UN General Assembly
1960

84. The fixing of the time for executing various disarmament measures is of the greatest importance when it comes to an appraisal of the significance of a programme. The proposed programmes can, as a matter of fact, hardly be compared if they are not drawn up in such a way that they cover the same periods of time. The Ten-Nation Committee should give directives to the various groups of experts on this point, naturally without anticipating its final position on the question. To give such directives implies a political decision, but a decision only designed to serve as a working hypothesis for the technical studies. If the first stage is set, for instance at five years, the task of the expert group will be to establish what decisions can be made and which actual measures can be taken in the course of five years.