IIW History 1990-2015

underwrite the financial viability of IIW in the event of a negative result from the French taxation authorities. 13 Braithwaite then confirmed that he had no alternative but to report to the General Assembly that the payment of the tax was yet to be resolved, and that he would get back to them on the situation in one month’s time. His directness won the day and the General Assembly was to express its full confidence in his recommendations and gave him the necessary backing to resolve the VAT crisis. Braithwaite’s philosophy regarding finance was quite simple and he was heard to say on at least one occasion, ’remember, the only real money is the money in the bank’. 14 The Institut de Soudure then took the necessary measures to financially protect IIW back to the beginning of January 1996. It enlisted the support of a high level consulting bureau to evaluate a new Directive on VAT that had been published at the time of the General Assembly in Hamburg. A complete file on IIW’s taxation provisions was provided to the French taxation administration and it was subsequently ruled that tax of FRF 140 000 would be payable for the years 1997 and 1998 only and that the FRF 900 000 held in reserve was recoverable. 15 This was a major victory that all shared. Both the Treasurer and Bramat in particular, were understandably delighted that IIW’s financial reserves now remained inviolate. The potential threat of insolvency and bankruptcy had at last been lifted. By way of explanation, some years later, Bramat was to offer the opinion, ‘It is true that the one question to be resolved was the VAT problem. It was technical and a bit unusual because there was no international secretariat comparable to IIW existing in France. The question was finally resolved with the help of a person working in a financial journal who was well recognised by the French taxation system. This took some time because when you are dealing with this kind of problem – paying less tax – it is necessary to find the right kind of person to convince the tax authorities, which turned out to be successful in the end.’ 16 The first draft of a new IIW Constitution was presented to the Executive Council in Chicago in April 1996 and, following a number of revisions and editorial changes, this important document was presented to the Governing Council for approval at its subsequent meeting at the Annual Assembly in Budapest that year. 17 The most obvious of these changes was confirmation that the Executive Council would now be called the Board of Directors and the Governing Council would be called the General Assembly. The other significant change was to limit the Chairs’ term of office on Working Units to three years, with the possibility of renewal for three consecutive terms, instead of an unlimited period specified in the original Constitution. Of equal importance was the need to develop a set of bye-laws and procedures to underwrite the operations of IIW and provide the means by which it was to be governed. After undergoing several revisions a final draft was prepared and the new IIW Bye-Laws approved by the General Assembly at its San Francisco meeting in 1997.

THE NEW MILLENNIUM