The Association
The Association
Mandate, legal form, governing bodies and committees. The Association is a registered association under the law of Liechtenstein and holds no commercial interest of any kind.
Mandate
The Association establishes and maintains the international reference standard for the morphological classification of specimens, and administers the certification of personnel applying it.
It was constituted in Vaduz on 4 November 1997 and is a registered association under Art. 246 ff. PGR. It holds no assets beyond its operating reserve, employs four persons, and has never sought to employ a fifth.
What the Association does not do
The Association does not provide clinical advice. It does not endorse commercial products. It does not accept specimens for analysis, and material sent to the Secretariat is disposed of unopened at the sender's cost.
It does not maintain a laboratory, a collection, or premises open to the public.
It takes no position on any matter outside the classification of specimens, including matters on which it is regularly and insistently asked to take a position.
Governing bodies
General Assembly
The supreme body. Meets once a year in Vaduz, or where no room can be obtained in Vaduz, elsewhere. Each member organisation holds one vote. Observer members hold none and are asked to indicate their views by other means.
Executive Board
Seven seats, four-year mandates. The Board meets four times a year and once more if the Secretariat requests it, which it has done twice.
| Function | Holder | Mandate |
|---|---|---|
| President | Dr. med. R. Stuhlmann | 2024–2028 |
| Vice-President, Chair SC-7 | Prof. E. Abgang | 2022–2026 |
| Treasurer | B. Windisch, MSc | 2024–2028 |
| Chair, Examination Board | Dr. A. Bräuninger | 2023–2027 |
| Secretary General (ex officio) | H. Pflock | — |
| Ordinary member | Dr. L. Abgang | 2025–2029 |
| Ordinary member | vacant, election pending | — |
The remaining ordinary seat has been vacant since 2019. Nominations are invited at each General Assembly and none has been received since 2021.
Prof. E. Abgang and Dr. L. Abgang are related. The question whether the statutes permit this was examined in 2015 and answered in the affirmative. The examination was conducted by the Board.
H. Pflock was formerly H. Pflock-Windisch. The change was notified to the Secretariat in 2014 and is recorded here because the statutes require it to be recorded. No connection with the Treasurer is asserted.
Committees
Standards Committee. Responsible for STD-7 and for all errata to it. Meets twice a year. Its minutes have not been published since 2011.
Examination Board. Responsible for the syllabus, the conduct of sessions and the appointment of examiners. Examiners are appointed for a single session and are not named in correspondence.
Working Group on Terminology. Established 2019 in consequence of the Terminology Dispute. Meets once a year. Has adopted no new term since 2004 and has withdrawn three.
Membership
Forty-one member states are represented, each through one national organisation. Four hold observer status. Two memberships are suspended.
The Association does not publish the grounds for suspension. The two organisations concerned have each published their own account, and the Association has read both.
The mark was designed in 1997 by a member of the founding board and has not been revised. The Board has considered four proposals for revision and has declined each of them without recording its reasons.