RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/GC/W/61
20June1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2544)
General Council Original: English
30June 1997
ACCREDITATION OFPERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES TOTHE WTO
Communication from theChairman
Thefollowing communication fromtheChairman oftheGeneral Council isbeing circulated
toMembers athisrequest.
_______________
Atthelastmeeting oftheGeneral Council anumber ofnewPermanent Representatives to
theWTO were inattendance without theknowledge oftheChairman oftheGeneral Council orthe
Secretariat. Thisisduetothefactthattheaccreditation ofcertain newPermanent Representatives
hadnotcome totheattention oftheresponsible officials intheSecretariat since nostandard practice
inthisrespect wasapplied inGATT noratpresent intheWTO.
Given theWTO 'sstatus asanindependent international organization which isnotpartofthe
United Nations system, itwould appear thatformal procedures forrecording thearrival anddeparture
ofAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives isimperative. Tothiseffect itmaybeuseful todraw
theattention ofMembers toArticle 10oftheVienna Convention ontheRepresentation ofStates in
Their Relations withInternational Organizations ofaUniversal Character of14March 1975.
Theattached noteonthismatter hasbeenprepared bytheSecretariat atmyrequest andisbeing
circulated toMembers forconsideration. Itismyintention toraisethismatter attheappropriate time
intheGeneral Council.WT/GC/W/61
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ACCREDITATION OFPERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES TOTHE WTO
1. Attherequest oftheChairman oftheGeneral Council, theSecretariat hasprepared thisbrief
noteconcerning representation ofMembers attheWTO through Ambassadors andPermanent
Representatives. Inparticular, twoissues arediscussed: (a)theprocedure bywhich theWTO and
itsMembers areinformed oftheidentity ofAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives and(b)the
powers ofAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives inrespect ofacceptance ofinternational
obligations intheWTO context.
(a) Information onthearrival ofAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives
2. Historically, GATT contracting parties didnotfollow astandard practice inrespect ofinforming
theGATT Secretariat orother contracting parties ofthearrival (ordeparture) ofanAmbassador or
Permanent Representative torepresent theirinterests inconnection withGATT matters. Inprinciple,
anewly appointed Ambassador totheUnited Nations formally notified theDirector-General ofGATT
ofhisorherarrival andtheDirector-General inturncirculated thisinformation tothecontracting parties
byissuing alistofaccredited representatives toGATT. Thispractice wasnotalways followed, however.
Sometimes theDirector-General orGATT Secretariat weregiven formal orinformal notice fromcapitals
ofthearrival ofanewAmbassador orPermanent Representative. Sometimes theGeneva Secretariat
oftheUnited Nations informed theGATT Secretariat ofsucharrivals.
3. Thelackofastandard practice hascontinued under theWTO. Asaresult, Council and
Committee Chairmen, Members ingeneral andtheSecretariat arenotalways aware ofthearrival or
departure ofAmbassadors orPermanent Representatives. Asthemembership oftheGATT/WTO has
grown, ithasbecome increasingly difficult forMembers andtheSecretariat torelyoninformal means
tokeeptrackofsucharrivals anddepartures. Inaddition, itshould benoted thatincreasingly Members
haveestablishedspecialmissionstotheWTOthatareindependentoftheirmissionstotheUnitedNations
inGeneva. Thus, theAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives totheWTO areoften different
thanthose toother international organizations.
4. Thelackofastandard practice hinders theefficient administration ofcommunications between
WTO Members witheachother andthrough theSecretariat, which produces regularly adirectory
containing alistoftheAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives totheWTO. Moreover, given
theWTO 'sstatus asanindependent international organization (notthecaseofGATT), which isnot
partoftheUnited Nations system, itwould seem imperative thattheWTO anditsMembers should
develop formal procedures forrecording thearrival anddeparture ofAmbassadors andPermanent
Representatives. Inthisconnection, itisuseful torecall Article 10oftheVienna Convention onthe
Representation ofStates inTheir Relations withInternational Organizations ofaUniversal Character
(14March 1975):
"Credentials oftheheadofmission
Thecredentials oftheheadofmission shallbeissued bytheHead ofState, bytheHead of
Government, bytheMinister forforeign Affairs or,iftherulesoftheOrganization sopermit,
byanothercompetentauthorityofthesendingStateandshallbetransmittedtotheOrganization."
Although theConvention isnotyetinforce, itrestates standard practice inrespect ofinternational
organizations generally.
5. Inlightoftheforegoing, onepossible anduseful setofaccreditation practices tobefollowed
intheWTO would beforWTO Members toensure that,uponarrival ordeparture ofanAmbassador
orPermanent Representative, adocument indueandproper form isprovided totheWTOWT/GC/W/61
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Director-General, withacopytotheChairman oftheGeneral Council, informing theWTO andits
Members ofthefollowing:
(i) inthecaseofarrivals, thename andtitleofthenewAmbassador orPermanent
Representative representing theirgovernment forWTO purposes andthedatewhen
thatperson takes uphisorhernewduties;
(ii) inthecaseofdepartures, thedateofdeparture oftheirAmbassador orPermanent
Representative andthename ofthechargé d'affaires a.i.(ifapplicable).
Inorder tofacilitate thebestpossible personal working relationships, itwould bepreferable forthe
document concerning thearrival ofanAmbassador orPermanent Representative tobepresented in
person totheDirector-General, asisthepractice inother organizations ofauniversal character, such
astheUnitedNations.TheDirector-GeneralwouldtheninformotherWTOMembersofanyinformation
received from aWTO Member regarding thearrival ordeparture ofitsAmbassador orPermanent
Representative. TheChairman oftheGeneral Council would thenwelcome thenewAmbassador or
Permanent Representative atthenextmeeting oftheGeneral Council. TheChairman would also
announce departures totheGeneral Council.
(b) Powers ofAmbassadors andPermanent Representatives
6. ItshouldberecalledthattheformalaccreditationofanAmbassadororPermanentRepresentative
totheWTO doesnotconstitute thegrant offullpowers toexecute WTO agreements orprotocols.
Unless there isageneral grant offullpowers totheAmbassador orPermanent Representative bythe
appropriate national authorities onfilewiththeSecretariat (only oneMember currently hassuchpowers
onfile),anAmbassador orPermanent Representative totheWTO needs aspecial grant offullpowers
tosignWTO agreements orprotocols. (Members mayavoid theneedforfullpowers authorizing
signatureofanagreementorprotocol,iftheyaccepttheagreementorprotocolbymeansofanInstrument
ofAcceptance issued bytheappropriate national authorities.)