WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE WHO FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL First session Provisional agenda item 1.4 A/FCTC/COP/1/INF.DOC./5 6 February 2006
Provisional rules of procedure Practical modalities of observer participation in the proceedings of the Conference of the Parties Note by the interim secretariat 1. In the context of an international convention, there are normally three categories of observers: (a) States1 that are not Parties to the convention (observer States);
(b) intergovernmental organizations that have observer status under the provisions of the convention; (c) nongovernmental organizations that have observer status under the provisions of the convention. 2. The first category comprises three groups of States that have equal observer status: (a) (b) States that have not signed or ratified2 the convention; States that have signed but not ratified (signatories);
(c) States that have deposited their instrument of ratification but for which the required period for entry into force of the convention has not yet elapsed. 3. In terms of the modalities of participation in the proceedings of the Conference of the Parties and those of any subsidiary bodies, there is no substantial difference between the three categories of observers. They may all participate without the right to vote, even though the rights of participation may sometimes be different (see paragraph 5). Observers may make statements, but their positions may or may not be taken into consideration when it comes to reaching a decision.
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And regional economic integration organizations, where applicable.
Other methods of becoming a Contracting Party to a treaty (accession, acceptance, approval, formal confirmation) are considered to be equivalent to ratification for the purpose of this paper.
A/FCTC/COP/1/INF.DOC./5
4. The definitions of “public”, “open” and “restricted” meetings included in Rule 2 of the draft rules of procedure for the Conference of the Parties1 mirror the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Board of WHO. Commonly, Conferences of the Parties to United Nations treaties envisage only “public” and “private” meetings. Generally, if a meeting is declared “public”, all categories of observers are allowed to attend and participate, without the right to vote. “Private” meetings, such as those of contact groups, legal drafting groups and “friends of the Chair”, which are set up for the purpose of negotiation, are typically open only to Parties. It is notable that in one of the alternative formulations of Rule 30 of the draft rules of procedure for the Conference of the Parties it is suggested that observers, whether representing governmental or nongovernmental organizations, be allowed to participate in any Conference meeting at the invitation of the President unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object. If that version of Rule 30 were adopted, the definitions of “public”, “open”, and “restricted”, in Rule 2 would in turn need redrafting. 5. In practice, the modalities of participation of observers that are States and those that are intergovernmental or nongovernmental organizations often differ, primarily in order to reflect their different status, but also because observer States may be expected to become Parties at some stage (unlike the other categories of observers). In the proceedings of other Conferences of the Parties, the differences are generally manifest in the following areas: • seating arrangements. The difference in status between the categories of participants is reflected in the seating arrangements in meeting rooms. Thus, the Parties are seated at the front of the room, in alphabetical order of the country names; observer States are seated behind the Parties, also in alphabetical order; and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations with observer status are placed behind the observer States; • order of interventions. The floor is given, in order, to Parties, observer States, intergovernmental organizations and, finally, nongovernmental organizations; • distribution of written materials. Under precedents available to the interim secretariat, the practice under the applicable rules of procedure is to allow only Parties to have material (e.g. country reports or position papers) made available as official documents of the Conference of the Parties. In such cases, other participants are normally allowed to make written material available, displayed at the side of the meeting room or outside it in the language in which they are submitting it.
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See document A/FCTC/COP/1/2, ANNEX, Annex 6.
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