IEEE Policies

Section 14 - IEEE Mailing Lists and Rosters

14.1 Use and Control of IEEE Mailing Lists

IEEE membership mailing lists, whether obtained through IEEE Headquarters or through any IEEE organizational unit, may be used only in connection with normal IEEE sponsored activities and may be used only for such purposes as are permitted under the New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law. They may not be used for electioneering in connection with any office within the IEEE, or for political purposes, or for commercial promotion, except as explicitly authorized hereunder. Any requests to Headquarters for a mailing list shall state the purpose for which the listing is to be used. A request for an exception to the above rule or for billing at member/in-house rates (except as provided in sections 14.1.I and 14.1.J) must be submitted to the IEEE Executive Director.

IEEE membership lists may be assembled on a geographical basis (e.g. Sections or Regions), technical basis (e.g. Societies), or combinations of these two.
The IEEE Executive Committee may delegate responsibility to the IEEE Executive Director for controlling the use of IEEE membership lists. The IEEE Executive Director may, by written memorandum, authorize one or more members of the IEEE Headquarters staff to act in his behalf, unless specifically excepted in the following paragraphs by the statement: "The IEEE Executive Director may not delegate this authority." Hereunder, when authorization is vested in the IEEE Executive Director, it is understood to include his deputies as specified above. Blanket approvals may be authorized for classes of repetitive requests.

Lists prepared on cards or in strip list form may be requested by any elected or appointed officer of the IEEE or its subordinate units defined as Section, Chapter, Branch, Council, Region, Society, Committee of TAB, TAB, Publication Services and Products Board, Awards Board, Standing Committee of the Board of Directors or Executive Committee, provided:

1)	The list will be used only for specific administrative purposes of the IEEE or its subordinate units (including recruitment of members, Chapter organization, etc.);
2)	The IEEE Executive Director approves.

Geographical lists, in label form, including geographical technical lists, may be requested by any elected or appointed officer having cognizance of the geographical area covered by the requested lists or by the IEEE Executive Director. The IEEE Executive Director shall verify the validity of the request before processing it.

Example: A Section Secretary may order any list or combination of lists involving only members of the Section. These lists may not subsequently be transferred to any outside organization (unless all provisions of the applicable policy on outside usage have been complied with fully, and only upon written approval of the IEEE Executive Director).

Technical lists in label form may be either the specific lists of Society members or the more general lists based on the IEEE survey of interest:

1)	Each Society list may be used freely by that Society, for its own purposes, as the President or his designated alternate may request, except that a Society may not procure a list and subsequently transfer it to an outside organization for non-IEEE use (unless all the provisions of the applicable policy on outside usage have been complied with fully, and only upon written approval of the IEEE Executive Director).
2)	A Society list, or any part thereof, may be released to another entity only with the approval of the IEEE Executive Director.
3)	The portion of the IEEE Technical Interest Profile (T.I.P.) list that is directly related to the technical field of a Society may be utilized by the Society in accordance with Section E(1) above.
4)	Use of the IEEE T.I.P. list, other than as provided in Sections D and E(3), shall be administered by the IEEE Executive Director.

The internal IEEE use of lists assembled on a basis other than geographical and/or technical shall be under the sole administrative control of the IEEE Executive Director. Example: A list assembled on the basis of grade of membership, or on the basis of service on particular committees, whether to be used for administrative or mailing purposes, shall require the approval of the IEEE Executive Director for its preparation and distribution.
Any member may have his or her name removed from mailing lists provided in accordance with this Statement, upon notification addressed to the IEEE Executive Director.
Nothing in this policy shall be construed as limiting the use of IEEE membership lists by the IEEE Headquarters staff in the fulfillment of approved staff housekeeping responsibilities for IEEE.

Except as otherwise provided in this section 14.1, IEEE mailing lists and/or labels may be used for electioneering purposes. The request for a set of labels shall provide the following information:

Name and address of the person mailing the material for which the labels are furnished;

Source of funds to do the mailing;

The mailer to include in the mailing the above information in items (1) and (2) and a statement to the effect that the material mailed does not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the IEEE.

Any costs involved will be billed to the requester at the member/in-house rates if, and only if:

a)	Each list or set of labels will be requested personally by a candidate whose name will be printed on the ballot in accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws, and
b)	The use of said list or set of labels shall be solely in connection with the candidacy of the individual requester.

A list or set of labels may be obtained by any member for use solely in connection with a proposed amendment of the Constitution or any initiative statement to be printed on the ballot and voted on by the IEEE membership in accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws; the request for a list or set of labels shall specify the amendment or initiative that will be the only subject of material to be mailed, and shall also provide the three items of information specified in section 14.1.I. Any costs involved will be billed to the requesting member at the member/in-house rates.
IEEE membership lists and/or labels shall be used only for those political purposes which will implement the objectives of the IEEE, as defined in the IEEE Constitution and Bylaws. For example, they may be used (a) to urge IEEE members to promote passage of local, state or national legislation, determined to be in the interest of the IEEE, its members and the public by IEEE-USA in the case of Regions 1-6, or the appropriate Regional Committee in all other Regions, or (b) to survey members of the IEEE concerning local, state or national issues under consideration by a legislature. They may not be used in connection with (1) legislation which, in the judgment of IEEE-USA for Regions 1-6 or the Regional Committee in the other Regions, is not germane to or within the sphere of interest of IEEE, or (2) fund raising activities on behalf of candidates for office in local, state and national elections.

IEEE membership lists and/or labels may be used by IEEE or any unit to distribute materials prepared by it which are consistent with the foregoing guidelines and which have been approved as to form and content by the IEEE Executive Director. They may be sold in connection with the distribution of materials prepared by others which are consistent with the foregoing guidelines and which have been approved as to form and content by the IEEE Executive Director, provided that (a) if a survey is conducted other than under the auspices of IEEE, agreement has been obtained for IEEE to receive copies of the results of such survey with permission to publish same, and (b) labels and/or membership lists are made available for sale to others on a nondiscriminatory basis (for example, if they are made available for sale to one candidate for an elective office for survey purposes, they must be made available for sale to all requesting candidates for that office for survey purposes).