20. ATTENDEES AT IWC MEETINGS (1997)

20. ATTENDEES AT IWC MEETINGS

(from "Chairman's Report of the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting")

The Finance and Administration Committee reported that this issue was discussed during the last two meetings, and was just as difficult this year as in the past. The Secretariat began by noting its discomfort with the way Inter-Governmental (IGO) and Non-Member Government Observers are treated; these observers should receive more privileges than do Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) observers. At a minimum, the Secretariat felt that IGOs should have access to all meetings and should have documents available from all meetings. A number of delegations, however, questioned the propriety of distinguishing between IGOs and NGOs.

The Finance and Administration Committee then discussed the admission of observers to sub-committees and working groups. At the moment, observers are allowed in the Plenary and Technical Committee sessions, but do not normally have access to sub-committees or working groups. The Commission has established the principle that only delegates may attend such sessions, unless each session decides unanimously to admit observers. The Secretary proposed a Rule of Procedure that would codify this practice as follows.

(a): Observers accredited in accordance with Rule C.1.(a) are admitted to the Plenary sessions and the Technical Committee. Observers are admitted to the Scientific Committee and its subsidiary groups in accordance with that Committee's Rule of Procedure A.5. Observers are not admitted to the Finance and Administration Committee.
(b): Accredited observers are not admitted to any subsidiary meetings of the Commission or the Technical Committee unless the meeting agrees unanimously. In the case of all intersessional meeting of a subsidiary group the Commission shall determine at the time of establishing each such group whether observers shall be admitted.

The Netherlands stated that the status quo was unsatisfactory and questioned the distinction concerning observer attendance at the Technical Committee and sub-committees. The USA agreed with the Netherlands and said it preferred a change in the Rules of Procedure for working groups and sub-committees to allow observers to attend, and that view was seconded by several delegations. Some countries, while agreeing that transparency is important to the IWC, preferred to stick with the current procedures, and to codify them.

The Chairman concluded that, as in previous years, the Finance and Administration Committee had reached an impasse; it was clear that no agreement existed in the Committee regarding a change of treatment for observers.

In the Plenary, the Netherlands indicated that it was working on an alternative proposal with the USA and asked that the Item be left open, which was agreed.

Later in the meeting, the USA and the Netherlands put forward a proposal which would have the effect of admitting observers to all meetings and intersessional meetings of the Commission and its subsidiary groups, except the Finance and Administration Committee. The USA recalled that last year it had proposed an amendment to the Rules of Procedure to streamline the process of NGO admittance into IWC meetings, which was to be reviewed again this year. However, because of the impasse reflected in the Finance and Administration Committee, the co-sponsors would withdraw the proposal and bring it forward to the next Annual Meeting in Oman.