General Policies
The ICO welcomes membership application from bodies that are representative of optical science and engineering communities in identified geographical territories. Full information about the procedures applicable is to be found in articles 3a and 4 of the ICO Statutes and article 2 of the ICO Rules and Codes of Practice. The current annual unit membership fee is US$235.
ICO TERRITORIES
ICO member territories may not overlap. They often correspond to countries, but in some cases it is appropriate to have several territories for one country or one territory for several countries.
PROCEDURE
An ICO membership application usually consists of one to three pages. It may in some cases, however, require prior registration of the applicant territorial committee under local rules.
INFORMATION
The ICO Secretariat may request information about free circulation of scientists, local committee history and statutes, or working addresses and activities of representative members of the committee.
CONTACT
Completed applications should be sent to the ICO Secretariat. In any event, early contacts are most welcome for most efficient action. Please read the section below and download the application form.
Territorial Committee Organization
One frequent question is how to set up the Territorial Committee organization; this will often imply establishing statutes. The following guidelines should in general suffice.
BE REPRESENTATIVE
The statutes should make sure that the ICO Member Territorial Committee is representative of the whole Community of Opticists in the Territory and that it maintains close contact with it
EXECUTIVE BOARD
There should be an executive board, with a chairperson and a secretary and/or a treasurer, with well defined rules for their appointment in relation with the local community and term of office.
TERRITORIAL COMMITTEE
If there is a territorial optical society with individual members in the territory, it is often a good solution to have the leadership of the society (division) automatically serve as Territorial Committee
ACTIVITIES
In the absence of a local society, the newly established committee may consider taking up the initiative of organizing any territorial meetings, schools, seminars, exhibits… that appear appropriate.
Apply at any time to the ICO Secretary General ( secretariat@e-ico.org )
Please see a sample for an application letter in its simplest form, requiring no special statutes aside those included in the letter itself.