Com-ITU doc. (14) 043
ComITU
Berlin, Germany
15-18 September, 2014
Date issued:
08 September 2014
Source:
Switzerland
Subject:
Preliminary draft ECP for PP-14 on a stable ITU Constitution
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Summary:
At the COM-ITU meeting in Amsterdam in May 2014, it was agreed that an ECP regarding the handling of
Resolution 163 (Guadalajara, 2010) “Establishment of a Council working group on a stable ITU
Constitution” needs to be elaborated with a view to PP-14.
No change to Resolution 163 (Guadalajara, 2010) is likely not to be an option as to the very least the
Resolution needs grooming, i.e. deletion of the tasks assigned to CWG-STB-CS by PP-10 that were
completed .
Proposal:
COM-ITU is invited to consider and comment the proposed preliminary draft ECP contained in this
document.
Background:
Pursuant to Resolution 163 (Guadalajara, 2010), the extraordinary session of Council in 2010 established a
Council Working Group on a Stable ITU Constitution open to all Member States of the Union. The
Working Group of Council was tasked with examining the provisions of the current ITU Constitution and
those of the current ITU Convention, without proposing modifications to their text, and carrying out
studies of these provisions in order to prepare the draft of the stable Constitution and the draft of
another "document/convention".
Council 2013 considered the final report of the Council Working Group. The final report was transmitted
to the Member States, Sector Members and 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference (see instructs the Council,
paragraph 4, Resolution 163 (Guadalajara, 2010)).
1
Preliminary draft European Common Proposal for the 2014
Plenipotentiary Conference on a stable ITU Constitution
Introduction
At Council 2013, the Chairman of the CWG on a stable ITU Constitution said that the
report of her group together with a summary of Councillors’ comments would provide
a useful basis for discussion by PP-14. The Council agreed that, in preparation for
PP-14, Document C13/49 together with the summary record of the present
discussion should be sent to all Member States and Sector Members, and that
Document C13/52 should be sent to all Member States.
Final report of the Council Working on a Stable ITU Constitution (2013)
http://www.itu.int/md/meetingdoc.asp?lang=en&parent=S13-CL-C-0049
The Council Working Group elaborated two documents. One is labeled “Draft stable
Constitution”, which should be subject to ratification, acceptance, approval or
accession as stipulated in Articles 52 and 53 of the Constitution. The remaining
provisions contained in the current Constitution and the current Convention were
included in another document entitled “General Provisions and Rules” that would not
be subject to the ratification, acceptance, approval or accession as stipulated in
Articles 52 and 53 of the Constitution.
Some important issues were also identified by the Group during its work (see Section
3 of Document C13/49):
a. Will the Stable Constitution be a new treaty or an amendment to the current
Constitution?
b. Should the General Provisions and Rules be regrouped, under a single
document, with General Rules of Conferences, Assemblies and Meetings of
the Union?
c. Nature, binding effect and order of precedence (hierarchy) of the General
Provisions and Rules could be set forth in a new Article 4A of the stable
Constitution?
d. Possible unintended consequences of requiring compliance with the General
Provisions and Rules?
e. Should all financial provisions included in Article 28 of the current Constitution
remain in the stable Constitution?
f. What amendment procedures will apply to the stable Constitution and to the
General Provisions and Rules, respectively?
g. Definitions contained in Annexes to the draft stable Constitution and draft
General Provisions and Rules should be further reviewed and transferred to
the appropriate document.
2
Study of the ITU Legal Adviser concerning existing mechanisms within United
Nations organizations with respect to entry into force of amendments to their basic
instruments has been conducted by the Secretariat (2013)
http://www.itu.int/md/meetingdoc.asp?lang=en&parent=S13-CL-C-0052
Council 2013 noted the results of this study. It aims at assisting Member States when
preparing their contributions, if any, to the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference. The
practice of eleven (11) intergovernmental organizations, including the the main
organizations of the UN system as well as sister organizations such as CERN and
IMF, with respect to the following issues has been studied:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Deadline for Submission of Proposed Amendment.
Number of Phases Required for Adoption.
Voting Threshold Required for Adoption.
Special Meetings Mandatory for Adoption.
Ratification Threshold Required for Entry into Force.
Data regarding Adoption and Entry into Force of Amendments in Last 50
Years.
Proposals
Europe proposes that the Plenipotentiary Conference modifies Resolution 163
(Guadalajara, 2010) establishing a Council working group on a stable ITU
Constitution.
More specifically, Europe proposes:
[Extracted from Document Com-ITU(14) 031_Draft CEPT PP14 Brief]
-
CWG’s work had been expected to result in a constitution with articles that require
ratification and a convention containing rules of procedure that would not require
ratification;
-
CEPT supports the opinion to treat the results of the Resolution 163 exercise as
resulting in an amended Constitution;
-
CEPT does not support the development a new constitution since it may have
unintended consequences;
-
result of the CWG’s work could be used as the basis for future work;
-
the Definitions annexed to the current Constitution and Convention must be
retained in the amended Constitution as they are fundamental and stable;
3
-
certain stable financial provisions should be included in any Constitution,
especially the provisions regarding the establishment of the value of the
contributory units and the choice of contributory units;
-
renewal of the mandate for the working group (to be decided at PP-14).
[Coordinator]
-
CEPT supports the opinion that the draft stable Constitution and the draft General
Provisions and Rules contained in Annex I of Document C13/49 and elaborated
by CWG-STB-CS pursuant to its mandate set forth in the Annex to Resolution 163
(Guadalajara, 2010) are too unripe for adoption at PP-14.
Reasons:
a) In conformity with its terms of reference, CWG-STB-CS did not propose
modifications to the texts of the provisions of the actual Constitution and
Convention it allocated to the draft stable Constitution or to the draft
General Provisions and Rules . However, modifications were necessary
if only in order to ensure coherence and absence of redundancies.
b) By any means time available at PP-14 will not be sufficient in order to
remedy this shortcoming (amongst others).
-
CEPT upholds its support to the development of an amended constitution and
proposes that CWG-STB-CS should resume its work.
-
CEPT is also of the view that the CWG’s terms of reference should be revised in
order to remove the restriction that the CWG should not propose modifications to
the text of the provisions of the ITU Constitution and of the ITU Convention that
are included in the "Draft stable Constitution" and in the “Draft General Provisions
and Rules” (see §§ 2.2 and 2.3 of the Annex to Resolution 163 (Guadalajara,
2010))
-
CEPT proposes that PP-14 endeavours to give guidance to the CWG-STB-CS on
following issues:
-
Whether the Stable Constitution should be a new treaty or an amendment
to the current Constitution;
-
Whether the General Provisions and Rules should be regrouped, under a
single document, with the General Rules of Conferences, Assemblies and
Meetings of the Union;
-
The nature, binding effect and order of precedence (hierarchy) of the
General Provisions and Rules, which could be set forth in a new article of
the stable Constitution;
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-
Possible unintended consequences of requiring compliance with the
General Provisions and Rules;
-
Whether all financial provisions included in Article 28 of the current
Constitution should remain in the stable Constitution;
-
What amendment procedures would apply to the stable Constitution and to
the General Provisions and Rules, respectively;
5
EUR/XX/Y
[MOD]
RESOLUTION 163 (Rev. Busan, 2014)
Council working group on a
stable ITU Constitution
The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union
(Busan, 2014),
considering
a)
that the instruments of the Union are enumerated in Article 4 of the ITU
Constitution;
b)
that Article 52 of the Constitution requires that the Constitution and the ITU
Convention be simultaneously ratified by any signatory Member State in accordance
with its constitutional rules;
c)
that, pursuant to No. 224 of the Constitution and No. 519 of the Convention,
any Member State may propose amendments to the Constitution and the Convention,
respectively;
d)
that No. 231 of the Constitution and No. 527 of the Convention stipulate that,
after entry into force of any amending instrument, ratification, acceptance, approval or
accession in accordance with Articles 52 and 53 of the Constitution shall apply to the
Constitution and Convention as amended,
recalling
a)
that numerous amendments were made to the Constitution and Convention at
each plenipotentiary conference in the past;
b)
that the amendments mentioned in recalling a) above require ratification,
acceptance, approval of or accession to both the Constitution and Convention as
amended,
recognizing
a)
that the Constitution, the provisions of which are complemented by those of the
Convention, is the basic instrument of the Union (No. 30 of the Constitution refers);
b)
that ratification, acceptance, approval of or accession to the amendments to the
Constitution and Convention is a complex and lengthy process for ITU Member
States, in particular for those Member States whose national language is not one of the
six ITU official languages;
c)
that the numerous amendments and the need to go through a burdensome
ratification process have resulted, from a legal standpoint, in an undermining of one of
6
the cardinal/fundamental principles of the law of international organizations, namely
the integrity and homogeneity of the supreme normative instrument applicable to all
the Member States of an intergovernmental organization such as ITU,
recognizing further
a)
that discussions in the 2009 and 2010 sessions of the ITU Council revealed that
there is a need to have a stable Constitution in order to resolve the current difficulties
of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession mentioned in recognizing b) and c)
above;
b)
that consensus has emerged among the ITU Member States to prepare the draft
of such a stable Constitution in order to be submitted to the 2014 plenipotentiary
conference for its consideration and necessary actions, as appropriate;
c)
that consensus also emerged among the ITU Member States that, apart from the
stable Constitution, the remaining provisions could be transferred to a document
labelled „General Provisions and Rules” which would not be subject to ratification,
acceptance, approval or accession, taking into account the difficulties mentioned in
recognizing b) and c) above;
d)
that the extraordinary session of Council in 2010 established a Council Working
Group on a Stable ITU Constitution (the “Group”);
e)
that the Council Working Group achieved its task by submitting a proposal for
consequential changes necessary to be made to the draft stable Constitution and draft
General Provisions and Rules to Council 2013;
f)
that however the Council Working Group identified important issues during its
work that require further thorough studies,
resolves
1
that the term of the Council working group on a stable Constitution, open to all
Member States of the Union, should be extended, with the terms of reference as
contained in the annex to this resolution;
2
that annual reports of the above-mentioned Council working group should be
submitted to the Council sessions in 2015 (including a work programme) and 2016,
and the final report should be submitted to the Council session in 2017,
instructs the extraordinary session of the Council in 2014
1
to extend the work of the Council Working Group on a stable Constitution
(CWG-STB-CS), open to all Member States of the Union, with the terms of reference
as referred to in resolves 1 above;
2
to invite the chairman and vice-chairmen of CWG-STB-CS to carry on their
appointment,
instructs the Council
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1
to allocate necessary funds within the available resources in order to implement
this resolution;
2
to examine and take appropriate action on the annual reports of CWG-STB-CS
submitted to the 2015 and 2016 sessions of the Council, as mentioned in resolves 2
above;
3
to ensure that all Member States and Sector Members of the Union are regularly
informed in a comprehensive manner by means of the annual reports, so that Member
States can submit their comments and/or contributions, and Sector Members can
submit their comments, as appropriate, as per § 6 of the annex to this resolution;
4
to consider the final report prepared by the above-mentioned group and
submitted to Council session in 2017, and make any comments it considers appropriate
before it is transmitted to the Member States, Sector Members and 2018
plenipotentiary conference;
5
to ensure that the final report is circulated to Member States and Sector
Members at least 8 months before the 2018 plenipotentiary conference,
instructs the Secretary-General
1
to support the activities of the CWG-STB-CS, including the preparation of the
annual and final reports, by providing all necessary resources and assistance required
for the successful completion of its tasks, which shall be carried out in the six ITU
official languages;
2
to dispatch the invitation letter, including the agenda, of this group's meetings at
least four months in advance so as to allow Member States to prepare their
contributions;
3
to submit the annual and final reports of CWG-STB-CS to the 2015, 2016 and
2017 sessions of the Council;
4
to disseminate the annual and final reports of CWG-STB-CS to all Member
States and Sector Members, as mentioned in instructs the Council 3 and 5 above;
5
to ensure that all expenditures are financed from the regular budget of the
Union, under the supervision of the Council,
instructs the Directors of the three Bureaux
to participate in and support the activities of CWG-STB-CS,
invites Member States
1
to nominate representative(s) having broad knowledge and experience on the
subject to participate in the activities and attend the meetings of CWG-STB-CS;
2
to consider, where applicable, any comments from their respective Sector
Members on the work of the group, with a view to taking them into account, as
appropriate, when submitting their contributions to the work of the group.
8
(Guadalajara, 2010) – (Rev. Busan, 2014)
9
ANNEX TO RESOLUTION 163 (Rev. Busan, 2014)
Terms of reference of the Council Working Group (CWG-STB-CS)
The terms of reference of the Council Working Group on a stable Constitution (CWGSTB-CS), as referred to in resolves 1 of this resolution, are:
1
To examine the provisions of the current ITU Constitution and those of the
current ITU Convention and carry out studies of these provisions in order to prepare
the draft of the stable Constitution and the draft „General Provisions and Rules”; the
latter would not be subject to the ratification, acceptance, approval or accession
stipulated in Articles 52 and 53 of the Constitution.
2
2.1
2.2
2.3
To this effect, CWG-STB-CS shall:
Examine the provisions of the Constitution and Convention, including those
amendments approved by the 2014 plenipotentiary conference, in order to
identify those provisions which are of a stable and fundamental nature and
should continue to be of a stable and fundamental nature in the future.
Consolidate and include all provisions identified under § 2.1 above in a
document labelled "Draft stable Constitution", which will be subject to
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession as stipulated in Articles 52 and
53 of the Constitution.
Consolidate and include the remaining provisions contained in the current
Constitution and the current Convention not identified as being of a stable and
fundamental nature, nor identified as being of a continued/permanent stable
and fundamental nature as a result of the activities carried out under § 2.1
above in a document labelled „General Provisions and Rules” . These "General
Provisions and Rules", would not be subject to the ratification, acceptance,
approval or accession as stipulated in Articles 52 and 53 of the Constitution.
3
To suggest consequential changes to the draft stable Constitution and the draft
"General Provisions and Rules" as a result of actions taken when performing the tasks
contained in §§ 2.2 and 2.3 above, together with corresponding cross-references, in a
separate section of the report, for consideration and required action by the 2018
plenipotentiary conference, as appropriate.
4
To seek contributions and comments from Member States.
5
To prepare, pursuant to resolves 2 of this resolution, the annual and final reports
for submission to the 2015, 2016 and 2017 sessions of the ITU Council.
6
To post on the group's website comments from Sector Members on the annual
reports prepared by the group.
7
The number of meetings held by CWG-STB-CS should not exceed two per
year, each for a maximum period of five days. These meetings should take place
preferably collocated with other major relevant ITU events/meetings. During its
10
meetings CWG STB CS is authorised to set-up sub-groups convening outside regular
working hours and working without interpretation.
11