RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/GC/W/47
14November 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-4797)
SCHEDULING OFMEETINGS INTHE WTO
Note bytheSecretariat
TheGeneral Council adopted Guidelines onarrangements forscheduling ofmeetings ofWTO
bodies on15November 1995(document WT/L/106). Inthelightofthese guidelines, theConference
Office oftheWTO Secretariat hasprepared theattached report oncurrent trends inthescheduling
ofmeetings ofWTO bodies andontheproblems encountered. Thereport isbeing circulated forthe
information ofdelegations.WT/GC/W/47
Page2
TABLE OFCONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION 4
I. MEETING FACILITIES 5
II. FREQUENCY OFMEETINGS 7
III. MEETING FACILITIES OUTSIDE
THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD 10
IV. INTERPRETATION FACILITIES 11WT/GC/W/47
Page3
LIST OFTABLES
Page
Table 1 Meeting Rooms 5
Table 2 Number ofMeetings 7
Table 3 Meetings Cancelled -1996 8
Table 4 Number ofMeetings withInterpretation 11
Table 5 CostofFreeLance Interpreters 12
Table 6 FreeLance Interpreters Recruited -1996 13WT/GC/W/47
Page4
INTRODUCTION
Before GATT became theWTO thelargest meetings which tookplace intheCentre William
Rappard were theGATT 1947 Council, Heads ofDelegations under theCouncil andHeads of
Delegations toPreparatory Committees leading uptoMinisterial Conferences. Meetings ofthe
CONTRACTING PARTIES, which metevery year, wereheldoutside theCentre William Rappard.
TheAgreement Establishing theWTO created additional Council bodies. Wenowhavethe
General Council, Councils forTrade inGoods, Services andTRIPS, theDispute Settlement Body and
theAppellate Body. Inaddition, there hasalsobeen anenormous increase inthenumber ofPanels,
Workshops, Seminars, Briefing Sessions andtrainees. Allofthese meetings require meeting rooms
withinterpretation facilities andinterpreters. However, theSecretariat isstillworking withthesame
basic facilities which were inplace under theGATT 1947.WT/GC/W/47
Page5
I. MEETING FACILITIES
Meeting Rooms
Table 1below outlines therooms available intheCentre William Rappard, theircapacity and
whether ornottheyhavethefacilities forinterpretation.
Table 1
Meeting Rooms
Room Interpretation Facilities Capacity
A None 52
C None 47
64 None 30
G None 26
H None 28
K None 40
B 2Booths 59
D 5Booths 146
E 3Booths 112
F 3Booths 62
Council Room 5Booths 265
Meeting Room Facilities
Since theWTO tookovertheSouth Wing threeadditional meeting rooms havebeenallocated
-G,HandK.These meeting rooms, together withA,Cand64areusedforbilateral andmultilateral
consultations, seminars andbriefing sessions requiring nointerpretation facilities.
Meetings ofHeads ofDelegations canbeaccommodated inRoom DandEifthese meetings
arerestricted totwopeople perdelegation. However there arenowninety-three Geneva-based
delegations. Also, ifprevious experience withMinisterial Conferences aretaken intoconsideration,
ahigher percentage ofthese delegations, ifnotall,willwant toberepresented attheHeads of
Delegations meetings forthepreparation oftheSingapore Ministerial Conference. Asaresult, the
Council Room andRoom Daretheonlyrooms available intheWTO withthecapacity toaccommodate
thesemeetings, theGeneral Council, andtheCouncils forTrade inGoods, Services andTRIPS. Room
Ehasbeenusedforthesemeetings inthepastbut,withafullrepresentation ofdelegations, itbecomes
overcrowded andverydifficult tosetoutwithflagsforeachdelegation. Thishasputanenormous
burden onthefacilities available intheWTO.
Itisalsonecessary toconsider theproblems which willnodoubt occur inthenearfuture with
regard tomeetings. There arecurrently 124Members, thirty-seven observers andseven accredited
organizations. Under theGATT, therewere128contracting parties, butnotalloftheseweremembersWT/GC/W/47
Page6
oftheGATT Council. Asitstands now,allWTO Members canattend allmeetings. Asthesenumbers
willnodoubt increase inthenearfuture noteventheCouncil Room willaccomodate theMembership.
Ofcourse, thisparticular problem willbesolved oncethenewConference Centre isoperational.
Some meetings ofPanels, theAppellate Body andTMB Disputes, which inthepastcould be
accommodated insmaller rooms suchasB(59seats) orF(62seats), nowrequire alarger meeting
room suchasE(112seats). Unfortunately, thisallows forlessflexibility intheplanning andallocation
ofrooms, especially when themajority ofthese meetings areconvened atveryshort notice. Itis
important tonotethatinthepastinterpretation wastheexception asopposed nowtotheruleforinformal
meetings. Itwasalsoexceptional toflageachdelegation forsuchmeetings. Itnowappears tobe
therulerather thantheexception toprovide thisservice forinformal meetings.
TheTraining Division havetheirownmeeting room butforopening andclosing sessions they
require oneoftheConference Office meeting rooms withinterpretation. Theincrease inthenumber
ofspecial courses which require interpretation further addstotheburden onthefacilities available
intheWTO.
Asarule,rooms andinterpretation arenotprovided forgroups ordelegations formeetings
other thanthose oftheWTO. However, ithasbeenthepractice formany years toprovide rooms
andinterpretation fortheAfrican Group andGRULAC. Both ofthese groups meet at9a.m.for
meetings which lastonehour. Usually there isnoconflict withWTO meetings anditismade clear
tobothofthese groups thatshould aconflict arisewewould notbeinaposition tofacilitate them.WT/GC/W/47
Page7
II. FREQUENCY OFMEETINGS
Thenumber ofmeetings inthistablearecounted perhalf-day.
Thefollowing tableshows thenumber ofmeetings heldovertheperiod 1994, 1995 andthe
firsthalfof1996.
Table 2
Number ofMeetings
Month 1994 1995 %Change
between
1994 and19951996 %Change
between
1995 and1996
January 95 77 -19% 142 +84%
February 123 150 +22% 187 +25%
March 142 177 +25% 242 +37%
April 86 135 +57% 243 +80%
May 110 203 +85% 150 -26%
June 144 217 +51% 174 -20%
July 152 168 +11% 183 +9%
Total firsthalf
1994,1995 and
1996852 1127 +32% 1321 +17% over95
+55% over94
August 24 12 -50%
September 120 96 -20%
October 229 132 -42%
November 218 120 -45%
December 135 163 +21%
TOTAL 1578 1650 +5% 1321
Table 2shows adecrease inthesecond halfof1995ascompared tothesame period in1994.
Theestablishment ofaPreparatory Committee bytheMinisterial Decision of14April 1994 at
Marrakesh, theresulting work leading uptotheImplementation Conference on8December 1995and
theestablishmentofaWorldTradeOrganizationcouldaccountfortheincreaseinthenumberofmeetings
which tookplace inthelatter partof1994 ascompared tothesame period in1995.WT/GC/W/47
Page8
Taking these factors intoconsideration therewasanoverall increase of32percentinthefirst
halfof1994 compared tothesame period in1995 andoverall increase 5percentfortheyear1995
ascompared totheyear1994.
Thefirsthalfof1996 shows anincrease ofupto84percentinsome months ascompared
tothesame period in1995. While themonths ofMayandJune1996 show adecrease compared to
thesame period in1995, thiscanbeaccounted forbythefactthatfourmajor meetings were being
conducted outside oftheWTO during thatperiod. UNCTAD IXwasheldinSouth Africa from 27
April to11Maywhich hadaconsiderable influence onwhether ornotWTO meetings could beheld
asmost Members sentGeneva-based delegations whowould normally attend WTO meetings tothe
UNCTAD meeting. Thesame could besaidfortheCAIRNS Group which heldtheirmeeting from
13-14 June1996 inCartagena. Atthesame timetheWHO Assembly -49thSession washeldfrom
20-25 MayandtheILO-Eighty-Third Session from 4-21June.
Allofthese factors hadanimpact onmeetings oftheWTO. Inspiteofthis,thefirsthalfof
1996shows anoverall increase of17percentoverthesame period in1995anda55percentincrease
overthesame period in1994.
Meetings cancelled -1996
Thefollowing tableshows thenumber ofmeetings which werecancelled andforwhich free
lance interpreters hadalready beenrecruited.
Table 3
Month CancellationsInterpreters recruited Number of
interpreters
(6permeeting)
January 12 4 24
February 16 3 18
March 24 3 18
April 17 2 12
May 49 2 12
June 35 5 30
July 63 7 42
Total 216 25 156
Table 3indicates that216meetings werecancelled inthefirsthalfof1996. Recruitment of
freelance interpreters hadalready occurred fortwenty-five ofthese meetings. Itisimportant tonote
thatwhen freelance interpreters arehired theymust bepaidwhether ornottheyareused. The
Conference Office does itsutmost tocommunicate thisfacttotheresponsible people requesting
interpretation.WT/GC/W/47
Page9
Thepossibility ofhiring onstaffanother teamofWTO interpreters hasbeenraised. However,
sixinterpreters ataP.4/P.5 levelplusbenefits would costtheorganization more thantherecruitment
offreelance interpreters.WT/GC/W/47
Page10
III. MEETING FACILITIES OUTSIDE THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD
CICG
After theHeadquarters Agreement came intoeffect inMay1995theSecretariat wasinformed
that,contrary toanearlier understanding, aroom attheCICG would notbemade available ona
permanent basis. However, withthecooperation oftheConference Officer attheCICG theWTO
hasbeenassured firstrefusal ofameeting room for1996 and1997 should onebecome available.
While thisallows some flexibility, there sometimes appears tobeareluctance tousethese facilities.
CostofCICG
TheCICG charges aminimal amount ofSwF375. Thiscovers thefeeforaRoom Operator.
Service charges forwater, electricity, telephone andphotocopies carry anadditional charge.
Other meeting rooms
ILO
Torentaroom outside theCentre William Rappard andtheCICG would costaconsiderable
amount. Forexample, thecostofamedium-sized room intheILOcosts Swf1,670 fortheroom.
Anadditional charge ofSwF350isincurred foraRoom Operator upto4.30p.m.afterwhich the
WTO mustcover thecostofovertime fortheOperator. Added tothis,theWTO mustalsopayservice
charges forwater, electricity, telephone andphotocopying. Alarger room would ofcourse costmore.WT/GC/W/47
Page11
IV. INTERPRETATION FACILITIES
Thefollowing table liststhenumber ofmeetings heldoverthesame period which required
interpretation.
Table 4
Number ofMeetings withInterpretation
Month 1994 1995%Change
between
1994 and19951996%Change
between
1995 and1996
January 41 9 -78% 48 +433%
February 39 36 -8% 48 +33%
March 54 33 -39% 58 +76%
April 25 52 +108% 52 0%
May 61 36 -41% 36 0%
June 46 53 +15% 88 +66%
July 56 64 +14% 85 +33%
Total First
halfof1994,
1995 and
1996322 283 -12% 415 +47% over95
+28% over94
August 11 - -
September 45 28 -38%
October 63 62 -2%
November 65 36 -45%
December 55 45 -18%
TOTAL 561 454 -19% 415
Theestablishment ofaPreparatory Committee andthesubsequent work leading tothe
establishment ofaWorld Trade Organization isreflected, onceagain, inthelatter partoftheyears
1994 and1995.
Themonths ofApril andMayshow nochange when compared tothesame twomonths in
1995. However, allother months inthefirsthalfof1996 show asignificant increase inthenumber
ofmeetings requiring interpretation ascompared tothesame period in1995 andanoverall increase
of28percentin1996 compared tothefirsthalfof1994 and47percentin1996 compared tothe
firsthalfof1995.WT/GC/W/47
Page12
Thisfurther emphasizes thenumber oflarge meetings nowtaking place intheWTO. Italso
emphasizes theincrease intheneedforinterpretation forinformal meetings which inpastyears was
notrequired.
Ifthistrend continues fortheremainder of1996 thesituation mayworsen. TheTentative
Programme ofMeetings fortheperiod September toDecember 1996 listsfourormore meetings a
dayrequiring large meeting rooms withinterpretation. Ifadditional meetings areconvened atshort
notice, suchasinformals, Heads ofDelegations, Special Dispute Settlement Body meetings orPanels,
itwillbecome increasingly difficult toprovide interpretation facilities intheCentre William Rappard,
since theavailability ofinterpreters inpeakconference periods inGeneva becomes severely limited.
FreeLance Interpreters
Thefollowing tableshows thecostofrecruitment offreelance interpreters overtheperiod
1994, 1995 andthefirsthalfof1996.
Table 5
CostofFreeLance Interpretation
Year Total Amount Allocated Total Expenditure %Increase
1994 SwF437,000 SwF465,732 7%
1995 SwF402,500 SwF618,691 54%
1996 SwF459,000 SwF369,972
Table 5shows thattheWTO hasalready exceeded morethanhalfofourbudget forinterpretation
for1996. Ifthistrend continues theWTO willalmost certainly double thebudget amount allocated
totherecruitment offreelance interpreters bytheendoftheyear.WT/GC/W/47
Page13
Thefollowing tableshows thenumber offreelance interpreters recruited inthefirsthalfof
1996.
Table 6
FreeLance Interpreters Recruited -1996
Month Total
January 59
February 107
March 137
April 108
May 97
June 138
July 171
Total 817