The 62nd General Assembly (GA) of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) was held last 19-20 November in Mandelieu, France.
The GA approved 41 new memberships, including 27 full members, 12 associate members and 2 observers. Note the membership as full member of ETSI in the ‘research bodies’ category. Overall, compared to the end of 2012 there are fewer members while contribution units (CUs) have increased, respectively from 759 and 3,708 at end 2012 to 751 and 3,743.
Regarding elections, Financial Committee members were appointed for the period from November 2013 to November 2015 and the candidate for GA vice-chair in the users category was elected (Peter Stateve, named by the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME), supported by BlackBerry UK and the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Information and Communication Technologies) until the end of the current term (November 2014).
The GA noted the current status of 2013 budget execution, with a positive result of about 1.5 million euros, and approved implementing a provision worth the same amount for 2014, in anticipation of future spending associated to an ongoing lawsuit.
The GA also approved the 2014 budget and values of the various contribution units that remain unchanged compared to previous years. It likewise approved ETSI’s strategy for 2014 as well as the Secretariat’s activity plan for 2014.
Regarding ongoing work, the GA approved enlargement of the amphitheatre to capacity for 240 people so it can host GA meetings, among other activities. This will lead to savings in the middle term and the recourse to ETSI’s cash flow for the respective financing.
The GA took note of the progress of work carried out by the ad hoc group for revision of the structure and governance (GAGS) of ETSI, providing guidelines about options concerning the voting rights issue to be developed until the next GA.
The cooperation area saw approval and renewal of several memorandums of understanding and cooperation agreements.
The next GA has been scheduled for 18-19 March 2014 in Mandelieu.
