Minute 1. Call to order. A meeting of the newly elected Executive Board of the World Federation for Culture Collections was called to order at 4.30 p.m. on 16 October 1992 at the end of the Seventh International Congress of Culture Collections, Theme: Biodiversity and the Role of Culture Collections, at the International Convention Center, Beijing.

Minute 2. Record of attendance. The Board: Dr. L. Sly (Australia) President; Dr. V. Canhos (Brazil) Vice-President; Dr. D. Fritze (Germany) Secretary; Dr. D. van der Mei (Netherlands) Treasurer; Mrs. B. Brandon (USA), Dr. T. Deak (Hungary), Dr. C. Kurtzman (USA), Dr. T. Nakase (Japan), Dr. G. Pinaev (Russia), Dr. A. Ventosa (Spain), Mrs. B. Kirsop (UK) Past President, ex-officio member Dr. H. Sugawara (Japan) Director WDC and the invited guest Dr. D. Smith (UK) Chair Committee on Postal, Quarantine and Safety Regulations. Other EB members unable to attend the meeting were: Dr. D. Hawksworth (UK).

Minute 3. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising.

Minutes: Agreed, see General Assembly.

Matters arising: Mrs. B. Kirsop proposed that the four Biotechnology Books could be reissued in a combined volume. It was agreed that the discussion should be led by the Education Committee that would report to the EB. It was also agreed that work on the Technical Information Sheets' should be continued, but that material must be checked for up-to-dateness before distribution; it was proposed that Dr. K.A. Malik should send all material to Dr. C. Kurtzman first for circulation to the EB before new issuance.

The Proceedings of the 1st and 2nd International Symposia on Endangered Culture Collections, 1987 and 1988, have finally been printed and will be stored with the Secretary. Dr. L. Sly said that letters returning thanks to authors will be sent. Availability of this book (free of charge, but postage covered) should be announced in the next Newsletter.

Minute 4. Executive Board. The Board, except for the 12th member, had been elected through postal ballot. Dr. D. van der Mei agreed to continue as Treasurer, and Dr. D. Fritze was proposed as the Secretary. This was accepted. A proposal was made to include Dr. (Mrs.) Zenglin Yuan, Curator of the Pathogenic Bacteria Collection in Beijing, China as the 12th member. Dr. K. Paknikar from Pune, India was proposed as the new Editor for the WFCC Newsletter.

Minute 5. Committees. The old committees were dissolved and the new committees are as follows:

i) Committee on Education

ii) Committee on Standards: It was agreed that the committee should continue its work, as the need for standards for culture collections is still seen as important, but in a somewhat different direction from before, considering the Guidelines being published. Some of the major target points are: (1) revision of the by laws which give the criteria for affiliate membership (which is meant for culture collections) depending on the different kinds of collections, e.g. research collections, smaller collections, or developed service collections, (2) upgrading the checklist and (3) prepare a paper (questionnaire and checklist) for distribution to new affiliated collections, as well as annually to all collections to help keep up quality of performance.

iii) Committee on Patents: It was noted that the task of this committee is now more a watching activity. The chair should be taken in turns by the different IDA representatives.

iv) Committee on Endangered Culture Collections

v) Committee on Membership: This new committee had been set up to revise and tighten up the proceedings for membership: (1) how to get new members onto the system, (2) where membership applications should be sent to, (3) the dues structure. The proposals should be submitted to the EB for discussion.

vi) Committee on World Data Center

vii) Committee on Postal, Quarantine & Safety Regulations

viii) Committee on Biodiversity: This new committee was set up to distribute information, to liaise with other scientific organizations, and to write and publish scientific and popular articles to stress the importance of the topic.

ix) Committee on Publications & Publicity

Minute 6. Skerman Award. Unfortunately, the response to the request for nominations for the Skerman Award was low in numbers. The only nominee was not eligible because he had passed the set agelimit. Reasons for this could be that the request for nominations had not been made known widely enough and/or that it might be difficult to judge the scientific work of relatively young people as "outstanding". It was discussed and agreed that the age limit should be retained because it should be a stimulating award and WFCC especially wants to encourage young people to enter taxonomy and systematics. The president will draw up statutes and forms to be used with a nomination to make judgement easier for those who are in a position to nominate. In addition to that, the next announcement for the Skerman Award will be made much more widely known.

Minute 7. ICCC-VII Proceedings. An Editorial Committee was set up to discuss the format and time table for the proceedings. Composition: Dr. L. Sly (Coordinator), Dr. V. Canhos, Dr. D. Fritze, Dr. D.-K. Song. A formal invitation letter will be sent to all contributors and conveners to submit their written versions by March '93. Provisionally, it was agreed that the symposia lectures should be 6-8 pages long and the round table lectures 3-4 pages long. For posters, the abstracts will be used which were originally submitted for the congress. A request will be sent to UNEP to support printing of the manuscript.

Minute 8. Resolutions. The ICCC-VII resolutions were reconsidered. It was agreed that they will be published in the next WFCC Newsletter and in a number of other publications.

Minute 9. Other business. The WFCC CODATA representative, Dr. M. Krichevsky, was approved. A proposal was made that in future the WDC should be represented at the CODATA commission. It was agreed that from next term WDC director Dr. H. Sugawara should stand for WFCC in this commission.

An offer was made by WDC to house the central membership data base, while working databases are kept with the secretary and the treasurer. This offer was gratefully received to overcome the difficulties arising out of quadriennial change of officers. It was proposed to have names and addresses of members available online but that all internal data to be kept confidential.

Minute 10. ICCC-VIII (Venue, Theme, Organization). An application to host ICCC-VIII was made by Dr. D. van der Mei, CBS, Netherlands which was accepted by the previous Board and announced to the Assembly. Dr. van der Mei will be the Chairman/Secretary of the Local Organizing Committee. This will be set up by him and the composition reported to the EB in due course. The final theme and date will be discussed. Possible topics could include: bioindustries, industrial involvement, medicine, sustainable developments, the environment. In the meantime, important organizations will be alerted.

Minute 11. Date of next meeting. On the occasion of the IUMS Congress in Prague 1994 WFCC will organize a satellite meeting. This occasion should also be used for the next EB meeting.

Minute 12. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 18.00 p.m.