International Press-in Association

By-laws
Established 20th July 2017
Amended 11th December 2020
Amended 22nd September 2023
Amended 29 March 2024

Section 1.1 Procedures for establishing a Branch(refer to Chapter I General, Article 3 of the Constitution)
1. According to Article 3 of the Constitution, branches may be established. Interested groups of IPA

members in an economy or a region are encouraged to write to the President, confirming their wish toform a branch and to provide a completed application form specified in the Regulations.
2. These interested groups of IPA members must have:(1) More than ten individual members and three corporate members(2) A candidate for Branch Chair(3) A candidate for Branch Secretary(4) A contact address for its Secretariat(5) Financial independence
3. The applicant request will be considered at the next meeting of the Board of Directors and thecandidate Branch Chair will be notified of the results.

Section 2.1 Sponsorship Titles(refer to Chapter II Purpose and Activity, Article 5 of the Constitution)
1. The IPA may accord sponsorship, co-sponsorship or support (hereinafter referred to as “sponsorshiptitles”) to events such as exhibitions, conferences, seminars or symposia organized by public or
private institutions if the events promote the purposes of the IPA as stipulated in Article 5 of theConstitution.
2. Regardless of Paragraph 1 the IPA may not accord sponsorship titles to events which:(1) may constitute a violation of public order and morality or may receive social blame;(2) have religious or political purposes;(3) aim at private interest
3. Sponsorship titles will be accorded on the basis of a decision by the President or by a person towhom the President may entrust this decision. Sponsorship titles which have been accorded will bereported at the next meeting of the Board of Directors.
4. Regardless of Paragraph 3, if sponsorship titles involve financial expenditure by the IPA, the titles

will be accorded with approval by the Steering Committee.

Section 2.2 IPA Awards(refer to Chapter II Purpose and Activity, Article 5 of the Constitution)
1. The International Press-in Association (IPA) will evaluate studies, technologies and practice related

to press-in engineering and award honors (IPA Constitution Article 5 item 5).

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2. Press-in engineering is multi-disciplinary engineering for improving the planning, design andconstruction of embedded structures and walls. It covers, but is not limited to, geotechnicalengineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, measuring-surveying-monitoringengineering, data and information processing (IPA Constitution Article 5 item 1 and 2).
3. There are six categories of IPA awards and the criteria and selection process for each are provided inProvision 7 of the Regulations.

Section 3.1 Membership(refer to Chapter III Membership, Article 6 and 7 of the Constitution)
1. There are three types of membership which are defined as follows and membership dues are given inProvision 2 of the Regulations.
Types of Membership
I. Individual Members
II. Corporate Members

III. Student Membersa)
b)
c)
d)

Categories
n/aPlatinum Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Bronze Member
n/a

2. The privileges of each membership are provided in Provision 2 of the Regulations.
3. Honorary Titles are provided in Provision 3 of the Regulations.

Section 3.2 Removal(refer to Chapter III Removal, Article 10 of the Constitution)

The Board of Directors has the right to suspend the membership of a person who disgraces the honorof the Association and commits behavior contrary to the purpose of the Association by a simple
majority. The Board of Directors shall provide the person concerned an opportunity to defend theiraccusation prior to the Directors meet.

Section 4.1 Procedures for electing candidates for new Directors and Auditors(refer to Chapter IV Directors and Auditors, Article 12 of the Constitution)
1. The Board of Directors will form the Nomination Committee six months prior to the GeneralAssembly.
2. The Nomination Committee is responsible for providing a short list of possible candidates ofincoming IPA Directors and Auditors for the General Assembly to decide when required.
3. The Nomination Committee consists of the President, one of the Vice Presidents, the Executive
Director and a minimum of two members from the Steering Committee appointed by the President.
The Secretary General may also become a member, when the President considers it necessary. Inprinciple, the Vice President chairs the committee.
4. The Nomination Committee shall prepare a draft short list of candidates for incoming Directors andAuditors three months prior to the General Assembly and circulate the draft short list to the Directors
in office prior to the General Assembly for their comment.
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5. In making the short list, the committee shall take the following aspects into consideration: (1)geographical distribution, (2) area of expertise, and (3) a wide spectrum of age.
6. The Chair of the committee considers all the comments from the Directors in office and modify whenrequired and shall take the responsibility for preparing the final short list in the Agenda of theGeneral Assembly.

7. Regardless of Paragraph 1, when the President expresses their intention not to serve as President in
the next term, the Board of Directors will form the Nomination Committee, composed and chaired as
stipulated in Paragraph 3, eight months prior to the General Assembly. The Nomination Committee
will nominate one (1) candidate for incoming President from among Directors, after confirming tothe Board of Directors for their comments. The candidate for incoming President will become
member of the Nomination Committee and the Nomination Committee will execute the tasks as
stipulated in Paragraphs 4 to 6.

8. The candidate for incoming President will prepare for their tenure as President in the period from thenomination as candidate for incoming President to the election as President.

Section 5.1 Latest Available Past President(refer to Chapter V Meetings, Article 17 of the Constitution)

The President will appoint a Latest Available Past President from the persons who have served asPresidents of the IPA. The Latest Available Past President shall have the willingness and capacity todischarge the duties stipulated in the Constitution and the By-laws. The Latest Available Past
President may or may not be a Director at the time of the appointment, but they must be a member ofthe IPA.

Section 5.2 Responsibility of Directors, the Steering Committee, and the Standing Committees(refer to Chapter V Meetings, Article 18 of the Constitution)
1. The Board of Directors is responsible for overall policy and management of the IPA.

(1) Election of the President and the Vice Presidents(2) Membership approval(3) Establishment of Branch approval(4) Membership due approval(5) Management of the International Conference(6) Approval of establishment of Committees and Chair of the Committees(7) Planning of other related activities(8) Resolve the tasks specified in Article 18 of the Constitution(9) Resolve the agenda to be proposed to the General Assembly specified in Article 23
2. The Board of Directors meeting will be generally held at least once a year. The agenda for themeetings shall be circulated two weeks prior to the Directors meeting.
3. The Steering Committee meeting shall be chaired by the President and be generally held at least

twice a year. The agenda for the meetings shall be circulated two weeks prior to the meeting.
4. The Steering Committee administrates the IPA activities based on a provisional budget until theannual budget is approved in the General Assembly for each fiscal year.
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5. The Board of Directors shall establish the following Committees as the Standing Committees:(1) Research Committee(2) Awards Committee(3) Publicity Committee(4) Development Committee(5) Administration Committee
6. The members of each Committee shall include at least three Directors. Terms of reference for eachCommittee are specified in the Regulations.
7. The representatives of the Standing Committees mentioned in Section 2 of Article 18 of theConstitution will be appointed by each Standing Committee.
8. The Secretary General is responsible for assisting the Board of Directors and the Steering Committee

to operate the IPA activities and will draw up a draft budget for the next year to be presented to theBoard of Directors.

Section 5.3 Proxy
1. A Director who is not able to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors may transfer their voting
rights to the President or another Director, having notified this in writing to the Secretary General
before the meeting. No Director except for the President may carry more than two such proxyvotes.
2. An Individual Member or Individual Member Representative of a Corporate Member who is unableto attend a General Assembly may transfer their voting rights to the President or to another Individual
Member, having notified this in writing to the Secretary General before the meeting.

Section 6

Responsibility of the Secretariat(refer to Chapter VI, Secretariat and Staff, Article 26 of the Constitution)

1. In order to assist in the efficient operation of the IPA, the Secretariat will perform day-to-day
activities authorized by the President.
2. The Secretariat will implement a website system for the effective operation of IPA activities anddocumentation controls. The Secretariat will encourage use of electronic communication in preparing
the meeting documents and in supporting IPA activities.
3. The Secretariat will assist in activities to increase IPA membership, to facilitate Committee activities,
and will support the International Conference.
4. The Secretariat may establish Regional Offices when necessary to promote the purposes of the IPA, asstipulated in Article 4 of the Constitution, in particular regions.
5. The President may appoint a Deputy Secretary General when necessary.

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