WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU R~GIONAL OU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
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ORGANISATION ~DIAL£ , DE LA SANTE
REGIONAL COMMITTEE Thirty-first session Manila 9-15 September 1980 Provisional agenda item 10
WPR/RC31/10 11 July 1980 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE REGIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC
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The Regional Committee is asked to consider amendment to Rule 8(f) of the Rules of Proce<lure the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific take into consideration the change from annual biennial programme budgeting.
In order to adopt the amendment without having received a report on the subject from an appropriate subcommittee it would also be necessary for the Regional Committee to unanimously agree to suspend Rule 53 of the Rules of Procedure under Rule 52 of the Rules of Procedure. In May 1977, having noted that the necessary enabling amendment of Articles 34 and 55 of the WHO Constitution came into force on 3 February 1977 upon acceptance by two-thirds of the WHO Member States, the World Health Assembly decided that the programme budget of WHO should cover a two-year period beginning with the biennium 1980-81 and that it should be reviewed by the Health Assembly on a two-year basis. l The natural consequence of this is that the Regional Committee also reviews the proposed programme budget estimates on a two-year basis. Thus a change in the Rules of Procedure of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific is required. Rule 8 of the Rules of Procedure lists the items which should appear in the provisional agenda for each session of the Regional Committee and Rule 8(f) refers to programme budget matters. The change required affects Rule 8(f), which at present reads as follows: "All items pertaining to amendments of the budget for the next financial year and all items pertaining to the budget for the next following financial year."
1See resolution WHA30.20, WHO Handbook of Resolutions and Decisions, Vol. II, 3rd ed., 1979, page 104.
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tn order to respond to the change from annual programme budgets to biennial programme budgets it is proposed that Rule 8(f) should be amended to read a8 follows; "All items perta1.n1.ng to the programme budget for the current financial period and all items pertaining to the programme budget for the financial period following the current financial period." As the proposed change in Rule 8(f) is of a routine nature which responds to a decision already taken in other executive bodies of the Organization, it is suggested that the Regional Committee may be prepared to accept the change by following the simplified procedure of suspending Rule 53 which stipulates that an amendment must first be considered by an appropriate subcommittee. Rule 52 allows for suspension of any Rules of Procedure under certain conditions. Should the Regional Committee accept the proposed amendment to Rule 8(f) it could adopt the amendment provided it is unanimously in favour of suspension of Rule 53.