After many years the president of the NCS, Noël Vandenberghe, has decided to pass on his duties. Bernard Mottequin, working at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, accepted the task to follow in his footsteps and his candidacy was approved by the Belgian National Committee of Geological Sciences in October 2018. In the course of 2018, the secretary of the NCS, Jacques Verniers, and the webmaster, Marleen De Ceukelaire, have gradually transferred their activities to Kris Welkenhuysen, also working at the RBINS.

From the IUGS E-bulletin 145: "The ICS chart moves onwards and outwards" by Prof. David A.T. Harper, Chair, International Commission on Stratigraphy.

The ratification, by the IUGS, of five new stages spanning the entire Phanerozoic has been recently reported in the bulletin and the ICS chart updated (version 2018/07, see http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale). But the global reach of the chart is also expanding with over 15 translations now available, covering much of the globe.

The meeting report of Paleogene-Neogene commission of 20/042017 (to be approved) is now available online.

The meeting report of Paleogene-Neogene commission of 28/10/2017 is now available online. This report has to be ratified by the next 2018  NCS plenary meeting.

The stratigraphy of the Ieper group has been revised during the past years by the Subcommission for Paleogene and Neogene Stratigraphy. Published data were evaluated and synthesized. Since a visual differentiation between the units sometimes proved difficult, the characterization therefore relies also on geophysical logs.