Preparation for substantive decision-making

Identification of issues

9. In order to enhance the work of the Commission the Working Group discussed the need to deal with the process of identifying agenda items for the Commission. The Working Group agreed that it was important to provide for proper agenda management since the agenda was often overloaded, which led to insufficient time for proper consideration of the issues. The Working Group agreed that it was very important to take a proactive approach to agenda management, which was currently governed by rule 6 of the Commission=s rules of procedure.

10. The Working Group agreed that:

(a) Adequate consultation among all parties should take place in the establishment of agendas, including the opportunity for participants to propose agenda items;

(b) A comprehensive work programme should be prepared and updated that would serve as a basis for the establishment of a yearly and sessional agenda. When the agenda was proposed for adoption, should any change be suggested, both CCAQ and the staff representatives would be consulted;

(c) Priorities and time-frames should be established t o ensure that agenda items were considered and completed in a timely manner, which would also facilitate a more focused approach to the work of the Commission;

(d) Some agenda items could be included only to be taken note of, on the basis of information documents;

(e) In extraordinary circumstances, the Commission might need to consider holding a special session so that important work was not subject to inappropriate delay.

Implementation

11. It was against that background that it was agreed to recommend the following amended text for rule 6.1:

AThe Executive Secretary shall, in accordance with the statute and in consultation with the Chairman, members of the Commission, representatives of the executive heads and staff representatives, draw up an annual proposed programme of work and the provisional agenda for each session, identifying the key issues, in order of priority, in a manner that ensures the greatest efficiency in the management of the agenda.@

Gathering information

12. There was general agreement that the process for gathering all authoritative information should be fully transparent and include all participants.

13. The Working Group agreed that:

(a) The secretariat, which was responsible, among other things, for gathering information, should ask all participants to comment upon the scope and type of information required as background to the decision-making process. All parties should be fully consulted on the methods to be used. Where possible and practical, one or more members of the Commission who were designated for that purpose might be asked to contribute to the process;

(b) Where necessary, the participants should assist the secretariat in the information- gathering process, either at the invitation of the secretariat or at the request of the parties based upon interest and expertise. The allocation of work might also be delegated by the Chairman to outside contractors;

(c) Keeping in mind the question of confidentiality and in accordance with established methodology, there should be systematic feedback to the participants on data collected prior to its being analysed;

(d) The above agreement would be reflected in a rule of procedure.

Implementation

14. A new rule 8.1 would be inserted, to read as follows:

AThe secretariat shall consult with the members of the Commission and the representatives of the organizations and staff on all aspects of the information-gathering process, including the scope of the data and the methodologies to be used for their

collection. On the basis of the data thus collected, the secretariat, following full consultations with all parties mentioned above, shall prepare the draft documentation for the first session of each year. This is to be made available to the participants, in all languages, at least 10 working days before their consideration. Issues or documents that have not been subject to the Working Group process will only be considered with the agreement of all parties.@

The existing rule 8 would be renumbered as rule 8.2.

Discussion of the issues/reporting to the Commission

15. Those two items were combined and considered together. It was considered that a key aim in adopting a process should be to ensure that the Commission had before it a comprehensive examination and consideration of the issues, upon which it would make its final determination. In the view of the Working Group, the current approach did not always allow adequate input from the various participants, and as a consequence the members of the Commission, under those circumstances, were not being given the full range of views prior to reaching their conclusions.

16. It was critical, in the view of the Working Group, that decisions of the Commission were seen to be taken against the background of a substantive contribution by both the staff representatives and the representatives of CCAQ. That contribution would add further depth and enhance transparency.

17. The Working Group also agreed that it was essential that the Commission and its secretariat, the staff representatives and the representatives of CCAQ should be partners in preparing the material so that all perspectives were considered.

18. The Working Group adopted the following procedure:

(a) The secretariat would prepare a draft document on a particular subject matter after the identification and information-gathering stages had been completed;

(b) The draft document would be presented to the Commission at its first session in any given year. The Commission would then establish appropriate working groups, and that would be the basis upon which the Commission, CCAQ and the staff representatives would review the issues. This would be seen as facilitating the subsequent decision-making process, where the participants were seeking to ensure that the best evidence and information was derived for the Commission=s final decision-making role;

(c) The review of the issues would take place under a flexible system of informal working groups composed of members of the Commission, staff representatives and representatives of CCAQ. The scope and number of the working groups would depend upon the matter/s to be considered. It was agreed that the working groups would:

(i) Increase the capacity to cover a number of issues within a fixed time-frame and permit a more efficient use of resources;

(ii) Strengthen the consultative process by permitting greater dialogue and exchange of information in an informal atmosphere more conducive to achieving agreement;

(d) At the conclusion of the first session, the Commission would then convene and review the outcome/s of the working group/s, and where agreement had been reached within the working group/s then decisions might be taken by the Commission at that meeting;

(e) Where agreement was not reached at that meeting and following analysis and debate on the subject matter/s, the secretariat would prepare the final documents, in consultation with the Coordinator of the working group/s, which would deal with the relevant background information, the extent of agreement among the various participants and, where necessary, any divergence of views;

(f) The final documents, derived from the draft documents mentioned above, would then be presented to the Commission at its next session, in accordance with rule 8.2. It would be a matter for the Working Group as to who presented and explained the final document to the Commission;

(g) Against the background of the contributions made by all of the participants, the Commission would then take its decisions and adopt its recommendations;

(h) It was agreed that the above procedure would be reflected in a rule of procedure.

The above consultative and procedural concepts are demonstrated in the flow chart contained in appendix IV.

Implementation

19. A new rule 12.2 would be added, to read as follows:

AFor all key issues, the Commission shall establish joint working groups composed of members of the Commission, representatives of administrations and of staff bodies, at the first regular session each year. Draft documents prepared by the secretariat following the procedure outlined in rule 8 above shall form the background from which the Commission and the representatives of the organizations and staff, and/or the working groups established by the Commission, shall address the issues on the agenda. The outcome from the Working Group shall form the basis for decision by the Commission.@