ICUMSA News n°73 – February 2014
Message from the President
Arrangements for the 29th Session of ICUMSA
As stated in ICUMSA News number 72, the 29th Session of ICUMSA will return to the format of the 25th and 26th Sessions and will be held immediately following the SPRI 2014 Conference. The Session will take place on 4th and 5th September 2014 and will be held at the Stream Palace Hotel, Ribeirão Preto, S.P. Brazil.
The SPRI Conference will take place between 31st August and 3rd September (Wednesday 3rd being a visit day where ICUMSA delegates are welcome to join).
These dates and venue have been selected as they immediately follow the FENASUCRO & AGROCANA 2014 EXPO and thus gives the opportunity for delegates to attend this major sugar/sugar cane exhibition as well.
Registration details for both conferences can be found on the SPRI website www.spriinc.org
Please note that you will need to register for both conferences separately if you wish to attend both. Also you will need to complete a separate registration for the hotel accommodation.
The SPRI website also contains information on travelling to Ribeirão Preto. It is recommended that you read this before arranging your travel.
New Referee for General Subject 3
Many of you may know that Niels Kau Andersen has resigned from ICUMSA following his decision to move employment away from the sugar industry. As well as being the Referee for GS 3, Niels was also chairman of the Danish National Committee and had played a major part in developing the SUPS Proficiency Testing Scheme. We wish him well in his new career.
I am delighted to announce that Andreas Degenhardt from Germany has agreed to take over as Referee for this subject. I would like to thank Andreas for volunteering for this role and I am sure you will all join me in wishing him well in his work.
Referee’s reports for the forthcoming Session
The latest Methods Book supplement has been issued in January following the changes agreed during the last Session. Part of the reason for the delay in getting this supplement published was due to the late changes made to reports/methods. The Officers discussed this matter with members of the Publications Committee at a meeting in December and it was agreed that in order to issue future Proceedings and Methods Book Supplements in a timely manner, deadlines for receiving Referee’s reports will have to be strictly followed.
Therefore all Referee’s reports need to be submitted to the General Secretary two months before the Session, i.e. by Friday 4th July 2014. Referees can present work to the Session that is not contained in their report but this will only be reported in the Proceedings following that Session, i.e. those published after 2016.
Enforcing this rule, which has been in place since the decision was taken to move to only one language, will ensure that future Proceedings are published without delay.
The General Secretary has started to develop some rules and guidelines for Referees; the first of which can be found in the members section of the ICUMSA website.
Election of Officers
Following the decision taken in 2010 to restrict the term of Officers to 4 years an election shall take place this year for the positions of President, General Secretary and Treasurer. The General Secretary will be sending out details to National Committees asking for nominations. The deadline for receipt of nominations will be 31st May 2014 in order that arrangements can be made to hold the elections during the Session.
Change in legal status of the Commission
Following the Session in 2012 the Officers have sought legal advice around the status of the Commission. The intent here is to protect the interests of ICUMSA and ensure that, as a legal entity, it can enter into contracts, etc. The lawyers have suggested that the appropriate form for the organisation would be as a “company limited by guarantee”.
The Treasurer has sent details of this change to National Committees and they are asked to submit a postal vote to show whether they agree with this proposal or not. The deadline for receiving your vote is 31st May 2014.
Any questions on this should be directed towards the Officers.
Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling
ICUMSA will be represented at the next Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (March 2014) by Roger Wood (Referee for S2 and S8). He also attends, and chairs, the Inter-Agency Meeting where ICUMSA’s sister organisations (ISO, AOAC etc) discuss common issues. This meets immediately prior to the CCMAS Session. This year it is expected that there will be an emphasis on sampling. For further information, please contact Roger directly.