IARU gov­er­nance is defined in the Con­sti­tu­tion. Each Region also has its own Constitution.

IARU is direct­ed glob­al­ly by the Admin­is­tra­tive Coun­cil (AC), com­pris­ing the offi­cers togeth­er with two rep­re­sen­ta­tives of each Region.

The Admin­is­tra­tive Council:

1. coor­di­nates the rep­re­sen­ta­tion or the inter­ests of ama­teur radio at inter­na­tion­al telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions con­fer­ences with the region­al organ­i­sa­tions, under the direc­tion of the President;
2. estab­lish­es long-range plan­ning in close coop­er­a­tion with the region­al organ­i­sa­tions to pre­serve the basic pur­pos­es of ama­teur radio;
3. serves as coor­di­na­tor between the region­al organ­i­sa­tions on all mat­ters of mutu­al interest;
4.  for­mu­lates such pro­pos­als for con­sid­er­a­tion by the Mem­ber-Soci­eties as may be nec­es­sary to fur­ther the objec­tives of the IARU and
5.  adopts such res­o­lu­tions and rec­om­men­da­tions as will facil­i­tate the func­tion­ing of the IARU.

The AC and IARU are sup­port­ed by the Inter­na­tion­al Sec­re­tari­at, pro­vid­ed by one of IARU’s Mem­ber Soci­eties (cur­rent­ly ARRL).

The Pres­i­dent and Vice Pres­i­dent of IARU are elect­ed by the Mem­ber Soci­eties fol­low­ing a selec­tion process coor­di­nat­ed by the Inter­na­tion­al Sec­re­tari­at. They serve for five years.

The three regions deter­mine their own strate­gies with­in the over­all IARU frame­work, through their three-year­ly Gen­er­al Con­fer­ences. The offi­cers and Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tees are elect­ed at each Gen­er­al Conference.

Mem­ber Soci­eties are elect­ed as mem­bers of IARU glob­al­ly but par­tic­i­pate in the work of their respec­tive Region.

IARU’s main focus is on rep­re­sent­ing the spec­trum inter­ests of ama­teur radio to the ITU, the Region­al Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions Organ­i­sa­tions and to CISPR. Poli­cies are devel­oped in part­ner­ship with Mem­ber Soci­eties and IARU draws heav­i­ly on experts from Mem­ber Soci­eties to devel­op posi­tion papers and to advo­cate IARU’s posi­tion in reg­u­la­to­ry meetings. 

On the pages to the left you will find expla­na­tions of how the IARU is gov­erned and the impor­tant roles played by vol­un­teers who work through the IARU and its mem­ber-soci­eties for the pro­tec­tion and pro­mo­tion of the ama­teur and ama­teur-satel­lite services.