Dear Commission B Official Member,

This letter concerns two important Commission B matters, namely

a ) The election of incoming vice-chair

b ) The choice of venue for the 2007 EM Theory Symposium

a ) The vote by mail is now closed. Since the final vote takes place at the Maastricht GA, the results from the mail vote will not be announced separately. Cf. the URSI rules: An Official Member present at the GA can cast his/her vote then, independent of whether he/she has participated in the vote by mail. The vote by mail counts unless itis changed at the GA by the Official Member ( or his/her designated representative; please note that if you are going to be represented by someone else during the final vote at the GA, the URSI Secretariat must be informed about this ! )

Note: All who have voted by mail should have received an acknowledgement from me by e-mail. If not, please contact me as soon as possible !

b ) At the March 1st, 2002, deadline for proposals concerning the 2007 EMTS, I had received one proposal, from Italy, proposing that itm be held in Pisa ( the proposal is attached as a pdf document ). The members of the ad hoc group for reviewing the EMTS proposals, Ehud Heyman and Ari Sihvola, and I fully agreed that the Italian proposal was

very well prepared and attractive. Therefore we agreed to recommend Commission B to accept the Italian proposal, rather than extending the process. The Italian proposers will be invited to present their plans at a Commission B business meeting in Maastricht. Since we are not facing a vote between two proposals, I suggest that we simplify matters and have an accept/reject decision by a show of hands after the presentation of the proposal at that meeting.

I look forward to seeing you in Maastricht !

Best wishes, Staffan Ström

Chair, Commission B.