Building on the enabling resolution passed by the General Assembly in Dresden on August 16, 1998, the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union establishes a "Committee on Electronic Information and Communication" (CEIC) with the following terms of reference:
The CEIC shall be a standing committee of the Executive Committee (EC) of the IMU, to be reviewed every four years by the EC at its meeting preceding that of the GA. Members will be appointed for four year terms by procedures similar to those for Commissions of the IMU. The Executive Committee will appoint one of its members to serve on the CEIC
The CEIC may meet as necessary in each four year period, review the development of Electronic Information and Communication as it impacts the international mathematical community and submit a report to the EC.
The CEIC may organize or sponsor international meetings or forums to bring together representatives of all interested parties, including societies, publishers, libraries, and researchers. It may publish and otherwise disseminate proceedings, reviews of recent developments, and technical surveys for the use of the mathematical community.
The CEIC may recommend international standards on issues related to electronic communication. Such recommendations should be reviewed by the EC and, if approved, may be published and promoted in the name of the IMU.
During its first 4 year term, the CEIC is specifically asked to address the coordination of world-wide efforts to establish web-based servers for mathematical papers, preprints, journals, and books. This includes issues of uniformizing metadata, document identifiers and supported formats, promoting mirroring and the development of search engines for mathematical material and coordination of existing servers. It should publish its findings with the goal of making the use of these servers universally understood and usable by the whole mathematical community. It is also asked to consider transferring the World Directory of Mathematicians to an electronic freely accessible form.