Declaration 46 - Amendment of Article 8

DECLARATION 46:

1. A new Article (Art. 8.8) is hereby added to the Code to read:
   “8.8. Permanence of name-bearing works. A work once published within the meaning of the Code remains so, unless the Commission rules otherwise. Any subsequent disclaimer or retraction of a work or parts of a work does not affect the availability of the original work or any new name or nomenclatural act contained therein.”

2. The following new term “retraction” is added to the Glossary to read:
   “retraction, n. The action, claim, or explicit attempt by which a published work, in whole or in part, is subsequently declared to have been removed from the public and permanent scientific record [Art. 8.8].”

Explanatory note

Names and nomenclatural acts that became available when first published do not become unavailable when the original work has been retracted or a disclaimer has been issued after publication seeking to render any name or nomenclatural act in the original version unavailable. Once published and available, works, names and other nomenclatural acts can only be suppressed by the Commission, through a ruling made under its plenary power and published in an Opinion (Arts. 78.1, 80.2.2).

HISTORY OF THE PROPOSAL

On 26 February 2021, the ICZN President formed an ad hoc Committee on the issue of the nomenclatural status of retracted works. The Committee was comprised of Commissioners Krell (Chair), Rheindt, and Yanega. The mandate of the Committee was “to draft a proposal for a clarification of the Code regulations to make it explicit that works once published in accordance with the requirements of the Code remain so and the new names and nomenclatural acts contained in them remain available in perpetuity, unless suppressed by a ruling made by the Commission under its plenary power”.

Following the recommendations of the Committee and additional input from members of the ICZN, under Articles 78.3 and 80.1 of the Code, a first version of Declaration 46 was drafted by the Secretariat. A vote was held under the Three-Month Rule, commencing 29 October 2021 and concluding 29 January 2022, to approve issuance of said version. The Commission agreed that Declaration 46 did not constitute a major change to the Code but disagreed that it could be issued as drafted.

A revised vote was thereby issued under the Three-Month Rule commencing 23 May 2022 and concluding 23 August 2022, with which greater than two-thirds of validly cast votes were in agreement that the proposed text could be published in its given form. The Declaration is hereby approved and under Article 80.1 shall remain in force until ratified or rejected by the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), the international body from which the Commission derives its functions and powers (Article 77 of the Code).

Declaration 46 will be published in an upcoming tranche of the BZN.