Minutes of the 1st General Assembly
of the International Commission on Occupational Health
27th August, 2000 held at the Padang Room,
Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore

The President, Professor Jean-François Caillard, declared the 1st General Assembly 2000 opened and thanked the Organizers of the 26th ICOH Congress for the excellent arrangements in the impressive complex of Raffles City Convention Centre.

1. Confirmation of the Minutes of previous General Assembly in Stockholm 1996.
The Minutes were approved without comments.

2. Matters arising from the above minutes
The President pointed to one special event that had taken place since the previous General Assembly, and that was the resignation of the Vice President, professor Joseph LaDou. In consequence of the resignation an election of a new Vice President was carried out in 1997-1998. Professor J. Malcolm Harrington was elected Vice President on March 26, 1998 for the remaining part of the quadrennial period 1996-1999.

3. The President's report 1996-1999 - Prof. Jean-François Caillard
(Reference ICOH Quadrennial Report previously distributed)

Supported by transparencies and with reference to the Quadrennial Report of ICOH the President presented a summary of the ICOH activities during the term 1996-1999.

The ICOH Officers had met nine times for discussions of ICOH matters. In order to reduce the costs of these meetings the Officers had used occasions in connections with international conferences etc. which they were to attend in their capacity as senior researchers and presenters of papers.

ICOH Board meetings had been held twice plus a long-distance discussion via email. The last Board meeting of the term 1996-1999 was held the day before this General Assembly at the Department of Occupational, Family and Community Medicine of the National University of Singapore.

The President emphasised the work of the ICOH Scientific Committees as the most important part of the ICOH activities. Details of all scientific committee activities are presented in a separate report by the Vice President, professor Bengt Knave. The group of scientific committees had increased during the past quadrennium. Seven new scientific committees have been added, namely:

• Allergy and Immuno-toxicology
• History of Prevention of Occupational and Environmental Diseases
• Indoor Air Quality and Health
• Thermal Factors
• Work and Vision
• Psycho-social Factors and Work Organisation
• Unemployment and Health

The scientific committee officers met in planning sessions in Mid-term meeting 1998.The meeting was held at the University of Milan by courtesy of the Clinica Del Lavoro, the host of the meeting. The aim of the meeting was to increase contact between the committees, to develop joint activities and to participate in the elaboration of the ICOH strategy. Next step will be the implementation of network activities between several scientific committees and external partners.

The President declared that modifications of the ICOH Constitution and Bye-laws had been discussed to open up for close cooperation with researchers of other scientific societies who do not wish to become full ICOH members. The President presented the rational for such modifications as follows:

- It was proposed at the Mid-term meeting 1998 that the committees should be allowed to accept more members than the allowed two corresponding fellows without demanding full ICOH membership. This would make it possible for scientists belonging to other scientific societies and groups to work on a permanent basis within for them relevant ICOH scientific committees. This proposal would meet with the needs of the scientific committees on Shiftwork, on Health Services Research and Evaluation, and on Work Organisation and Psychosocial Factors. The President emphasised the need to be restrictive in order to avoid that this change would create a side-road to enter ICOH without paying any membership fee. The proposal had been discussed and accepted by the Board at its meeting of the preceding day.

The President pointed out the Articles of the Constitution and Bye-laws that would need modifications. The first modification concerns Section 3 of Article 2 of the Constitution. The existing wording reads:

"Only member in good standing shall be entitled to vote, to sponsor application for membership and to serve on the Board or on a Scientific Committee."

The proposed wording was:

"Only member in good standing shall be entitled to vote, to sponsor application for membership and to serve on the Board or as a Scientific Committee Executive."

Scientific Committee Executive means Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

The second modification concerns Article 7, Section 1 of the Constitution. Present wording is:

"In order to facilitate the purpose of the ICOH, Scientific Committees operate to provide a forum for members in good standing to meet together in order to promote, share and discuss progress relating to the speciality of the committee and to publish documentation relating to the committee's speciality. A scientific committee can only be established with the approval of the President. Members in good standing may join a scientific committee in which they have an active interest."

The proposed modification is to remove the words "in good standing" of the last paragraph.

The President asked for comments on the proposed modifications.

Simon Folkard, Chair of the SC on Shiftwork, suggested that in the first modification the word Executive be replaced by Officer. The reason for this replacement was that the SC on Shiftwork has a large Executive Board which is very useful and will gain from including external specialists who represent other scientific organisations. Peter Westerholm, chairman of the SC on health Services Research and Evaluation seconded the modification proposed by Simon Folkard.

Marco Maroni, chairman of the SC on Pesticide warned about creating two types of members of the SCs; members in good standing who are paying their fees and "affiliated" members who are not paying any membership fees.

The President pointed to the difficulty in balancing the coherency of the Consititution/

Bye-laws and the request to open up for a new type of collaborating fellows.

The President ordered a vote on the proposal that the word Executive should be deleted from the modification presented by the Board, and replaced by Chairman and Secretary.

Result of the voting:

The proposal was rejected.

The President asked if decision on changes to the Constitution and Bye-laws should be postponed to a future General Assembly with possibility for further discussions between SC Officers at the next Mid-term meeting:

Result of the voting:

Further elaboration of changes to the Constitution and Bye-laws were left to the new Board to handle.

The President reported further that the question of extending the name of ICOH to include Environmental Health had been thoroughly discussed by the ICOH Board and SC Officers. The conclusion had been reached that the name of ICOH remains unchanged.

To foster communication between ICOH members and other people and bodies outside ICOH an ICOH website had been developed from preliminary work by the SC on Computing and thanks to close co-operation between the ICOH Secretariat and the Vice President, Malcolm Harrington. A report has been prepared on this subject, and consequently the publication of a paper copy of the Quarterly Newsletter has ceased.

Since 1993 ICOH has emphasised assistance to developing countries. Several projects have been elaborated. Difficulties in implementing some of them have been due to lack of financial support and intrinsic problems in international co-operation.

Many colleagues from developing countries have participated in ICOH arranged and supported congresses and meetings. Bonds have been strengthen with Latin America, host of the next triennial ICOH congress 2003; with Africa through the distance training programme on research in occupational health in French-speaking African countries and through the close relation to the Pan-African Occupational Health Association and with Asia hosting the ICOH Congress 2000. Some national occupational health associations in developing countries have in the past quadrennium become ICOH affiliate members.

During the past quadrennium occupational health development in the whole world has also been marked by the continuation of ties between ICOH and international bodies; with WHO in the Global Strategy for Occupational Health; with ILO in a new programme on decent work. The collaboration with other organisations in the field of OSH has been confirmed in different ways. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 1997 with the International Ergonomics Association as well as a Letter of Agreement in 2000 with the International Occupational Hygiene Association. There are also regular contact with the International Social Security Association. The purpose of the agreements is to establish as far as possible consensus documents on particular issues in occupational health and safety, to exchange methods and to work together in favour of the development and developing countries.

The well recognised and widely spread ICOH Code of Ethics for Occupational Health Professionals has been thoroughly up-dated by a working group of experts from several countries, managed by George Coppee. The new version will soon be published. It deals with new needs of society, new need of transparency, of trust, of reliability towards occupational health specialists and also towards the new rights of workers in most countries.

The President reported that with the unanimous support of the ICOH Officers and Board members he had signed a Declaration of support of the Collegium Ramazzini demand for a total ban of asbestos use.

In order to reinforce the management of ICOH the creation of a Financial Committee composed of some of the ICOH Board members was proposed to the Board and the SC Officers. This proposal was approved and will be implemented by the new Board for the triennium 2000-2002. Among other proposals presented during the past quadrennium was also the introduction of a Declaration of Absence of Conflicts of Interest for the ICOH managers (Board members, Officers and Chairs of the SCs.) as well as previous authorisation by the Board and/or General Assembly concerning public position in occupational health subjects proposed by individual ICOH members or committees/expert groups.

The President declared that even if the ICOH financial situation is stable a restricted budget for the next triennium is necessary as a consequence of increased ICOH activities and the economic recession in many countries. It will also be necessary to find additional financial sources to be able to realise projects that have been proposed and discussed within various ICOH committees.

The President expressed his thanks to his colleagues, the ICOH Officers, Bengt Knave, Jerry Jeyaratnam, Malcolm Harrington and Kee Seng Chia for sharing his duties and supporting him as President. He thanked also the members of the ICOH Board who through meetings and working groups had contributed to the recent ICOH development and preparation for the future. The President also expressed his gratitude for the work of the ICOH Scientific committees and their Officers. Finally he thanked all ICOH members for their interest and support in their various positions within the occupational health area worldwide.

The President presented three proposals for honorary memberships of ICOH and asked the General Assembly to approve the proposals:

Sven Hernberg, Past President of ICOH; Ragnar Rylander, Chairman of the SC on Organic Dusts and Jean Bertran, the former Chairman of the SC on Unemployment and Health.

In this connection the President asked the ICOH members to remember the former past President, Robert Murray, who passed way October 19, 1998.

The President suggested that the 26th Congress of ICOH should send a message to the UN millenium summit to be held in New York, USA a few days after the Congress. One of the main theme of the UN Summit is elimination of poverty. The President proposed that the ICOH message should ask the Summit to include occupational health as part of the strategy to eliminate poverty.

Before asking for approval of his report the President opened the floor for discussion.

Prof. Kogi, Japan welcomed the initiative for further strengthening of activities towards developing countries. The training activities that ICOH arranges in the developing countries remain to be improved.

Dr. Rah, India commented on the ICOH support of the ban of asbestos, and meant that the ban was not scientifically well supported.

Dr. Parek, India brought up the matter of finding new ICOH members in developing countries. He was convinced that for example in India there are many doctors in occupational health who would like to become ICOH members but cannot afford the membership fee.

Dr. Lum, Hongkong pointed to the problem of smoking and passive smoking. He proposed the establishment of an ICOH scientific committee.

The President thanked the above members for their engagement in the various topics and belief in ICOH's possibility to meet with the proposals. He underlined that the richness of ICOH is not money but the brains and skills of the about 1800 people who make up the ICOH membership. All energies and capacities of the ICOH members need to be stimulated and he was hopeful that the new means of communication would assist in that task.

Regarding the ICOH support of the Collegium Ramazzini Ban of Asbestos the President declared that the decision by the ICOH Officers and Board members was based on the principal of precaution and the conviction that it is in favour of all workers.

For people in developing countries interested in becoming ICOH members there is the Noro Fund with the task to grant financial support of ICOH membership fees.

In the matter of smoking and passive smoking ICOH had been invited to get involved in the WHO anti-tobacco policy in the workplace which had been accepted.

To conclude the presentation of his President's report 1996-1999 the President asked members who could not approve his report to speak up. There was no objection to the report, so it was adopted by the General Assembly.

4. Report by the Vice-President on the Scientific Committees - Prof. Bengt Knave
(Reference ICOH Scientific Committees' and working Group's Quadrennial Reports previously distributed)

The Vice-President, professor Bengt Knave, referred to the distributed report and explained that his report had two components: a review of the activities in different fields and a specified report of each scientific committee and working group. The review presents seven areas under which the 35 scientific committees and working groups are distributed according to their scope of work. The review also presents a summary of the factors joining the specified committees together.

The concluding message was that it is necessary for the survival of organisations like ICOH that there must be adjustments in their function and structure to changes in society and work life. For ICOH, this does not mean comprehensive changes in its basic structure; what is needed is to make proper adjustments within substructures, e g within the Scientific Committees themselves. it is reassuring to note from the above review that such procedures are going on in all the committees, and that nothing could be called old, unneeded or unimportant.

The President thanked the Vice-President for his report and asked the participants of the General Assembly if the report could be approved, which was confirmed by the ICOH members present.

The President gave the floor to the Vice-President Professor Malcolm Harrington.

5. ICOH Website and Newsletter - Prof Malcolm Harrington, Vice President
(Reference ICOH Quadrennial Report 1996-1999)

The Vice President, professor Malcolm Harrington, referred also to the distributed Quadrennial document in which his report had been laid out. He commented that the aim of his work with the ICOH website was to create a simple way of informing the ICOH members of activities of interest, and also to try to produce an ICOH Newsletter electronically. He emphasised the importance that not only the scientific committees and working groups are active in producing material for the Newsletter but that every member feels responsible for the quality of the Newsletter. In this connection he informed about the plan of organising a task group for the Website and the Newsletter with one Board member in charge. This plan will be further elaborated by Bengt Knave at the 2nd General Assembly later in the week. Malcolm Harrington concluded his brief report by stressing the fact that the survival and quality of the ICOH website and Newsletter will rest on the enthusiasm and contribution of all ICOH members.

The President asked the participants if there were any comments to the Vice President's report and the issue of communication with members.

Dr. Parek (India) offered to assist in the production of the ICOH Website but organising translations of material at low cost in India.

The report of the Vice President, professor Malcolm Harrington, was approved by the General Assembly.

6. Secretary-General's Report - Prof Jerry Jeyaratnam
(Reference ICOH Quadrennial Report 1996-1999)

The Secretary-General started his report with an explanation why there had been a quadrennial period rather than the traditional triennial period. The reasons were two; the first one to move the ICOH Congresses out of synchrony with other international congresses in the area of occupational health and the second to prepare for the occasion of the ICOH centennial celebration year 2006. There were some disadvantages with this change, like a longer financial period with a risk of losing members, but the advantages to make the change in the period 1996 - 1999 was considered an advantage.

The Secretary-General drew the attention of the General Assembly to two areas of activity, the ICOH finances and the membership dues. He emphasised that the financial status as of year 2000 was not very different from the financial status of the year 1995. In fact even though the Board had decided to run a deficit budget to give room for an increase of ICOH activities, the available sum was still about 478,000 CHF with more moneys coming in from the Singapore congress and membership fees.

The Auditor of the passed quadrennial period has been the Swiss company Fidusco that was a continuity of the auditor retained by Luigi Parmeggiani in his time as Secretary-General. This situation will be reviewed by the new Secretary-General in order to find auditors in a more convenient spot, possibly Singapore.

The next activity that the Secretary-General pointed to was the status of the ICOH membership. The membership as of 1999 was 1879 that constituted no change since 1995. There had been a slight decrease over the last decade that might to some extent be due to the downturn of the global economy. The discussions within ICOH and its Officers to achieve a membership of 3500-4000 did no longer seem likely, as the main source of recruitment of new members is based on personal contact rather than global membership drives. Jerry Jeyaratnam saw the scientific committee activities as the major thrust to increase the ICOH membership.

The Secretary-General summarised the distribution of professions and nationalities and the ICOH membership. 69% of the members belong to the profession of physicians and 50% of the members come from seven countries. Regarding the distribution of professions professor Jeyaratnam pointed to the fact that for many other groups within occupational health like hygienists, nurses and ergonomists, there are international organisations of their own. As to the distribution of nationalities among the ICOH members, the weak economy of developing and newly industrialised countries must be a crucial factor. However, the Secretary-General stressed that when support by the NORO fund has been requested to cover the ICOH membership fee, no one has been refused. In order to take correct decisions in the question of support to members from developing and newly industrialised countries the Secretary-General would like to see a mechanism to determine who really is in need of support and who is not.

The Secretary-General concluded his report by summarising his 11 years in the position. He came into the position of Secretary-General at the initiative of professor Sven Hernberg and worked for two terms with pleasure under his presidency. Thereafter he had worked with several colleagues and had enjoyed most of it. In this connection he also thanked professor Lee of the National University of Singapore for the practical support of ICOH in supply free office space, computer hardware and service. He thanked also Ms Bun Pui Yoke, Ms Saadiah Awek and the accountant Ms Chen Po Jan for their administrative and accounting skills used in support of the ICOH organisation.

The Secretary-General asked the accountant Ms Chen Po Jan to present the Auditor’s report, the ICOH Balance sheet as of December 31, 1999 and the Profit and Loss account of the quadrennium 1996-1999. In this connection he emphasised the fact that only 83% of the projected budget had been spent. Ms. Po Jan highlighted some of the items in the balance sheet and the profit- and loss account that explained how only 173,858.95 CHF of the decided deficit of 200,000 CHF in the budget had been used, and that the total assets were 478,748.14.

The President invited the participants to questions or comments on the report of the Secretary-General.

Prof. Aw Tar Ching, U.K. asked if it was possible for ICOH to find other Bank connection in order to decrease the bank charges.

Dr. Parek, India urged the Secretary-General and the ICOH Board to find some way of reducing the membership fee for people from developing and newly industrialised countries.

Ms. Rodriguez de Villamil, Colombia supported Dr. Parek's request. She added also a wish that Spanish could be included as one of the languages for communication within ICOH.

Dr. Venables, UK asked if a change from a traditional paper-based society to an electronic media based society would achieve some savings in the expenditures.

The Secretary-General explained that the bank charges mentioned include a very large number of transactions. The matter of bank charges had been explored and it had been established that bank charges in the Swiss bank were almost identical to those of the Singapore banks.

In reply to Dr. Parek's request the Secretary-General assured that the new Board will review this matter seriously and present a proposal at the General Assembly in Brazil.

The Secretary-General replied that the request by Ms. Rodriquez de Villamil had been noted.

The Secretary-General also explained that the change from printed Newsletter to a website published type would probably create some savings. The analysis of such a change will be the task for the new Board and the new Secretary-General.

The President thanked Jerry Jeyaratnam for the heavy responsibility that he had taken on for so many years and asked the General Assembly if the report could be approved by the Secretary General. The participants confirmed this.

7. ICOH Officers and Board elections.
The President asked the Secretary-General to present the result of the ICOH election of members to the ICOH Board and the ICOH Officers.

Jerry Jeyaratnam explained that the names of the posts of President, Secretary-General and the Vice Presidents were uncontested. The result of the ballots had been counted the day before the General Assembly and could therefore be announced at the General Assembly. The result would also be posted at advantage points of the ICOH 2000 Congress. Prof. Jeyaratnam thanked the scrutinisers Sven Hernberg, Lai Chan See, Phoon Wai Hoong and Lim Meng Kin for their work.

The result of the election of ICOH Officers and Board members for the triennium 2000-2002 was:

• President: Prof. Bengt Knave elected uncontested
  
• Vice-President: Prof. J. Malcolm Harrington elected uncontested
  
• Vice-President: Dr. Ruddy Cesar Facci elected uncontested
  
• Secretary-General Prof. Chia Kee Seng elected uncontested

Sven Hernberg was asked to comment on the number of contestants and other details of the election:

Sven Hernberg explained that there were 26 candidates to the positions of 16 Board members. The number of votes was 678. Jerry Jeyaratnam added that the new President will have the opportunity to co-opt two persons to redress any imbalance that he thinks appropriate as the Constitution allows 18 members of the Board.

Prof. Jean-François Caillard welcomed the new Board members and wished them a nice three years period. He also welcomed the new ICOH President, professor Bengt Knave and handed over the President's gavel.

The new President of ICOH, professor Bengt Knave accepted the President's gavel with gratitude. He then announced some changes in the Agenda of the General Assembly. Item 10 (Farewell and welcome to ICOH Officers and Board) was to be moved forward to become Item 8. The five last items of the Agenda would then read:

• Item 8 Farewell and welcome to ICOH Officers and Board
• Item 9 Nomination of Auditor
• Item 10 Venue for ICOH Congress in 2006
• Item 11 ICOH Strategy document
• Item 12 Any other items.

8. Farewell and welcome to ICOH Officers and Board
The new President, professor Bengt Knave, expressed his personal thanks to the outgoing Board members, Michel Lesage from Canada, Barry Levy from the United States, You-Xin Liang from China, Barbara McPhee from Australia, Deogratias Sekimpi from Uganda, Gerhard Triebig from Germany and Antonio Werner from Argentina.

The President then welcomed the new Board members who are Kazutaka Kogi of Japan, Louis Patry of Canada, Jeffery Spickett of Australia, Gustav Schäcke of Germany, Alain Cantineau of France, Aw Tar Ching of the United Kingdom, William Murray Coombs of South Africa and Tee Guidotti of the United States. As co-opted member of the Board the President had appointed Dr. Thirumalai Rajgopal of India.

Bengt Knave joined Jean-François Caillard in a welcome to the new Vice President, Dr. Ruddy Facci, and the new Secretary-General, professor Chia Kee Seng.

After welcome of the new ICOH Officers and Board members professor Malcolm Harrington was asked to say a few words to the past Secretary-General professor Jerry Jeyaratnam.

Malcolm Harrington expressed the deep gratitude of all ICOH members for the excellent work that Jerry Jeyaratnam had done during his eleven years in office. He also explained that Jerry Jeyaratnam came into office very suddenly, at the death of the former Secretary-General professor Luigi Parmeggiani. Malcolm Harrington emphasised the wise and careful way of handling the ICOH finances that has been Jerry Jeyaratnam's characteristic in his position as Secretary-General. He has been a safe pair of hands. As a token of ICOH's gratitude Jerry Jeyaratnam was presented a crystal decanter with the inscription "Jerry Jeyaratnam for his distinguished service as Secretary-General in the International Commission on Occupational Health for a period of eleven years - 1989-1999" that he gratefully accepted.

Bengt Knave followed with words of thanks to the Past President, Jean-François Caillard. He compared the seven years of Jean-François Caillard's presidency with a journey on a sailing boat. Apart from the captain Caillard there were two sets of new hands - Knave and LaDou - and one set of very experienced hands - Jeyaratnam. To begin with the journey was smooth and the boat really made progress. Then the weather changed to very rough one. It became so rough that one of the new hands decided to leave the ship. So there were just three ICOH Officers. When the weather was good Jean-François was an excellent captain, but then he also showed his qualities to handle the rough conditions. A new Vice President was needed, so Malcolm Harrington joined the crew of ICOH Officers. ICOH has also during the Jean-François's presidency been the target of fierce and unfair accusations, but he has always had the strength to move forward. Bengt Knave commended especially the Past President for his efforts for the developing countries, to get transparency of ICOH and for his initiatives to increase co-operation with other NGOs as well as WHO and ILO. As a token of appreciation also Jean-François Caillard was presented a crystal decanter with a similar inscription as Jerry Jeyaratnam.

The Past President thanked Bengt Knave for the kind words and commented that the metaphor of ICOH as a sailing boat and its president as the captain was very true, especially when the sailing board is a very nice classic yacht - 94 years old. Although he found himself a little too young to leave the "sailing race" he left the boat with tranquillity in good hands, but promised to continue to support the project of ICOH.

The President asked professor Sven Hernberg, the newly appointed honorary member of ICOH, to take the rostrum.

Sven Hernberg expressed his feeling of gratitude and great honour to have been elected an honorary member of ICOH. He meant that in this he could also speak for Ragnar Rylander and Jean Bertran, the two other newly elected honorary members of ICOH. Sven Hernberg had worked for 19 years on the ICOH Board and has been able to follow the change of ICOH into a modern society, a meeting place for scientists and professionals and a forum of communication and exchange of ideas. He regretted the unfair accusations and hoped that they would come to an end. Sven Hernberg stressed that the interest of the worker is number one issue of ICOH and that is what should govern its activities and standpoints.

9. Nomination of Auditor
The President gave the floor to the new Secretary-General to present the nomination of an auditor. Chia Kee Seng explained that the Swiss auditors had indicated that they would not be able to continue for the new triennium. The Secretary-General proposed that the new auditor should be stationed in Singapore and that the auditing company should be large and international so a future change of location of the ICOH Secretariat would not mean another change of auditor. The proposal for new auditor was the company Deloitte & Touche.

The President asked the participants of the General Assembly if there were any votes against this proposal. As that was not the case the company Deloitte & Touche was chosen as auditors for the triennium 2000-2002.

10. Venue for ICOH Congress in 2006
The President invited professor Vito Foa to present the proposal for venue of the 28th ICOH Congress 2006 - a centennial congress of ICOH.

Professor Foa gave a short summary of events during the time since 1906 that make Milan, Italy the natural venue for the 28th ICOH Congress in 2006. In 1906 the Interntional Congress on Work-related Diseases was held in Milan, the Permanent Commission on Occupational Health – now ICOH – was founded, the first institute fo occupational medicine was established in Milano and the first journal of medicine was set up in Milan and Florens. The Fiera Congressi of Milan had accepted to organise the Congress and various authorities of Milan have given their support of the congress. Professor Foa welcomed colleagues and their families to Milan at the end of August 2006 for reunification of a century of commitment in occupational safety and health.

Bengt Knave explained that there were no other proposals for the venue of the ICOH Congress 2006 and asked if there were any votes against the proposal of Milan, Italy.

As there were no votes against the proposal the venue of 28th ICOH Congress in 2006 was decided to be Milan, Italy.

11. ICOH Strategy document - Prof. Bengt Knave
Bengt Knave informed that the work on a Strategy document for ICOH for the upcoming five years had begun. The aim was that ICOH should be adapted to the changes and conditions of the time but still remain very much as it is. The proposed Strategy document had been discussed with the scientific committee officers and the members of the outgoing Board. The new Board and Officers will be asked to continue the work. The President was going to present more details of the Strategy document at the second General Assembly, but asked the General Assembly to accept the intentions to start up a Strategy document for the next five years. This was confirmed by the General Assembly.

12. Any other items
As there were no other matters presented to the Agenda, the President thanked the ICOH members for their engagement in ICOH and declared the 1st General Assembly of the 26th ICOH Congress concluded.

The minutes have been recorded by
Gunborg Jungeteg,
P.A. to Prof. Bengt Knave, President of ICOH 2000-2002