Article 4: Membership

	4.1    Membership of the ICTV shall be: a. President and Vice-President b. Secretaries c. Other members of the Executive Committee d. National Members e. Life Members f. Members of the Bacterial Virus, Fungal Virus, Invertebrate Virus, Plant Virus, Vertebrate Virus, and Virus Data Subcommittees.
	4.2    The composition of the ICTV Executive Committee shall be: (i) The Officers of ICTV, namely President, Vice-president and the Secretaries (ii) The Chairs of the 6 Executive Committee Subcommittees, namely the Bacterial Virus, Fungal Virus, Invertebrate Virus, Plant Virus, Vertebrate Virus and Virus Data Subcommittees (iii) Eight elected Members.
	4.3    Election or appointment procedures for positions on ICTV and its Executive Committee: a. President and Vice-President shall be nominated and seconded by any members of the ICTV and elected at a Plenary Meeting of the full ICTV membership. They shall be elected for a term of three years and may not serve for more than two consecutive terms of three years. b. Two Secretaries shall be nominated by the Executive Committee and elected at a Plenary Meeting of the full ICTV membership. The Secretaries shall be elected for a term of six years and may be re-elected. c. The Chairs of the Subcommittees shall be elected by the Executive Committee, normally at a mid-term meeting preceding the next Plenary Peeting of the full ICTV membership. Nominations shall be made to the President at least one week before the election and must be accompanied by indications from each of the nominees that they are willing to serve. The term of office shall be for three years and may not exceed two consecutive terms of three years each. d. No person shall serve on the Executive Committee for more than four successive terms except Secretaries. e. The eight elected Members shall be nominated and seconded by any ICTV member and elected at a Plenary Meeting of the ICTV for a term of three years and may not serve for more than two consecutive terms of three years each. Generally four of the elected Members shall be replaced every three years. Nominations of virologists for the eight vacancies for elected Members will be allowed up to 2 days prior to the Plenary Meeting at which elections will be held. Nominations must be accompanied by an indication that the nominee is willing to stand for election. Nominees will be assigned to each vacant seat by a nominations subcommittee comprising the President, Vice-president, both Secretaries and the Chairs of the Subcommittees. The nominations subcommittee will be chaired by the President and a quorum will be 5 members. The nominations subcommittee will seek to ensure as wide a range of virological expertise and as wide a geographical representation as possible on the EC. f. National Members shall be nominated by Member Societies of the Virology Division of the IUMS. Societies belonging to the IUMS are considered to be Member Societies of the Division if they have members actively interested in virology. Wherever practicable, each country shall be represented by at least one National Member and no country shall be represented by more than five National Members. Nominations of virologists as National Members shall not require approval by the ICTV. g. Life Members shall be nominated by the Executive Committee, normally in recognition of outstanding services to virus taxonomy. They shall be elected by the full ICTV. h. Virologists shall be appointed to Subcommittees by the Chairs of the Subcommittees and the appointments will not require approval by the ICTV EC.
	4.4    EC Finance Sub-Committee   The finance committee will consist of the Officers of ICTV.
	4.5    Study Groups   Study Groups may be formed to examine the classification and nomenclature of particular groups of viruses. A Chair of a Study Group shall be appointed by the Chair of the appropriate Subcommittee and shall be a member of that Subcommittee ex officio.   Chairs of Study Groups shall appoint the members of their Study Groups. Members of Study Groups, other than Chairs, shall not be members of the ICTV, but their names shall be published in the reports of the ICTV to recognize their valuable contribution to the taxonomy of viruses. Study Group Chairs and Study Group members will be nominated for a period of three years. The term of office of Study Group Chairs will normally be limited to two consecutive periods of three years.