Source: http://iczn.ansp.org/wiki/Article80
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 02:35:08+00:00

Document:
Article 80. Status of actions of the Commission. As a consequence of actions required of it by the Code, the Commission may publish Declarations, Opinions, the Official Lists and Official Indexes, and may adopt and publish Parts of the List of Available Names in Zoology. The status of these published acts, and of names and works in the Official Lists and Official Indexes, is specified in this Article.
80.1. Declarations. A Declaration published by the Commission shall have the force of a provisional amendment to the Code and shall remain in force until the international body having authority [Art. 77] ratifies or rejects it. If the Declaration is ratified, the Code shall be deemed to have been amended from the date of the Declaration.
80.2.2. acting in the interests of stability and universality, exempt by use of its plenary power [Art. 81] the particular case from the application of the Code, and state the course to be followed.
80.3. Effective date of Opinions. Rulings in Opinions have force immediately upon publication by the Commission in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature.
80.4. Corrections of errors or omissions in Opinions. Official Corrections to errors and omissions (such as a bibliographic error, lapsus calami, or an omission in placing a conserved or suppressed name on an Official List or Index) may be published by the Commission without further vote unless the error or omission negates the ruling or its consequences. If the ruling is negated by the error or omission, the Commission shall reconsider the matter and publish a further Opinion.
80.5. Interpretation of Opinions. An Opinion applies only to the particular case before the Commission and is to be rigidly construed; no conclusions other than those expressly specified are to be drawn from it.
80.6.1. A name entered in an Official List is an available name.
80.6.2. The status of a name entered in an Official List is subject to the ruling(s) in any relevant Opinion(s), including any Official Correction of an Opinion [Art. 80.4]; all other aspects of its status derive from the normal application of the Code. However, if such a name is given a different status in the List of Available Names in Zoology the latter status is deemed to be correct [Art. 80.8].
80.6.3. A name may be placed in an Official List without any additional qualification.
80.6.4. If a name entered in an Official List is thought to be a synonym of another available name (whether in an Official List or not), their relative precedence is determined by the normal application of the Code unless the Commission rules or has ruled otherwise.
80.6.5. A name or nomenclatural act occurring in a work entered in the Official List of Works Approved as Available for Zoological Nomenclature is subject to the provisions of the Code and to any limitation imposed by the Commission on the use of that work in zoological nomenclature.
80.7.1. A work, name or nomenclatural act entered in an Official Index has the status attributed to it in the relevant ruling(s).
80.7.2. A name or nomenclatural act occurring in a work entered in the Official Index has no availability or validity in zoological nomenclature, unless the Commission by use of its plenary power rules otherwise. However, such a work may be used as a source of information relevant to zoological nomenclature unless the Commission has ruled that the work is to be treated as unpublished.
80.8. Contradictory status accorded by the Commission to names in the List of Available Names in Zoology and in the Official Lists. In the event of contradictory status being accorded by the Commission to a name included in the List of Available Names in Zoology, in an Official List, or in an Opinion, the status accorded in the List of Available Names in Zoology is deemed to be correct unless the Commission has ruled otherwise [Art. 79.5].
80.9. Previous decisions of the Commission. No ruling given by the Commission in relation to a particular work, name, or nomenclatural act is to be set aside without the consent of the Commission.
FranciscoWelterSchultes Art. 80.4 should be expanded once more, if gender agreement is not abolished.
Art. 80.4.2. Genders of all genera mentioned in the Official List shall be regarded as having been fixed under the plenary powers.
Example: In Opinion 335 the genus Cecilioides Férussac 1814 (Gastropoda) was validated from a non-binominal work. The Commission regarded the genus as feminine. This was incorrect, it should have been masculine under Art. 30.1.4.4. The gender of Cecilioides is regarded to have been fixed as feminine under the plenary powers.
It makes no sense to change a well established usage of genders. If a different gender is discovered for a well established genus, this can only create problems and has no benefit.
FranciscoWelterSchultes Art. 80.4 should be expanded.
Art. 80.4.1. All type species mentioned in the Official List are deemed to have been fixed under the plenary powers.
Example: Viviparus Montfort 1810, type species given in Opinion 573 Helix vivpara Linnaeus, 1758 "by original designation". This was incorrect, Montfort designated Viviparus fluviorum as type and did not mention Helix vivipara. Type species shall be Helix vivipara fixed under the plenary powers.
There are many cases where decisions on type species became outdated, creating unnecessary workload for the Commission. Usually the genera which were treated in the Opinions were important and their type species have been accepted by everyone.
It makes no sense to force the community to ask the Commission to fix such errors. I recently submitted a long list for such corrections for European non-marine molluscs, if I extrapolate the workload to the rest of animals this will be much unnecessary work.
FranciscoWelterSchultes A new Art. 80.10 should be added.
80.10. Ineffective decisions by the Commission. If a decision was taken by the Commission that was not in accordance with the provisions of the Code and/or not within the limits of its power as specified in this chapter, this decision is to be regarded as ineffective.
It seems to me that such an article is necessary. Commissioners have argued "the Commission can take any nomenclatural decision they like and do not have to justify their actions to anyone", disacknowledging that the powers of the Commission are specified and limited in this chapter and that the Commission is not allowed to go beyond. This was not only little sensitive, but in a situation in which Commissioners are not elected in a direct and democratic way by those who have to accept the decisions, raised also the need to set a limit.
FranciscoWelterSchultes Art. 80 should be modified, removing the List of Available Names in Zoology concept.
Art. 80.6.5 and Art. 80.8 should be removed, Art. 80 and 80.6.2 should be modified accordingly.
I believe it would also be necessary to get rid of the Official Lists. The Official List contains choiceless and conceptless a variety of names, normally available names being either currently used for taxa, or junior synonyms, and officially validated names which were previously unavailable. A name that is regularly available does not need to be mentioned on such a list. A validated name has become available by the corresponding act by the Commission, its presence on the List does not need to be mandatory.
The Official Index is a useful list, but should be regarded rather as a useful documentation of Declarations and Opinions.

References: Art. 80

Art. 80
 Art. 30
 Art. 80

Art. 80
 Art. 80
 Art. 80

Art. 80
 Art. 80
 Art. 80