Secretary-General
Mr Fausto Pocar is Acting Secretary-General until the session of Rabat in August 2025.
The Secretary-General is elected by the Institute for three sessions and may be re-elected without interval (Art. 11 Statutes). The Secretary-General is member of the Bureau (Art. 9 Statutes), a standing member of the Programme Committee (Art. 2 Rules) and member of the Board of the Foundation (Art. 4(1) Statutes of the Foundation).
The Secretary-General is responsible for (Art. 11 Statutes):
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- the preparation of the minutes of each meeting;
- the publications of the Institute;
- the day-to-day management;
- the correspondence with regard to the ordinary work of the Institute;
- the carrying out of the decisions taken by the Institute.
Furthermore, the Secretary-General has custody of the seal and the archives of the Institute and his domicile is regarded as the seat of the Institute.
Commissions
The Secretary-General is responsible for communicating the final reports from the Commissions to the Members and Associates three months before the opening of the Session (Art. 6 Rules). He will also lay the final reports before the Bureau for it to set the agenda for the session (Art. 7 Rules) which he shall communicate to the Members and Associates (Art. 8 Rules).
Candidatures
The Secretary-General shall receive the names of the candidates proposed by the National Group or by Members or Associates together (Art. 9 Rules). The Secretary-General communicates to all Members the list of candidatures and supporting documents not less than one month before the opening of the Session and encloses in this communication for the Members who are not able to attend the Session two voting papers in sealed envelopes, one for the election of Honorary Members and the other for the election of Associates (Art. 10 Rules).
Sessions
The Secretary-General submits a summary of the recent work of the Institute at each ordinary session (Art. 11 Statutes and Art. 22 Rules), which is presented during the solemn sitting preceding the plenary meetings of the session. He also announces the names of the additional secretaries and the letters of apology from the members that were prevented from attending (Art. 13 Rules). Furthermore, he may convene the Commissions whose work is in progress (in agreement with their respective Rapporteurs) during the session of the Institute and at the seat thereof (Art. 5 Rules).
He furthermore has some additional responsibilities, such as the preparation of reports and conclusions in cases of urgency (Art. 17 Statutes).