Official PANNDT Website

Terms of PANNDT

REFERENCE TERMS OF THE PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE HELD IN KINGSTON (Reviewed in June 2001)

1. Definition

1.1 Nondestructive testing is a procedure that covers the inspection and/or test of every kind of material, component or set of resources that do not affect their final functioning.
1.2 In the current state of knowledge of the following nondestructive testing methods there are:
      a) radiography
      b) echography
      c) Foucault currents
      d) magnetic particles
      e) contrast liquid
      f) visual and optical
      g) determination of physical and technology properties
      h) acoustic emission
      i) thermography
      j) vibration analysis
This list does not intend to be exclusive, but an indicator of the nature of the tests concerned.

2. Name

The Institution will be known as Pan-American Conference for Nondestructive Testing. The abbreviated term "PANNDT" used below refer to such Institution.

3. Goals

3.1 The main goals of the Committee are: to stimulate the cooperation among North, Central and South American and Caribbean countries, in every scope regarding development and use of all nondestructive testing methods.
3.2 For such, the Committee, in association with National and Regional Nondestructive Testing Bodies,
3.2.1 Motivates the Pan-American Conference in regards to methods and use of nondestructive testing in periods of three to four years.
3.2.2 It promotes the creation of international rules for nondestructive testing in cooperation with the International Standards Organization (ISO) and National Standards Institutions.
3.2.3 It motivates the formation of nondestructive testing organizations so the certified national delegates can be appointed to the Conference.
3.3 The PANNDT Conference will be abstained from commercial or professional activities, and will not be concerned with wages, prices or markets.

4. Composition

4.1 The PANNDT is composed by a delegate of each country, appointed by an authority or national Institution that has recorded the intention to cooperate with the Permanent Committee's work.
Each country may appoint a second delegate in the Pan-American Conference, but said person will not be able to vote, except when the first delegate is absent.
If the second delegate is also absent, the delegation may appoint another delegate of their own country. The appointees must be presented in writing to the President before the beginning of the Pan-American Conference meeting.
4.2 Even though the candidate of a country is able to be associated with a commercial Institution, it is understood said person represents the interests of their country when it comes to the development of applications and methods of nondestructive testing, and therefore, it should be this person's interests within the Permanent Committee the elements excluded in Section 3.
4.3 The countries that wish to participate in the conference's work should present a requirement in writing to the President currently in charge and said person's candidacy should be voted by the Conference during the next meeting, or upon voting by mail. Most votes counting 10.3 in favor of their candidacy will be needed to ensure their representation in the Conference.
4.4 It is appropriate, to preserve the continuity, to keep the same delegates in the Pan-American Conference as much as possible. However, countries can change the delegates as long as it is informed in writing to the President and Secretary currently in charge, through the National Institution in question, one month prior next meeting of the Pan-American Conference.

5. Board of Directors

5.1 The directors of the Pan-American Conference will be the President, two Vice-Presidents and a Secretary, and the immediate past President assigned.
5.2 The Pan-American Board of Directors will be appointed by the country that will host and organize the next PANNDT Conferences, according to the following:
5.2.1 The President, a Vice-President and a Secretary must be from said country, and must live in the welcoming country.
5.2.2 The other Vice-President doesn't need to be from the welcoming country.
5.2.3 North America, Central America, South America and Caribbean regions must have a representative within the Conference.

6. Executive Committee

6.1 The Executive Committee will be formed by the welcoming country and composed of directors established in Section 5, preferably of one or two more members.
6.1.1 The other member (or members) can be from the hosting country or from National Organization of other countries represented in the Pan-American Conference.
6.1.2 It is suggested that besides the immediate past President, another member from a previous committee that organized the Conference, is a member of the Executive Committee, in order to benefit from previous experience and help maintaining the continuity between Conferences.
6.2 The roles of the Executive Committee are:
6.2.1 To organize the next Conference.
6.2.2 To properly formulate the recommendations for Pan-American Conference.

7. Duties

7.1 President. The President, during the term and with the help of the Executive Committee, must organize and host the next PANNDT conference, according to the National Institution, or another Institution responsible for the Conference. The President must manage every action of the Pan-American Conference and act as President or appoint a substitute to all the meetings. Two times a year, the President must be made aware of the information received from the representatives until one month prior. The President must reveal in no more than 3 years of interval, a PANNDT history, the PANNDT Terms of Reference, a list of members of all past PANNDT Management Committees. A list of previous PANNDT meetings and conferences, details about the Work Group, a list of current PANNDT delegates, details of future conferences expected.
7.2 Immediate Past President. The obligations of an immediate past president are: advising the President and performing other activities designated to him by the President.
7.3 Vice-Presidents. The obligations of Vice-Presidents will be determined by the President.
7.4 Secretary. In cooperation with the President, the Secretary will be in charge of the end as soon as possible. All the activities of the Conference, including the publication of operations; by registration of all matters related to the Pan-American Conference between meetings; by registration and distribution of minutes of Pan-American Committee meetings performed during the term of duty. The secretary will also keep a record of the countries participating and National Bodies associated acknowledged by the Pan-American Committee, such as names and directions for appointed delegates, voters and non voters.

8. Term of Duty

8.1 The term of duty of all agents must start immediately after the conclusion of a conference, and must end when the next conference ends.
8.2 It is convenient that all agents are appointed before the terms begin.

9. Location and frequency of PANNDT Conferences.

9.1 In every conference, the Pan-American Committee must confirm the decision adopted at first, during the previous conference for the hosting country in the next conference.
9.2 After, during the conference, the member countries send invitations to host future conferences, information about the official government or others that provide support or financial support appropriate to the pre-conference period that must be done. These invitations and support to information will be discussed and a decision will be made to the country that will host next conferences. In case the invitations are not received, member countries will be invited to present propositions in writing before the next committee meeting.
9.3 The regular interval between the conferences according to auspice of the Pan-American Committee will be three to four years.
9.4 As host, the National Institution will decide the time of the year and the location of every Conference.

10. Procedure

10.1 The Pan-American Committee will meet at least once during each Conference, and preferably at the beginning and end of the Conference.
10.2 Between meetings, the decisions will be made when necessary upon vote by mail, according to item 10.3
10.3 The majority of votes accounting at least two thirds of the countries assigned to the Pan-American Committee will be necessary in every matter put to vote. During the vote by mail, the countries that do not vote until the chosen date will be accounted as "in favor". Meanwhile, the rules do not apply in case of an action which purpose is to honor a member of the Committee according to dispositions provide on item 13.
10.4 During the Pan-American Committee meeting, all attendees will be subjected to open vote.

11. Finances

11.1 The expenses regarding the PANNDT conference will be paid by the hosting country.
11.2 Such expenses arising from a Conference can be recovered from the enrollment fee charged to the delegates attending the conference.
11.3 The Pan-American Committee does not intend to offer financial assistance to the country organizing the "PANNDT" Conferences.

12. Official Languages

12.1 Official PANNDT documents are written in English and translated into Spanish. Translations into other languages are allowed.
12.2 The conference management will be performed in English, and aside from that, the language of the welcoming country.
13. Honor Procedures to a member of the Pan-American Committee
13.1 The president, according to the last two presidents and the approval of over half of the Pan-American Committee, can honor a deserving retired member or a member who is about to retire, or former members in a meeting of the Committee or in another time, according to this discretion, for instance, during a regional conference. (During voting by mail for that matter, no vote means abstention).
13.2 The person being honored must have been active for several conference periods, in order to promote the Pan-American Conference goals.
13.3 There is no protocol or method to honor a member, there is no need to establish that. The acknowledgement of an award can be a letter, a certificate, a present or similar. The homage granted must be recorded to the Pan-American Conference minutes.

14. Changes to Reference Terms

14.1 Every expected change to the Reference Terms must be informed to each member of the Pan-American Conference at least nine months prior next meeting.
14.2 Such proposed changes, if flagged, will be voted by the Pan-American Committee at least nine months prior next meeting.

15. Association with International Standards Organization (ISO).

Even though the Reference Terms allow the discussion of themes that require standardization, it must be made aware that all standardization petitions must be addressed by the National Standards Institutions of the countries delegated by the Pan-American Committee, and every form of communication with the International Standardization Organization must occur through the National Standards Institutions, if any.

16. Publications

16.1 The publishing of any official statement resulting from the World Conference or the Pan-American Committee, can only be authorized by the Committee.
16.2 In general, the publishing of such statements will be responsibility of each appointed country in the Pan-American Committee.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO ORGANIZE FUTURE PANNDT
CONFERENCES REGARDING NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING

The Pan-American Conference for Nondestructive Testing (PANNDT) has approved the following recommendations that must be applied in the development of future PANNDT Conferences by national developers appointed by PANNDT.

1. DURATION

It is recommended that technical meetings are held throughout the week, from Monday through Friday.

2. WORK

At the National Institutions discretion, in case recent work proposals are directly notified by the authors or mainly by the National Institutes. The National Institute is in charge of maintaining the standards to technical and scientific work.

3. TERMS

The request for works and their respective forms must be issued by the developer at least 12 months before the Conference. The request to present a work must reach the developer with an abstract of the compliance at least nine months prior the Conference.
The acceptance or rejection of a work must be indicated by the developed eight months prior the Conference. While they receive the acceptance notification, the authors will receive the presentation information and class facilities details.
A provisional program with a list of accepted Works and the sequence of presentations in each section must be send to the authors, national delegates of the commission and corresponding National Institutes, at least six months before the Conference.
Final manuscripts in the proper format must be presented at least four months prior the Conference. They must be available for direct reproduction.
An accepted work can be rejected by the developer, if the terms are not met.
The final program must be available three months prior the Conference. Previous prints of works must be available to be distributed to the delegates when the Conference starts. The developer must help the delegates with the provision of facilities to send previous prints to any address after the Conference. Relevant pre-prints must be available to the President of the session appointed one month prior the Conference.
The list of participants with their associations and full addresses must be distributed at the beginning of a Conference. Such list will be updated during the Conference, if necessary.

4. WORK AND PUBLICATIONS

Sunday night: Formal opening and information reception.
Monday morning: Social meeting.
Thursday night: Gala dinner.
Friday afternoon: End of Conference.
The sessions of the Pan-American Conference will take place on Sundays and Thursdays. The day mentioned in the program can vary according to the welcoming country.

5. WORK AND PUBLICATIONS

The preparation must be as follows:
Individual works Summarized works
Round table
The National Institution has the right to determine the number of Works invited and to organize the Conference with a maximum of three parallel sessions in an accurate designated calendar so the delegates can move between sessions, as they please.
The time designated to the presentation of individual Works must take into account the proper debate period after each presentation.
A reporting system will not be provided.
The National Institution will release the Conference Works to general sale, as they wish. The authors are free to seek or accept the publication of their work during the conference in other technical or scientific journals. Once it is published, it must be referenced as a work presented during a Pan-American Conference.

6. LANGUAGES

Works (papers) and discussions must be written in English and/or Spanish. In case of the latter, pre-prints must contain a wide abstract in English. Works and discussions must be written in English, whenever possible. The person in charge must provide simultaneous translations for presentations and discussions in Spanish. If there are other languages available for works and debates, if the person in charge or other country are interested, the expenses must be charged to English and the other language of the welcoming country.

Services or Products (Goals)

The main goals of the Conference are: to stimulate the cooperation among North, Central and South American and Caribbean countries, in every scope regarding development and use of all nondestructive testing methods.
For such, the Committee, in association with National and Regional Nondestructive Testing Bodies, motivates the Pan-American Conference in regards to methods and use of nondestructive testing in periods of three to four years.
It promotes the creation of international rules for nondestructive testing in cooperation with the International Standards Organization (ISO) and National Standards Institutions.
It motivates the formation of nondestructive testing organizations so the certified national delegates can be appointed to the Committee.
The PANNDT Conference will be abstained from commercial or professional activities, and will not be concerned with wages, prices or markets.