- state, 'may be completed online' instead of 'or sent by email', as other States may wish to submit their reports by post.
- 360. The Vice-Chairperson noted that Cuba agreed to the suggested change, which was supported by Sweden.
- 361. The delegation of Belgium reiterated that it had issues with the language [in paragraph 152], and 'national' could be deleted. It also had an issue with the term 'region', i.e. it was not clear whether it designated the electoral group. With regard to the information on States Parties using the periodic reporting process to enhance cooperation, it wondered whether this information [requested from States Parties] could be included in the amendments, and thus it did not have to wait for the Operational Guidelines that would come later. In addition, the term 'rotation' could lead to confusion as this suggested possible changes within this six-year period, whereas 'on a rota basis' implied an established order every six years.
- 362. The Secretary recalled that the question of regions had come up during the twelfth Committee session, particularly concerning Electoral Groups I and II, and indeed in the World Heritage Convention, Groups I and II report in the same cycle. The Secretariat thus wanted to have this flexibility in the draft resolution for a decision in Mauritius. In this regard, the Secretary invited the Member States of Electoral Groups I and II to come with a position on that issue. The Secretariat was also happy to remove 'national'. With regard to ' rotation ' , the Secretary concurred that the cycle did not necessarily have to engage the same series indefinitely. It was considered that every six years, perhaps one group would prefer to submit their report, or the order might be changed. Thus, it was foreseen that the Committee would decide after a six-year cycle whether to follow the exact same order or to change the order. This wording was thus designed to afford some flexibility should there be a desire after six years to change the order of submissions.
- 363. The delegation of Portugal supported the request by Belgium to delete 'national' as it understood the concerns and duty to align with the wording of the Convention. On the use of ' region ' , the delegation fully understood as ' region ' was very often used in UNESCO to refer to electoral groups, so it was probably time to clarify its precise meaning. Regarding the rotation, and having heard the Secretary on the opportunity this provided to change the order, the delegation cautioned against such an approach as changing the order in six years would have the effect of reducing or enlarging the time gap [for a particular group] submitting reports. In any case, States wishing to change the order of submissions would have to revisit those concerns at that time.
- 364. The delegation of Sweden sought to have wording that was completely clear and thus suggested not to delete 'is used for such reports' in the sentence, 'Form ICH is used for such report s and may be completed online'.
- 365. The Secretary confirmed the reintroduction of ' is used for s uch reports' .
- 366. The Vice-Chairperson noted the deletion of 'national' and the reintroduction of Sweden' s proposal, as well as Mal aysia's proposal in paragraph 152. The Vice -Chair noted an Observer wishing to take the floor, but could do so only after the adoption of the draft resolution.
- 367. In the interest of saving time, the Secretary proposed reintegrating the changes in the other paragraphs in line with the proposals by Cuba and Sweden.
- 368. The Vice-Chairperson applied this principle to paragraphs 161 and 169. There were no comments on paragraphs 159, 162 and 166. Malaysia proposed putting the word ' deleted ' in paragraph 167.
- 369. The Secretary explained that the Secretariat proposed deleting paragraph 167 in order to align with the revisions originally proposed. Malaysia, on the other hand, sought to keep the sequence of numbers with the word 'deleted' alongside it, to avoid changing the numbers of each paragraph thereafter.
- 370. The delegation of Malaysia concurred with the Secretary's understanding that it proposed retaining the sequence of numbers following the deletion of paragraph 167 with the mention