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B. Amendments to rules and regulations

Amendments to the rules of procedure
Amendments to the financial regulations

Amendments to the rules of procedure

The Conference adopts, at the Eighth Plenary Meeting, by a vote of 43 ayes, no noes, and 5 abstentions, the following amendments to the Rules of Procedure. With the exception of Rule XX, these amendments are being made in order to bring the rules into conformity with the new amendments to the Constitution.

General. Substitute in the Rules of Procedure the word "Council" for the words "Executive Committee" in each ease where these latter words appear. References to the Executive Committee in any agreement already concluded by the Organization shall henceforth be deemed to be references to the Council.

Rule IV (Secretariat). Substitute for paragraph 1 the following:

1. The Director-General shall provide and direct such secretarial and other staff and facilities as may be required by the Conference, the Council and such commissions or committees as they may establish. Rule XX (Admission of New Members). Amend paragraph 2 as follows: 2. Any such applications shall be placed on the agenda of the next session which opens not less than 30 days from the receipt of the applications Rule XXI (Budget and Finance). Substitute in paragraph 1 (d) the word "Council" for the words "Committee on Financial Control."

Rule XXIV (Election of the Council). Substitute for the present rule the following:

1. Members of the Council shall be elected f or a term of three years; but when the Council is first constituted, one third of the members shall be elected for a period of one year, one-third for a period of two years, and one-third for a period of three years. The members whose terms are to expire at the end of the above-mentioned initial periods of one and two years shall be chosen by lot to be drawn by the Director-General immediately after the first election has been completed.

2. Each member of the Council may appoint an alternate, associates, and advisers to its representative on the Council. The Council may make rules concerning the participation of alternates, associates, and advisers in its proceedings, but any such participation shall be without the right to vote except in the case of an alternate or associate participating in the place of a representative.

3. On the receipt by the Director-General of notice of withdrawal of a member nation from the Organization, such member nation, if it be also a member of the Council, shall retire from the Council at the time of the next following annual session of the Conference and another member nation shall thereupon be elected to the Council in its place.

4. In selecting members of the Council due consideration shall be given to the inclusion in its membership of a balanced geographical representation of nations interested in the production, distribution, and consumption of food and Agricultural Products.

5. The Conference shall, at each regular session, fill all vacancies on the Council after considering any suggestions by the General committee.

6. Member nations shall be eligible for re-election to the Council.

7. The Director-General, or a representative designated by him, shall participate without vote in all meetings of the Council.

8. A member of the Council shall be considered to have resigned if it is in arrears in payments of its Financial contribution to the Organization in au amount equal to or exceeding the contributions due from it for the preceding two financial years, or if it has not been represented at two consecutive sessions of the Council, and any such vacancy shall be filled by the Conference at its next session for the uncompleted term.

9. No member nation shall be eligible for election to the Council if it is in arrears in payments of its financial contribution to the Organization in an amount equal to or exceeding the contributions due from it for the preceding two Financial years.

 Rule XXIV-A (Chairman of the Council). Insert new rule as follows: 1. In pursuance of Article V, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, the Chairman of the Council shall be appointed for one year under the following conditions:  

(a) The appointment of the Chairman shall be placed on the agenda of each regular session of the Conference. Before, however, the appointment is considered in a plenary meeting, the General Committee shall submit a nomination (or nominations).

(b) The conditions of appointment of the Chairman, including the allowances attached to the Office, shall be determined by the Conference on the occasion of each appointment, having regard to any recommendations submitted by the General Committee.

 Rule XXV (Meetings of the Council). Substitute for the present rule the following: 1. The Chairman of the Council shall have no vote.

2. The Council shall meet as often as it considers necessary, or on the call of its Chairman or the Director-General, or on request submitted in writing to the Director-General by five or more member nations; it shall meet at least once between the annual sessions of the Conference, and in addition it shall meet immediately preceding the annual Conference session.

3. The travelling expenses of one representative of each member of the Council, properly incurred in travelling to and from sessions of the Council, shall be borne by the Organization.

4. (a) The Director-General, in consultation with the Chairman of the Council and having regard to suggestions made by any member nation of the Organization, shall prepare a draft agenda and circulate it to all members of the Organization in advance of the meeting together with accompanying documentation. The agenda and documentation shall be circulated by airmail not less than four weeks in advance of any meeting unless unforeseen circumstances make this impossible.

(b) Any member of the Council may request the Director-General, not less than six weeks before the proposed date of any meeting, to insert an item in the draft agenda for that meeting. The Director-General shall thereupon, if necessary, circulate a revised agenda to all member nations together with any necessary papers.

5. The Council shall make such arrangements, including provision for representation and consultation, as are or may be laid down in agreement with the United Nations, other specialized agencies, and other international organizations concluded by the Organization pursuant to Article XII of the Constitution.

6. The Council shall arrange for participation without vote and for consultation with any specialized agency or other public international organization which it deems to be appropriate.

7. The Council shall make provision for any member nation not represented on the Council to submit memoranda and participate without vote in any discussion of all items which that member nation considers of Special interest.

8. The Council shall make provision for participation in appropriate meetings for observers from nonmember nations and from intergovernmental commodity groups, and for them to participate, at the discretion of the Council, in discussion of particular items and to submit memoranda.

9. The Council is authorized to ascertain the views of nongovernmental organizations with which the Organization has established relationships.

10. The Council shall make provision for keeping all member nations of the Organization informed of its activities.

 Rule XXVI (Functions of the Council). Substitute for the present rule the following: 1. Included among the powers and duties of the Council under paragraph 2 of Article V of the Constitution shall be:  

(a) To keep under constant review matters within the scope of the annual intergovernmental policy consultations of the Organization;

(b) To tender advice on such matters to governments of member nations, intergovernmental commodity councils or other commodity authorities and, through the Director-General, to other specialized international agencies;

(c)

 

(i) to aid the Director-General and the staff of the Organization in preparing the Report and agenda for the annual intergovernmental policy consultations;

(ii) to examine current developments in proposed and existing intergovernmental Agricultural commodity arrangements, particularly those developments affecting adequacy of food supply, utilization of food reserves and famine relief, changes in production or pricing policies, and Special food programs for undernourished groups;

(iii) to promote consistency and integration of Agricultural commodity policies, national and international, with regard to (a) over-all FAO objectives, (b) the interrelationship of production, distribution, and consumption, and (c) interrelationships of Agricultural commodities;

(iv) to initiate and authorize groups to study and investigate agricultural commodity situations which are becoming critical, and to propose appropriate action, if necessary, under Article I, paragraph 2 (f), of the FAO Constitution;

(v) to advise on emergency measures such as those relating to the export and import of food and materials or equipment needed for Agricultural production in order to facilitate implementation of national programs; and, if necessary, to request the Director-General to submit such advice to appropriate governments of member nations for action;

 (d) To perform the foregoing functions (ii), (iii), and (iv) in conformity with the Economic and Social Council's Resolution of 28 March 1947, relating to international commodity arrangements, and generally to act in close cooperation with the appropriate specialized agencies and intergovernmental bodies;

(e) To perform such other functions as are necessary to assist in the effective functioning of the Organization, and in particular

 

(i) to advise the Director-General on matters of policy and administration and to exercise the general supervision provided for in Rule XXIX, paragraph 1;

(ii) to consider and approve the proposals of the Director-General with regard to (a) scale of salaries and conditions of recruitment and Service of the staff, (b) general staff regulations, and (e) general structure of the Services of the Organization;

(iii) to exercise the function of Financial control as provided by Annex I to these Rules of Procedure;

(iv) on the advice of the Director-General, to authorize him to convene general, technical, regional, or other Special conferences and arrange for representation thereat (Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution);

(v) subject to confirmation by the Conference at the next session, to enter into agreements with other Public international organizations (Article XII, paragraph 1, of the Constitution);

(vi) to determine on the advice of the Director-General the times at, and the forms in which, the progress reports referred to in Article XI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution shall be made and the particulars which they shall contain;

(vii) to propose to the Conference nominations for the delegates who are to be members of the Nominations Committee of the Conference;

(viii) to make recommendations concerning the relationship between the Organization and international nongovernmental organizations in accordance with procedures determined by the Conference;

(ix) to consider any other matters, within its term of reference, which may be submitted to it by its Chairman or the Director-General.

 2. The Council is authorized to establish such committees of itself as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions, and to include on such committees persons selected in their individual capacity because of Special competence in a particular field or representatives of governments particularly interested in that field.

3. The Council shall appoint a Co-ordinating Committee, composed of the chairmen of the Council, the Standing Advisory Committees, and the Committee on Financial Control, to advise the Director-General from time to time on the co-ordination of the work undertaken by the technical divisions of the Organization in accordance with the decisions of the Conference.

 Rule XXVII (Technical and Regional Standing Committees of the Organization). Substitute for paragraph 1 the following: 1. The Director-General may recommend to the Council the establishment of standing committees provided for under Article VI, paragraph 1 of the Constitution. If such recommendations is approved by the Council the Director-General may submit nominations for appointment to membership on such standing committees. Rule XXIX (Functions of the Director-General). Add, between paragraphs 2 (a) and (b) the following two paragraphs, and reletter the succeeding paragraphs accordingly: (b) provide a secretariat for the meetings of the Council, assign staff, and provide such other Services as the Council may require, in the same way as he provides similar services for the annual sessions of the Conference.

(c) be responsible for ensuring continuity in the work initiated by the Council between meetings of the Council, and for keeping in constant touch with intergovernmental commodity bodies and with relevant United Nations agencies.

 Rule XXXI (Provisions Relating to Staff). Substitute for Paragraph 6 the following: 6. The Director-General shall arrange for consultation between the Organization and the United Nations with regard to the establishment of common machinery for the settlement of matters of dispute between the employees and the Organization which have not been settled by internal conciliation. Amendments to the financial regulations

The Conference adopts, at the Eighth Plenary meeting, by a vote of 43 ayes, no noes, and 5 abstentions, the following amendments to the Financial Regulations, Annex I to the Rules of Procedure:

Regulation I (Financial Control). Substitute for the present rule the following:

1. The Council shall exercise the functions of Financial control as assigned to it by Rule XXVI, paragraph 1(e) (iii), and by these Regulations, including those administrative functions related to Financial control as defined in Rule XXVI, paragraph 1(e)(i) and (ii), and shall deal with any other Special matters concerning financial control and related problems of administration which may be referred to it by the Conference or by the Director-General.

2. To assist the Council in performing its duties of financial control as provided for in Rule XXVI, paragraph 1 (e) (iii), the Council shall establish at its first meeting after each Conference session a Committee on Financial Control, consisting of not more than five members to serve for such terms and under such conditions as may be established in the Rules of the Council. This Committee shall be composed of a Chairman selected from among the persons indicated to represent their governments on the Council, and four persons in the governments Service of member nations selected for their Special competence in financial administration. No two of the persons on this Committee shall be of the same nationality. Any vacancy occurring during the term of office of a member shall, if possible, be filled by another person in the government Service of the same nation.

3. The Council may delegate to the Committee on Financial Control such financial and related functions as it may determine.

4. In performing its duties of Financial control, the Council shall consult with and obtain reports from the Committee on Financial Control.

5. The Council shall, on request of the Committee on Financial Control, transmit any reports of the Committee to member governments and to the next regular session of the Conference, together with any comments the Council may wish to make.

 Consequential changes. Make the necessary consequential changes in the other Regulations to substitute the word "Council" for the words "Committee on Financial Control;" and the words "Committee on Financial Control" for the words "Subcommittee on Finance."

Regulation III (Preparation of Annual Budget). Amend paragraph 4 as follows:

4. The Director-General shall arrange for the draft annual budget to be considered by the Council not later than 1 July. Regulation XI (Working Capital Fund). Substitute for the present rule the following: 1. In accordance with the provisions of Annex II of the Constitution, the unspent balance of the budget for the First Financial Year shall constitute the nucleus of the Working Capital Fund.

2. Subject to a decision of the Conference to the contrary, the unspent balances of subsequent Financial years shall also be allocated to the Working Capital Fund.

3. The Working Capital Fund is primarily applicable to meeting expenditure of the Organization within the limits of the approved budget which cannot be paid out of income at the time when they are due to be met. If the expenses of the Organization cannot be paid out of current income at the time when they are due to be met, the Director-General is authorized to meet them by drawing on the Working Capital Fund, it being understood that any such advances from the \Working Capital Fund shall be repaid as soon as the necessary receipts are available. If a Financial year ends with a deficit, this deficit shall be met by a reduction of the Working Capital Fund, and the Conference shall then consider what measures if any shall be taken to restore the amounts withdrawn.

4. The amounts added to the Working Capital Fund under paragraphs 1 and 2 hereof shall be carried to the credit of member governments in the ratio of their respective contributions thereto, and any amounts withdrawn from the Working Capital Fund under paragraph 3 shall be deducted from the credits in the same ratio.

5. The Conference may release any part of the Working Capital Fund for any purpose which it may consider desirable whether by way of Special non recurrent expenditure or of reduction in contributions. The amount thus released shall in the former ease be deducted from the credits standing in the names of member governments in the ratio laid down in paragraph 4 hereof; in the latter ease it shall be ducted from the contribution for the following year in the same ratio

6. Subject to a decision of the Conference on each individual ease, governments which for any reason cease to be members of the Organization may, provided they have fulfilled all statutory obligations which they have to the Organization, obtain reimbursement of the amounts standing to their credit in the Working Capital Fund.

 Regulation XIV (Expenditure of Funds). Add paragraphs 5 and 6 as follows: 5. Payments in respect of transactions for which provision is made in the budget of a particular year and which actually take place before 31 December of that year may be changed to the accounts of that year if they are made not later than 31 January of the following year.

6. When a recommendations or proposal which would involve expenditure of funds of the Organization (other than as provided in the Budget) is under consideration by the Conference, Council, any committee. of the Organization, or any related body which is financed from FAO funds, the Director-General or his authorized representative, shall report promptly upon the Financial implications of such recommendations or proposal, together with an estimate of the approximate casts involved, and final action on such recommendations or proposals shall include consideration of the Financial aspects thereof.

 Regulation XVIII (Examination of Audited Accounts). Amend as follows: 1. As soon as his report is available, but in any ease not later than four months after the close of the Financial year, the auditor will communicate results of the annual audit directly to the Chairman of the Council. The Chairman of the Council will convene a meeting in order to draw up a report on the annual audit for submission to the Conference at its next regular session. The audited accounts and the report thereon shall show (a) the Financial position of the Organization, and (b) the regularity of its financial transactions, and shall include an appraisal of the effectiveness of its Financial methods and management, including recommendations with regard to any improvement. A copy of the results of the audit shall also be transmitted by the auditor to the Director-General, who shall present to the Council such comments thereon as he may desire to make.

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