The meeting was attended by the President and Vice-President of the Commission, along with approximately 15 other members. The President reported on the election of new officers that took place at the end of March 2012, for four new members of the Organizing Committee as well as a new Vice-President, and thanked the outgoing members. Tomaz Zwitter (Slovenia) was elected as the new VP (2012–2015), and the new OC members for the period 2012–2018 are Alceste Bonanos (Greece), Alain Jorissen (Belgium), David Katz (France), and Matthias Steinmetz (Germany). The current VP, Dimitri Pourbaix, became the President through 2015.

The past three-year period has seen steady efforts to collect large numbers of radial-velocity (RV) measurements, as well as important applications of radial velocities to astrophysics. Improvements in precision continue to be driven largely by exoplanet research. A workshop entitled “Astronomy of Exoplanets with Precise Radial Velocities” took place in August of 2010 at Penn State University (USA), and was attended by some 100 researchers from around the world. The meeting included thorough discussions of the current capabilities and future potential of the radial velocity technique, as well as data analysis algorithms to improve precision at visible and near-infrared wavelengths.

In order to understand general planet characteristics and constrain formation models it is necessary to scan over the widest possible parameter range of discovered systems. Due to detection biases, the domain of very-low mass planets had remained poorly explored. Only with improving measurement precision it has been possible to enter in the sub-Neptune mass range. The HARPS planet search program has been particularly efficient in detecting such ice giants and super earths. The present talk will summarize the obtained results and the characteristics of the low-mass population of exoplanets.

Radial velocity surveys have revealed up to now about 115 extra-solar planets, among which a few multi-planetary systems. The discovered planets present a wide variety of orbital elements and masses, which are raising many problems and questions regarding the processes involved in their formation. The statistical analysis of the distributions of orbital elements, planetary masses, and relations between these, is however already giving some strong constraints on the formation of the planetary systems. Furthermore, the study of the planet host stars has revealed the crucial role of the stellar metallicity on the giant planet formation. In this paper we will review the current status of the research on this subject.