Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS)

  Last updated on 2 June, 2001      

Taipei International Convention Center, Room 401
November 21, 1999, 09.00-16.00

1 Opening Remarks by President

The President, Prof. Ohtaki, expressed his thanks to all EXCO members, national delegates and observers who attend the General Assembly. Extended thanks were also given to Dr. Lee and his staff for extremely fine preparation for the General Assembly. Dr. Lee expressed a welcome address to all participants.

2 Announcement of Nominations of National Delegates

It was confirmed that the observers can express their opinion while only national delegates
having voting rights. As for the quorum of the general assembly, it was confirmed that 13
national delegates were required. The meeting proceeded without voting on matters until a quorum was achieved. It was confirmed out that 13 national delegates attended to satisfy the required quorum for decision.

3 Finalization of Agenda

It was pointed out that the minutes of EXCO meetings and of Council Meeting had been approved by the respective meeting, i.e., EXCO meetings and Council Meeting, and hence the approval of minutes of previous EXCO and Council Meetings were not necessary. It was pointed out that the requirement to have a quorum sometimes brings a difficulty in view of the present economical situation in Asia. It was discussed that some consideration can be made in the future EXCO so that
Council Meetings and General Assemblies can make decisions.

4 Approval of Minutes of General Assembly (May 1997, Hiroshima)

The minutes of the 9th General Assembly were approved without amendment. The President pointed out that in relation to the modification of annual membership fees no figures were given in the Minutes . The revised figures are 120USD for 100USD, 300USD for 250USD, and 600USD for 500USD for categories C, B and A, respectively.

5 Report of President on State of FACS

Prof. Ohtaki, the President, made a brief report based on the Minutes of 35th EXCO Meeting which includes the names of FACS awardees selected on that occasion.

6 Report of President-Elect (including the preparation of 8th ACC)

Dr. Lee, the Chairman of the 8ACC, reported the structure of 8th ACC based on the program booklet. The Congress consists of three parts; scientific presentations, FACS meetings and exhibition. As for the scientific program is concerned, 13 session and 4 special symposia are
planned. In addition, 3 Nobel Laureates and 3 FACS Awardees will deliver lectures in addition to some 30 invited speakers. The number of presentation is as large as 646 papers. The exhibition will start on 19th which contains some 200 booths. Furthermore, the annual meeting of the local chemical society is also held along with 8th ACC. The registered participants exceeds 800.
Prof. Ohtaki thanked the Organization Committee of 8th ACC for their efforts in spite of the damage caused by severe earthquakes a few months earlier.

7 Report of Secretary General

Prof. Takeuchi, the Secretary General, presented a one page report, with thanks to the cooperation of member societies. It was pointed out that sometimes it was difficult to find the right contact persons. It was understood that each society should try to renew their data in the FACS office as up-dated and quickly as possible.

8 Report of Treasurer

Mr. Lim, the Treasurer, submitted three reports, for the years 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively.
Based on the detailed explanation given by the Treasurer, the report was approved.

A few problems were discussed:

(i) Commission of Bank--After the economical crash it seems that the commission for money exchange has become high in most part of the world. So, a small amount of money transfer should be avoided since sometimes commission is more than the money to be received. Particular care should be taken when an individual membership fee is involved. Prof. Ohtaki explained that such a fee should initially paid to respective member society which sends this money combined with its
annual fee.

(ii) Advance payment--Chemical Society of Brunei paid the annual fee in advance before the raise of the annual fee was affected. It was understood that the difference (40 USD; 20 USD for 1999 and 2000) should be paid by Chemical Society of Brunei since FACS does not admit discount based on advanced payment.

9 Report of Coordinator of Projects

Prof. Noller, the Coordinator of Projects, reported based on the document, Biennial Report.
A few points were discussed:

(i) Web site of FACS should be more activated. It was understood that Prof. Xiaoxia Li, who is expected to be the new director for ChIN replacing Professor Zhihong Xu, will make efforts to strengthen the function of FACS web site and Dr. Winkler (as Co-director) will help her.
In this connection, FACS Newsletter should be published in the electronic form. Prof. Akimoto mentioned that already all materials in the Newsletter were placed in the web, though figures are not included. It is expected that this will be realized by Prof. Li and Dr. Winkler. Prof. Noller mentioned that the meeting of Project Directors is important. It is understood that if such a meeting will be held in an appropriate occasion, the possibility of having the meeting will be larger.
Prof. Sevilla, III pointed out that activities of projects are not always known to the member of FACS. Prof. Noller replies that when web page will be reinforced, the situation will be improved. Prof. Black pointed out that the director of APFAN should be replaced by a younger member, for which Prof. Noller promised to try to do so.

After that, a rather irrelevant, but important discussion was made as to where the President -elect are to be decided. One way is that the President-elect should be decided by the General Assembly. The other way is that General Assembly will decide which country (society) should be the Presidential country (society), and that country (society) is eligible to choose the President-elect. In case of Taiwan, the proposal was made by Prof. Chin at the occasion of the General Assembly in Manila. Later Dr. Lee was endorsed as President-elect and made the official proposal for 8th ACC at the General Assembly in Hiroshima. Prof. Black mentioned that both ways would be appropriate since there is no strict rule, adding that the decision will preferably made at General Assembly. It is understood that the General Assembly will decide from which
country (society) the President-elect (and President) is to be elected. It is each country society responsibility to select the person to be nominated. The role of General Assembly is to endorse the appointment.

10 Report of Chairman of Publications Committee

Prof. Akimoto, the Chairman of Publications Committee, explained the content of the new issue of FACS Newsletter. The change of Logo was introduced. There was made some general remarks and comments:

(i) Cost of publication is large and the money from the treasurer, 500 USD, was much less than the necessary cost. CSJ raised fund for that, but financially it was impossible to publish twice a year. It was also pointed out the publication is important for propagation of FACS, and that use of
web site may solve a part of such a financial problem though publication as a hard copy is still to be continued since there are societies and their members who have difficulty in use of internet.

(ii) It was understood that each member society should receive 50 copies, while all individual life member a copy. Prof. Akimoto added that this distribution was done by CSJ.

(iii) It was pointed out that such articles as the minutes of EXCO would not be interesting to readers and that more technical items like reports from project directors would be more interesting.

(iv) Information on national meetings and workshops should be included.

(v) In view of the financial problem in publication, discussion of the possible unification of journals should now be commenced. An attempt to create an Asian Journal of Chemistry or something like that will be a target. It was pointed out that Australia has already began to discuss such a possibility. ACGC publishes a newsletter on electronic basis which may be a starting point for an Asian chemical journal.

11 Report on the Matters Related to IUPAC

Prof. Ohtaki explained that IUPAC decided to support (10000 USD) international conferences organized by developing countries under the condition that it is a member of IUPAC. The problem is that most Asian countries are observers, not a member. The membership fee is rather expensive and it is based on the country chemical turnover. Malaysia recently changed its status from a member to an associate member because the membership fee amounted to 5000 USD. The membership fee of Associated National Adhering Organization (ANAO) is 50 USD without voting right, while membership fee is minimum 1000 USD. Japan pays 83 000 USD for six voting rights
Prof. Ohtaki told that he, as an Bureau member of IUPAC, likes to propose a new category for IUPAC membership, the Cooperative Membership, the fee of which is for instance, 500 USD for 0.5 voting right with the intention that this cooperative membership is eligible for the grant
mentioned.

12 Report on the Matters Related to the Meeting of Presidents of Regional Chemical Societies

Dr. Lee reported that he attended the Meeting of Presidents and Secretary General of Regional Chemical Societies held in Berlin. He reported that the meeting lasted only for 1 hr, and nothing special was discussed. It was understood that IUPAC should pay more attention to the chemical activities in Asia.

13 Application for Membership from the Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society and Mongolian Chemical Society, and Individual Membership Qualification

Prof. Takeuchi reported that two applications for the membership of FACS were made by two societies, the Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society and the Mongolian Chemical Society, and that their statues and rules had been distributed among member societies , according to the statutes. No reaction against either approval was received. It was understood that, when approved, the Mendeleev Russian Chemical Society will be classified as category B, while the Mongolian
Chemical Society as category C. The President proposed to accept the two applications, and Dato Dr. Singh supported this proposal, which was seconded by Prof. Black (carried). It is understood, however, that even if admitted as a member, payment of fee is the requirement for membership. If payment is not made, the approval will be cancelled as is the case of Indian Analytical Society which failed to pay the fee from the beginning (since 1995 approval).

Prof. Takeuchi reported that an Iran chemist made an application for individual membership. It was understood that the application for an affiliate membership from a country where no society is the member of FACS will be accepted, and that this application will be approved if the
membership fee payment can be made.

14. Decision on Handling the Cases of Unpaid Fee

A long discussion was made based on the Proposal made by Mr. Lim. The following is the summary of the discussion:

(i) The payment of the annual fee is the responsibility of any member society, and the failure of payment will lead to a loss of eventual membership.

(ii) Any society who wish to be exempted from membership fee should submit written documents to the President or the Treasurer to explain the situation. Without this procedure, any weaver will not be approved.

(iii) The delegate of Bangladesh promised that they will pay their fee from 2000. Prof. Ohtaki explained the case of Iraq in detail. He had, after long debates, proposed them to pay the fee for 1999 (120 USD) if they want an exemption of all past ten years fee (category A). However, no payment was done. The general understanding is as follows: it is important for Iraq to show
its will to continue the membership by paying 1999 fee; otherwise it is difficult for FACS to forget all ten years unpaid fee.

(iv) There are some other countries (societies) who have not paid for some years, and it is expected that the President and Treasurer continue efforts to persuade them to pay.

(v) It was proposed that communication between FACS and societies who have not paid for some years should be continued. For instance if payment is not done for three more years, they are eligible to receive at least one copy of Newsletter and necessary information. It was generally accepted that the draft prepared by Mr. Lim is to be approved after minor modification concerning the way to treat societies who are not paying for some years. The voting was made and the result is 12 (for)-1 (against)-0 (abstention). Thus the proposal was carried. The revised procedure will be attached as an Appendix.

15 Decision on Handling the FACS Laboratory Excellence Achievement Award

Prof. Noller explained details of proposal made by Dato Dr. Singh and himself. Dato Dr. Singh added that the prize will be given only to commercial laboratories and the prize will not cost much to FACS while the companies which would receive the prizes would be pleased. Prof. Ohtaki said that FACS should not mix appreciation with award since any award should have some authority. Prof. Black added that RACI thought that the proposed prize is impractical. It is good to appreciate industry by other means and at other occasions. A similar opinion was expressed by the delegate of Thailand. Dr. Lee said that the ISO standard is set for exclusively analytical laboratories and there is no justification for limiting the recipients of the prize within analytical laboratories. Finally the proposal was voted, and the result was 2 (for) (against)-3 (abstention). Thus the proposal was not carried.

16 Decision on the Terms of Presidency of FACS

Prof. Ohatki explained his proposal to change the term of Presidency based on the calendar (say, from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2001) rather than the date of ACC and General Assembly. He added that the present system has arisen some confusion; for instance Japan acted its role
for two years and a half while the term of Taiwan will be one and half a year. There were some opinion expressed to support the proposal in view of the recent trends in international organizations. It was also argued that the present system has worked properly for the last twenty years, and that the ACC is a very good opportunity to announce the change of the office of FACS.
The proposal was voted and the result is 6 (for)-6 (against) -1(abstention). Thus the proposal was not carried.

17 Reports on 9th ACC and World Chemical Congress

Prof. Noller explained the preparation of the World Chemical Congress, which is a combination of IUPAC Congress and 9th ACC. It was generally requested that FACS should not be overshadowed by IUPAC, to which Prof. Noller replied that there is only one opening ceremony for both functions, and FACS award lectures are incorporated into the main program.

18 New/Old Projects

Dato Dr. Singh proposed that in the forthcoming EXCO meetings the projects should critically be reviewed and particular care should be taken to ChIN. It was requested that the outcome of projects should also be examined and reported.

19 Any Other Business

(i) 10th ACC 2003 Invitation from the Chemical Society of Vietnam.

Prof. Ohtaki reported that he received an official invitation from Chemical Society of Vietnam to the effect that they are ready to sponsor 10th ACC in the year of 2003. All attendants joined Prof. Ohtaki to express their thanks to Vietnam for invitation. Prof. Ohtaki proposed discussion as to when the venue of ACC will be decided, adding that it seems that the final decision would be made two years in advance. If this is the policy, the decision should be made 2001 rather than 1999. It was also pointed out that the decision of the venue of ACC will accompany the nomination of Presidency. He added that in the case of 7th ACC, Japan requested 4 year preparation because of its rather complicated system of CSJ. It was pointed out that in Manila (6th ACC) there was a vote between Taiwan and Australia which indicated that Taiwan had also 4 years preparation. The vote was also made between Australia and Vietnam for 9th ACC. Dato Dr. Singh proposed that FACS should ask all member societies if they have intention to apply to hold a future ACC. Prof. Black proposed that this inquiry will take time and that all societies should
know the procedure of inviting ACC and he moved to approve the proposal by the Chemical Society of Vietnam. Dato Dr. Singh withdrew his proposal. Prof. Fernando (Sri Lanka) supported Prof. Black and the move was unanimously approved (and carried). Prof. Nguyen (Vietnam) expressed his thanks for the early decision and explained that the venue will be most likely be Hanoi and the date will be either November or December 2003.
Prof. Ohtaki recommended that Vietnam should try to have EXCO meeting on an early occasion so that new EXCO members can have some idea of the venue.

(ii) Donation to Taiwan people suffering from the damage caused by the earthquakes

Prof. Ohtaki explained that CSJ has collected some money from the executive members and officers who have relations with FACS. He proposed that donation should also be called for from the participants and he added that a coin box will be placed at the registration desk to stimulate
donation. The procedure was welcomed and Dr. Lee expressed his thanks on behalf of all Taiwanese who suffered from the damage by the earthquakes. He added that the Taiwan Red Cross will be the best recipient of the donation.

(iii) Attempt to obtain fund for FACS

Dato Dr. Singh explained that at the beginning, FACS received a good support from UNESCO and from Australia, but the situation has been changed after twenty years of time. He added that the two sources are now dried up, and that we have to seek a new source if we like to continue our
activity. He explained one idea that some overhead will be taken from big conferences which should be used for smaller conferences or workshops. This point will be discussed in the forthcoming EXCOs. Prof. Ohtaki added that establishment of such a system as company associates would be necessary.

20 Announcement of New EXCO Members

Dr. Lee, the new President, reported that at the moment the new EXCO members would tentatively be:
DR. JOHNSEE LEE(Taiwan) President
PROF. BARRY N. NOLLER(Australia) President-Elect
PROF. HITOSHI OHTAKI(Japan) Past President
PROF. KAN-NAN CHEN (Taiwan) Secretary-General
MR. LIM TECK THAI(Malaysia) Treasurer
To be announced Coordinator of Projects
PROF. TAHSIN J. CHOU(Taiwan) Chairman of the Publication Committee

Dr. Lee explained that the Secretary General and Chairman of the Publishing Committee were selected from his colleagues in Taiwan by following the tradition, and added that he asked Mr. Lim to keep his post for the sake of continuity. Prof. Black mentioned that the nomination of Prof. Noller as the President-elect was already approved by RACI. Prof. Noller explained that he made a wide search for the new Director of Projects, and added that so far he failed to find a suitable
one. Dr. Lee made a move that the Coordinator of Projects will be determined in the 36th EXCO meeting which will follow this General Assembly, which was supported by Prof. Black.
A vote was made for this move. The result was 9 (for) - 0 (against)- 2 (abstention). Thus this move was carried.

Prof. Ohtaki explained that in view of the rapid improvement of international communication (internet, fax, etc), it is not essential for the Secretary General to be geographically close to the President. He added that if this understanding is realized, the structure of EXCO can be more
flexible. Dato Dr. Singh suggested that project directors can be invited to EXCO and other meetings for which there was no opinion against it.

Prof. Ohtaki adjourned the EXCO meeting with thanks to EXCO members, adding thanks to local hospitality .

Back to Minutes of FACS meetings