Here is a summary of the key points:
📢 71st General Service Conference Advisory Actions (April 2021) The core of the document highlights two pivotal decisions voted on during the 2021 conference:
Advisory Action Item 32: Officially recognizes online groups and encourages their active participation in the General Service Structure. It allows online groups to be listed within their preferred district and area (defaulting to the primary contact’s location if none is chosen). This major update formally supersedes the older 1997 policy.
Advisory Action Item 33: Directs the General Service Board to form a dedicated committee to further explore future possibilities and structures for integrating online groups into the U.S./Canada framework.
⏳ Historical Context & Previous Policies (1997–2005) To illustrate how significant the 2021 change is, the document outlines how online meetings were previously handled:
- Under the 1997 Advisory Action (updated/confirmed in 2005), online groups could not belong to a local district or area.
- Instead, they were strictly categorized under a special “International Correspondence Meetings” section in AA directories.
- To be listed, online groups had to provide an internet address and the physical address of a member willing to serve as a physical “mail” contact.
đź“ť Practical Impact on Forms Because the historical rules treated online groups as international rather than local, GSO (General Service Office) created a separate “New Group Form” specifically for online groups. Unlike standard forms, this version intentionally lacks fields for a physical group location or a GSR (General Service Representative), reflecting their past separation from local district structures.