from his Continent,
for approval by the General Meeting, to form a list of scrutineers.
1.18.7.6 For each vote requiring scrutineers, including elections, names shall
be taken from the list in alphabetical order, omitting the
representative of any Association having a particular interest in the
item which is the subject of the vote.
1.18.8 Elections
1.18.8.1 Officers and members of the Council shall be elected by secret ballot.
1.18.8.2 In the election of Vice-Presidents and of Continental representatives
to the Council only Associations from the appropriate Continent shall
be entitled to nominate and vote; in all other elections all
Associations shall be entitled to nominate and vote.
1.18.8.3 If there is an equality of votes in the first ballot there shall be a
second ballot among those equal; if there is still an equality of
votes preference shall be given to the appointment of a representative
of an Association which is otherwise unrepresented and, where this is
not decisive the outcome shall be determined by lot.
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