EIGHTEENTH PLENARY MEETING
DIX-HUITIEME SEANCE PLENIERE
18^a SESION PLENARIA

(26 November 1991)

The Eighteenth Plenary Meeting was opened at 10.00 hours
Mr Malik Abdul Majid, Chairman of the Conference, presiding

La dix-huitième séance plénière est ouverte à 10 heures
sous la présidence de M. Malik Abdul Majid, Président de la Conférence

Se abre la 18^a sesión plenaria a las 10.00 horas
bajo la presidencia del Sr. Malik Abdul Majid, Presidente de la Conferencia

Eighth Report of the General Committee
Huitième rapport du Bureau
Octavo informe del Comité General

CHAIRMAN: Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. The first item on the Agenda today is the presentation of the Eighth Report of the General Committee to the Conference. We had the meeting of the General Committee this morning. There was only one item on the Agenda.

The Agenda Item was Application for Membership by Regional Economic Organizations, document C 91/LIM/48. I request the Secretary-General to present to the Conference the Report of the Committee.

SECRETARY-GENERAL: In accordance with the provision of Article II.3 of the Constitution an application for membership has been received on 25 November 1991 from the European Economic Community. The application includes a request for the suspension of Rule XIX of the General Rules of the Organization in order to allow for an application for membership in the FAO by the European Economic Community to be considered at the present session of the FAO Conference. Rule XIX.2 of the General Rules of the Organization provides, inter alia, that application for membership shall be “transmitted immediately by the Director-General to Member Nations and shall be placed on the Agenda of the next Conference session which opens not less than 30 days from the receipt of the application”.

Rule XIX.1 of the General Rules of the Organization also specifies that “this application shall be accompanied or followed by the formal instrument of acceptance of the Constitution”, and that this formal instrument “shall reach the Director-General not later than the opening day of the Conference session at which the admission of the applicant is to be considered”.

Rule XLII.1, Suspension and Amendment of Rules, provides that “Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, any of the foregoing Rules may be suspended by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast at any Plenary meeting of the Conference, provided that notice of the intention to propose the suspension has been communicated to the delegates not less than 24 hours before the meeting at which the proposal is to be made”.

Under Article II.3 of the Constitution, the Conference decides on the admission of Member Organizations by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, provided that the majority of the Member Nations of the Organization is present. Votes cast means votes for and against and does not include abstentions or defective ballots. Membership becomes effective on the date upon which the Conference approves the application.

The Committee recommends that the Conference call a vote on the suspension of Rule XIX, to be followed, in the event that Rule XIX is suspended, by a vote for the admission of the European Economic Community at the Plenary meeting on the afternoon of 26 November 1991. The results of the vote will be announced at the same meeting and the ceremony for installing the new Member Organization will take place immediately afterwards. As is customary, the Chairman will welcome the new Member Organization and the

new Member Organization will be invited to make a brief statement. In order to gain time the Committee recommends that only one country respond on behalf of each region.

CHAIRMAN: Are there any comments on this Report of the General Committee? No comments. The Report is adopted.

Adopted
Adopté
Aprobado

CHAIRMAN: Now we go on to Section 2 of the General Committee Report.

SECRETARY-GENERAL: This second section deals with the payments by new Member Organizations/Nations. In accordance with Article XVIII.6 of the FAO Constitution a Member Organization is required to pay to the Organization the sum to be determined by the Conference to cover administrative and other expenses arising out of its membership of the Organization. By extrapolation from the provisions of Article XVIII.3 of the Constitution the first payment to be made by a Member Organization should cover a proportion of the budget for the current financial period, a sum which is set for Member Nations under Financial Regulation 5.8 as one-quarter of the contribution payable for the year in which the application is approved. It is not possible to use an established scale of assessment in order to determine the sum to be paid by a Member Organization. The Committee recommends that the calculation of the sum to be paid be based upon the administrative expenses incurred in the issuing of invitations, translation of documents, etc., and on the other expenses arising out of membership of the Organization.

In the case of the European Economic Community the Committee recommends first that the sum total for administrative expenses is set at the level of US$500 000 for the 1992-93 biennium and secondly, the sum payable in respect of the last quarter of the current year be set at US$62 500. The Committee realizes, however, that other expenses are likely to arise out of the membership of the European Economic Community in the Organization which cannot as yet be quantified. The Committee therefore recommends that the Conference request the Director-General to quantify such other expenses in consultation with the Member Organization concerned and that he be invited to report on this matter to the next session of the Finance Committee. The Committee further recommends that the Conference decide in principle that, first, the money payable by Member Organizations to cover administrative expenses should be paid into the General Fund of the Organization; second, the moneys payable by the Member Organizations to cover other expenses, following the consultations referred to, should be paid into a special Trust Fund to be established by the Director-General for that purpose under Regulation 6.7 of the Financial Regulations of the Organization, in view of the fact that additional expenditure will be required that is outside the scope of the present Programme of Work and Budget.

CHAIRMAN: This is the second last part of the General Committee Report drafted this morning. Any comments on this? No comments. The second part of the General Committee Report is adopted.

Adopted
Adopté
Aprobado

CHAIRMAN: The second item for discussion this morning. I am going to invite His Excellency Ambassador F. Poulides to come and report to the Conference on the newly presented Report of the Credentials Committee.

Adoption of Third Report of the Credentials Committee
Adoption du troisième rapport de la Commission de vérification des pouvoirs
Aprobación del tercer informe del Comité de Credenciales

Fotis G. POULIDES (Chairman, Credentials Committee): The Report of the Credentials Committee in accordance with Rule III.2 of the General Rules of the Organization, on 25 November 1991 the members of the Credentials Committee examined the credentials of three Member Nations and found them to be valid; they are Comoros, Jamaica and Seychelles, thus bringing the total to 148 credentials. Six Member Nations have not registered to date. It is recalled six countries have advised the Organization that they will not attend this Session of the FAO Conference, reference the First Report of the Credentials Committee C 91/LIM/7. These six countries are the following: Bahamas, Belize, Cambodia, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe.

CHAIRMAN: Any comments of the Conference on this? No comments, therefore the Report of the Credentials Committee is adopted.

Adopted
Adopté
Aprobado