Lithuania became the newest member of the IEC on the 10th of August, thus bring the Commission's total membership to 52. The Lithuanian Standards Board has joined the IEC as an Associate Member. Associate members participate in the meetings of IEC Council and Committee of Action as observers, and may go to TC and SC meetings (although not working group meetings). They may also send proposals or observations to the General Secretary of the IEC, who will then transmit them to the Council, Committee of Action or the various advisory committees of the IEC, as appropriate.

At the 60th IEC General Meeting held in Dresden, Germany from 9th of September, 1996 to the 20th of September the Council has endorsed the following appointments:

• Dr. Ryo Togei (Japan) was re-elected as Vice President of the Commission.

• Dr. Enrico Comellini was elected as treasurer of the commission replacing Mr. Fuenfschilling.

• Mr. Robert Denoble (France) was elected through correspondent in replacement of Mr. David Flanders who sadly passed away early this year.

• The following new members of the Committee of Action was elected for year 1997.
  1. Mr. A.J. Flood (Canada)
  2. Mr. B. Hermansson (Sweden)
  3. Mr. J. Ruesch (Germany)
  4. Prof. Y. Sekine (Japan)

On the 18th of September 1996, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has honoured three more members of its community for their outstanding contributions to global electrotechnical standardization over a number of years. The recipients of the prestigious IEC Lord Kelvin Award, an inscribed gold medal, are Giovanni Nozza of Italy, Karl-Ludwig Orth of Germany and Paul Sandell of France. The medals were awarded by IEC President Bernard H. Falk before the assembled members of the Commission in Council during the 60th IEC General Meeting in Dresden, Germany.

At the 60th IEC General Meeting in Dresden, Germany, the governing Council of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has taken the decision of speeding up decision making and maximizing management efficiency in global standardization and conformity assessment work. The aim of the changes is to keep the Commission at the forefront in responding effectively and efficiently to rapidly evolving worldwide demand for IEC standards and associated services.

Council decided in Dresden to streamline and accelerate decision making by delegating all day-to-day policy enactment and management responsibility to a 15-member Council Board. The new board, which will meet several times a year and effectively be responsible for all IEC operations, will replace the present General Policy Committee, which acts only as an advisory body to Council.

Reporting to the Council Board will be a reorganized Committee of Action and a new Conformity Assessment Board. There organized Committee of Action is responsible for the management of all IEC technical work. There will be six automatically appointed members of the Committee of Action and that they will be appointed on the basis of their level of direct financial support (dues) and the number of TC/SC secretariats held. On the other hand, the new Conformity Assessment Board (CAB) will manage all activities in the field of conformity assessment. The CAB will consolidate existing resources and rationalize management of the IEC's current and planned global systems.