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GB.270/9/1 and Corr.
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NINTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Reports of the Committee on Legal Issues and
International Labour Standards
First report: Legal issues
1. The Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards met on 13 November 1997 and was chaired by Mr. J.L. Ilabaca (Government, Chile). The Employer and Worker Vice-Chairpersons were Mr. D. Funes de Rioja and Mr. J.-C. Parrot respectively.
2. The Committee had before it two papers prepared by the Office.
Proposed amendment to the Standing Orders of the Governing Body
consequential on the adoption of the Constitution of the International
Labour Organization Instrument of Amendment, 1997
3. The Office paper(1) on this item proposed an amendment to the Standing Orders of the Governing Body necessary to bring them into line with the changes made by the International Labour Conference to its Standing Orders. These changes related to the amendment of article 19 of the ILO Constitution, adopted by the Conference in June 1997 in order to enable it, in certain circumstances and subject to strict procedural guarantees, to abrogate international labour Conventions. The paper recalled that the Governing Body had already considered and accepted at its 267th Session (November 1996) the Office's suggested provisions covering the procedure for placing on the Conference agenda proposals for the abrogation or withdrawal of Conventions and Recommendations. In introducing the Office paper, the Legal Adviser noted that, with the proposed amendment to the Governing Body's Standing Orders, the full mechanism would have been put into place. The Governing Body could thus decide to place on the agenda of a future session of the Conference proposals for the withdrawal of Conventions not in force and Recommendations, which were considered obsolete in accordance with the relevant criteria and on the basis of a consensus following the discussions in the LILS Committee. Proposals for the abrogation of obsolete Conventions that were in force would have to wait until the Instrument of Amendment had entered into effect.
4. The Worker members expressed support for the proposal contained in the Office paper and underscored the value of this exercise for the standard-setting function of the Organization.
5. The Employer members reiterated their support for the modernization of the ILO's body of labour standards. They considered that the constitutional amendment on abrogation, accompanied by the necessary amendments to the Standing Orders of the Conference and the Governing Body, represented the first decisive step towards modernization on the eve of a new century. This would enable the Organization to discard obsolete instruments.
6. The representative of the Government of Panama fully agreed with the amendment, considering that this was an important step towards modernization as it conferred the authority on the ILO to dispense with Conventions elaborated a long time ago and which were inapplicable.
7. The representative of the Government of France considered that footnote 4 in the Office paper was somewhat ambiguous with respect to a fundamental distinction that had to be made: the proposed new article 12bis was intended to cover two separate actions -- the abrogation of obsolete conventions which were still in force, and the withdrawal of Conventions that had never entered into or were no longer in force, and of Recommendations.
8. The representative of the Government of the Russian Federation stated that, although it was difficult to comment on the ambiguous nature of the paper, since it had not been made available in Russian, he supported the proposed amendment which was linked to the related decisions of the Conference. He referred to a remark already made at the March session concerning the need to update the Russian version of the Standing Orders of the Governing Body, which unlike the English and French versions had not been updated since 1985.
9. The representative of the Government of Mexico considered that the amendment proposed reflected the fruitful work of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, and expressed his satisfaction for the progress made so far.
10. The Committee recommends that the Governing Body add a new article 12bis to its Standing Orders, worded as follows :
Article 12bis
Procedure concerning the placing on the Conference agenda
of the abrogation(2) of a Convention in force or the
withdrawal of a Convention which is not
in force or of a Recommendation
1. When an item to be placed on the agenda of the Conference concerns the abrogation of a Convention in force or the withdrawal of a Convention that is not in force or of a Recommendation, the Office shall place before the Governing Body a report containing all relevant information which the Office possesses on this subject.
2. The provisions of article 18 concerning the fixing of the Conference agenda shall not apply to the decision to place on the agenda of a given session of the Conference an item on such an abrogation or withdrawal. Such a decision shall as far as possible be reached by consensus or, if such a consensus cannot be reached in two successive sessions of the Governing Body, by a four-fifths majority of members of the Governing Body with a right to vote during the second of these sessions.
Amendment to the Standing Orders of the Governing Body
consequential on the amendment of article 32 of the
Standing Orders of the International Labour Conference
11. On the proposal of the Chairperson, the Committee considered, under the item "other legal questions", a draft amendment(3) to article 17, paragraph 6 of the Standing Orders of the Governing Body which was simply consequential to the amendment adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 1997 to article 32 of its Standing Orders. This provision concerned Members in arrears for which the Conference had approved an arrangement under article 13, paragraph 4 of the Constitution. The Conference's amendment extended the period during which such a Member could make the payments necessary under the arrangement in order to retain the right to vote.
12. The Legal Adviser recalled that the amendment to the Conference Standing Orders was aimed at simplifying the procedure at the Conference so as to permit a Member in arrears to vote where such a Member had accidentally failed to pay its arrears and annual instalments before the end of the year in respect of which they were due. Since decisions taken by the Conference with respect to article 13, paragraph 4, of the Constitution applied in other organs, including the Governing Body, the latter's Standing Orders needed to be adjusted. As far as the Governing Body was concerned, the amendment would recognize that a Member failing to pay by the end of the previous year could nevertheless vote at the March session of the Governing Body provided that, at the time of the vote, it had paid in full its contributions and annual instalments of arrears due for the previous year.
13. The Employer and Worker members fully supported the proposed amendment both in substance and in form. The representative of the Government of Panama also agreed with the amendment and welcomed this further effort by the Organization to streamline its procedures.
14. The Committee accordingly recommends that the Governing Body adopt the following amendment to article 17, paragraph 6 of its Standing Orders:(4)
6. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 5 of this article, after the Conference has approved an arrangement under which the arrears of a Member are consolidated and are payable in annual instalments over a period of years, [any decision by the Conference permitting that Member to vote shall be valid as long as the Member concerned pays both its current contributions and the instalments on its consolidated arrears during the year in respect of which they are due] the representative of the Member concerned and any deputy member of the Governing Body appointed by that Member shall be permitted to vote provided that, at the time of the vote concerned, the Member has fully paid all instalments due under the arrangement as well as all financial contributions under article 13 of the Constitution that were due before the end of the previous year. For any Member which, at the close of a session of the Conference, has not fully paid all such instalments and contributions due before the end of the previous year, the permission to vote shall lapse.
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Geneva, 17 November 1997. |
(Signed) J.L. Ilabaca, |
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Chairperson. |
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D. Funes de Rioja |
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J.-C. Parrot |
Points for decision:
Paragraph 10;
Paragraph 14.
1. GB.270/LILS/1.
2. Only applicable upon the entry into force of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization Instrument of Amendment, 1997.
3. GB.270/LILS/2/1.
4. Passages that it is proposed to delete are shown between square brackets; those to be inserted are in italics.