RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/CTE/W/13/Rev.1
19February 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-0653)
Committee onTrade andEnvironment
DRAFT RULES OFPROCEDURE FOR MEETINGS OFTHE
COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND ENVIRONMENT
Note bytheSecretariat
Revision
Thefollowing draftRules ofProcedure fortheCommittee onTrade andEnvironment are
being circulated bytheSecretariat attherequest oftheChairman oftheCommittee. They willbe
proposed foradoption bytheCommittee atitsfirstmeeting in1997. These Rules arebased on
theRules ofProcedure forMeetings oftheGeneral Council (WT/L/161); changes which are
being proposed areshown inboldtypeorbystrike-out (cf.Rule5).
Itwould beappreciated ifdelegations having comments onthedraftRules could inform
theChairman viatheSecretariat (Ms. Shaw, 739-5482).
Chapter 1-Meetings
Rule1
TheCommittee onTrade andEnvironment (hereinafter theCommittee) shallmeetas
appropriate.
Rule2
Meetings oftheCommittee shallbeconvened bytheDirector-General byanotice issued
notlessthantencalendar daysprior tothedatesetforthemeeting. Intheevent thatthetenth
dayfallsonaweekend oraholiday, thenotice shallbeissued nolaterthanthepreceding WTO
working day. Meetings maybeconvened withshorter notice formatters ofsignificant importance
orurgency attherequest ofaMember concurred inbythemajority oftheMembers.
Chapter II—Agenda
Rule3
Alistoftheitems proposed fortheagenda ofthemeeting shallbecommunicated to
Members together withtheconvening notice forthemeeting. ItshallbeopentoanyMember to
suggest items forinclusion intheproposed agenda upto,andnotincluding, thedayonwhich the
notice ofthemeeting istobeissued.WT/CTE/W/13/Rev.1
Page2
Rule4
Requests foritems tobeplaced ontheagenda ofaforthcoming meeting shallbe
communicated totheSecretariat inwriting, together withtheaccompanying documentation tobe
issued inconnection withthatitem. Documentation forconsideration atameeting shallbe
circulated notlaterthanthedayonwhich thenotice ofthemeeting istobeissued.
Rule5
Notapplicable.
Aproposed agenda shallbecirculated bytheSecretariat oneortwodaysbefore the
meeting.
Rule6
Thefirstitemofbusiness ateachmeeting shallbetheconsideration andapproval ofthe
agenda. Representatives maysuggest amendments totheproposed agenda, oradditions tothe
agenda under "Other Business". Representatives shallprovide theChairperson ortheSecretariat,
andtheother Members directly concerned, whenever possible, advance notice ofitems intended to
beraised under "Other Business".
Rule7
TheCommittee mayamend theagenda orgivepriority tocertain items atanytimeinthe
course ofthemeeting.
Chapter III—Representation
Rule8
Each Member shallberepresented byanaccredited representative.
Rule9
Each representative maybeaccompanied bysuchalternates andadvisers asthe
representative mayrequire.
Chapter IV—Observers
Rule10
Representatives ofStates orseparate customs territories mayattend themeetings as
observers ontheinvitation oftheCommittee inaccordance withparagraphs 9to11ofthe
guidelines inAnnex 2tothese Rules theRules ofProcedure forMeetings oftheGeneral
Council .
Rule11
Representatives ofinternational intergovernmental organizations mayattend themeetings
asobservers ontheinvitation oftheCommittee inaccordance withtheguidelines inAnnex 3to
these Rules theRules ofProcedure forMeetings oftheGeneral Council.WT/CTE/W/13/Rev.1
Page3
Chapter V—Officers
Rule12
TheCommittee shallelectaChairperson1andmayelectaVice-Chairperson from among
therepresentatives ofMembers. Theelection shalltakeplace atthefirstmeeting oftheyearand
shalltakeimmediate effect. TheChairperson andVice-Chairperson shallholdoffice untiltheend
ofthefirstmeeting ofthefollowing year.
Rule13
IftheChairperson isabsent from anymeeting orpartthereof, theVice-Chairperson shall
perform thefunctions oftheChairperson. IfnoVice-Chairperson waselected orifthe
Vice-Chairperson isnotpresent theCommittee shallelectaninterim Chairperson forthatmeeting
orthatpartofthemeeting.
Rule14
IftheChairperson cannolonger perform thefunctions oftheoffice, theCommittee shall
designate theVice-Chairperson referred toinRule12or,ifnoVice-Chairperson waselected it
shall electaninterim Chairperson toperform those functions pending theelection ofanew
Chairperson.
Rule15
TheChairperson shallnormally participate intheproceedings assuchandnotasthe
representative ofaMember. TheChairperson may, however, atanytimerequest permission to
actineither capacity.
Chapter VI—Conduct ofbusiness
Rule16
Asimple majority oftheMembers shallconstitute aquorum.
Rule17
Inaddition toexercising thepowers conferred elsewhere bythese rules, theChairperson
shalldeclare theopening andclosing ofeachmeeting, shalldirect thediscussion, accord theright
tospeak, submit questions fordecision, announce decisions, ruleonpoints oforder and,subject
tothese rules, havecomplete control oftheproceedings. TheChairperson mayalsocallaspeaker
toorder iftheremarks ofthespeaker arenotrelevant.
Rule18
During thediscussion ofanymatter, arepresentative mayraiseapoint oforder. Inthis
casetheChairperson shallimmediately statetheruling. Iftheruling ischallenged, the
Chairperson shallimmediately submit itfordecision anditshallstand unless overruled.
1TheCommittee shallapply therelevant guidelines contained inthe"Guidelines forAppointment ofOfficers toWTO Bodies"
(WT/L/31).WT/CTE/W/13/Rev.1
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Rule19
During thediscussion ofanymatter, arepresentative maymove theadjournment ofthe
debate. Anysuchmotion shallhavepriority. Inaddition totheproponent ofthemotion, one
representative maybeallowed tospeak infavour of,andtworepresentatives against, themotion,
afterwhich themotion shallbesubmitted fordecision immediately.
Rule20
Arepresentative mayatanytimemove theclosure ofthedebate. Inaddition tothe
proponent ofthemotion, notmore thanonerepresentative maybegranted permission tospeak in
favour ofthemotion andnotmore thantworepresentatives maybegranted permission tospeak
against themotion, afterwhich themotion shallbesubmitted fordecision immediately.
Rule21
During thecourse ofthedebate, theChairperson mayannounce thelistofspeakers and,
withtheconsent ofthemeeting, declare thelistclosed. TheChairperson may, however, accord
therightofreply toanyrepresentative ifaspeech delivered afterthelisthasbeendeclared closed
makes thisdesirable.
Rule22
TheChairperson, withtheconsent ofthemeeting, maylimitthetimeallowed toeach
speaker.
Rule23
Representatives shallendeavour, totheextent thatasituation permits, tokeeptheiroral
statements brief. Representatives wishing todevelop theirposition onaparticular matter infuller
detail maycirculate awritten statement fordistribution toMembers, thesummary ofwhich, atthe
representative 'srequest, maybereflected intherecords oftheCommittee .
Rule24
Inorder toexpedite theconduct ofbusiness, theChairperson mayinvite representatives
thatwishtoexpress theirsupport foragiven proposal toshow theirhands, inorder tobeduly
recorded intherecords oftheCommittee assupporting statements; thus, onlyrepresentatives
withdissenting views orwishing tomake explicit points orproposals would actually beinvited to
make astatement. Thisprocedure shallonlybeapplied inorder toavoid undue repetition of
points already made, andwillnotpreclude anyrepresentative whosowishes from taking the
floor.
Rule25
Representatives should avoid unduly longdebates under "Other Business". Discussions on
substantive issues under "Other Business" shallbeavoided, andtheCommittee shalllimititself to
taking noteoftheannouncement bythesponsoring delegation, aswellasanyreactions tosuchan
announcement byother delegations directly concerned.WT/CTE/W/13/Rev.1
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Rule26
While theCommittee isnotexpected totakeaction inrespect ofanitemintroduced as
"Other Business", nothing shallprevent theCommittee ,ifitsodecides, totakeaction inrespect
ofanysuchitemataparticular meeting, orinrespect ofanyitemforwhich documentation was
notcirculated atleasttencalendar daysinadvance.
Rule27
Representatives should make every effort toavoid therepetition ofafulldebate ateach
meeting onanyissue thathasalready beenfullydebated inthepastandonwhich there appears to
havebeennochange inMembers 'positions already onrecord.
Rule28
Proposals andamendments toproposals shallnormally beintroduced inwriting and
circulated toallrepresentatives notlaterthantwelve hours before thecommencement ofthe
meeting atwhich theyaretobediscussed.
Rule29
Iftwoormore proposals aremoved relating tothesame question, themeeting shallfirst
decide onthemost far-reaching proposal andthenonthenextmost far-reaching proposal andso
on.
Rule30
When anamendment ismoved toaproposal, theamendment shallbesubmitted for
decision firstand,ifitisadopted, theamended proposal shallthenbesubmitted fordecision.
Rule31
When twoormore amendments aremoved toaproposal, themeeting shalldecide firston
theamendment farthest removed insubstance from theoriginal proposal, then, ifnecessary, on
theamendment nextfarthest removed, andsoonuntilalltheamendments havebeensubmitted for
decision.
Rule32
Parts ofaproposal maybedecided onseparately ifarepresentative requests thatthe
proposal bedivided.
Chapter VII—Decision-Making
Rule33
TheGeneral Council shalltakedecisions inaccordance withthedecision-making
provisions oftheWTO Agreement, inparticular Article IXthereof entitled "Decision-Making".
Where adecision cannot bearrived atbyconsensus, thematter atissue shall bereferred to
theGeneral Council fordecision.WT/CTE/W/13/Rev.1
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Rule34
Notapplicable
When, inaccordance withtheWTO Agreement, decisions arerequired tobetaken by
vote, suchvotes shallbetaken byballot. Ballot papers shallbedistributed torepresentatives of
Members present atthemeeting andaballot boxplaced intheconference room. However, the
representative ofanyMember mayrequest, ortheChairperson maysuggest, thatavotebetaken
bytheraising ofcards orbyrollcall. Inaddition, where inaccordance withtheWTO
Agreement avotebyaqualified majority ofallMembers isrequired tobetaken, theGeneral
Council maydecide, upon request from aMember orthesuggestion oftheChairperson, thatthe
votebetaken byairmail ballots orballots transmitted bytelegraph ortelefacsimile inaccordance
withtheprocedures described inAnnex 1tothese Rules.
Chapter VIII—Languages
Rule35
English, French andSpanish shallbetheworking languages.
Chapter IX—Records
Rule36
Records ofthediscussions oftheCommittee shallbeintheform ofminutes.2
Chapter X—Publicity ofmeetings
Rule37
Themeetings oftheCommittee shallordinarily beheldinprivate. Itmaybedecided that
aparticular meeting ormeetings should beheldinpublic.
Rule38
After aprivate meeting hasbeenheld, theChairperson mayissue acommuniqué tothe
Press.
Chapter XI—Revision
Rule39
TheCommittee maydecide atanytimetorevise these rules oranypartofthem.
2Thecustomary practice under theGATT 1947, whereby representatives may, upon theirrequest, verify those portions ofthedraft
records containing theirstatements, prior totheissuance ofsuchrecords, shallbecontinued.