1. About the ILO
2. Topics
3. Regions
4. Meetings and events
5. Publications
6. Research
7. Labour standards
8. Statistics and databases

NINTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Publication of the Provisional Record at the
International Labour Conference

Background

1. As part of the measures to reduce expenditure in 1996-97, at its 264th Session (November 1995) the Governing Body decided, inter alia, that the statements made in plenary sittings of the International Labour Conference during the discussion of the reports of the Chairperson of the Governing Body and of the Director-General would no longer be produced during the session as Provisional Records of the Conference. They would however continue to appear as part of the final Record of Proceedings of the Conference which is produced, in English, French and Spanish, after the conclusion of the Conference.

2. This decision, which was implemented at the 83rd and 84th (Maritime) Sessions of the Conference in June and October 1996 respectively, was reviewed by the Governing Body at its 267th Session (November 1996). This review identified certain shortcomings in the implementation of the decision which had meant that plenary statements had not been made available in any form during the Conference, thereby causing serious inconvenience to many delegates. Certain measures were identified to mitigate these shortcomings, although they inevitably fell short of the service provided by the in-session production of the Provisional Record in three languages. In view of the cost implications of producing the Provisional Record (estimated at the time at $481,000 per annum at a rate of exchange of 1.16 Swiss francs to the US dollar), the Governing Body finally decided to maintain its decision of November 1995, on the understanding that the measures identified would be introduced as of the 85th Session (June 1997) of the Conference.

Measures taken at the 85th Session (June 1997)
of the Conference

3. The measures taken last June to obviate some of the shortcomings identified were as follows:

(a) Some statements in plenary were indeed produced as in-session Provisional Records, namely:

• the address by the President of the Conference;
• the presentation of the Report of the Chairperson of the Governing Body (in 1997 by Mr. Brett, Worker Vice-Chairperson);
• the presentation by the Director-General of his report and his reply to the discussion thereof;
• the addresses by the special guests, namely Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, and His Majesty King Hussein of Jordan.

  (b) The details of all votes taken in plenary were printed and produced immediately during the session.

  (c) The speeches delivered in plenary, though not translated and reproduced in three languages in the Provisional Record, were nevertheless made available in three ways:

• a photocopy service, which provided delegates with the opportunity of obtaining, on request, any of the speeches they wanted in the speaker's original language;
• an Internet service which enabled delegates (and the public at large) to access speeches submitted on diskette in English, French or Spanish;
• an audio service (on compact disks) which enabled any delegate who so wished to listen at any time to any speech in either the original language of the speaker or in its interpreted version in English, French or Spanish.

The Record of Proceedings of the Conference, containing, inter alia, all the speeches, was finalized by the end of August 1997 and dispatched early in September.

Reactions in the Governing Body

4. At the 269th Session (June 1997) of the Governing Body, during the discussion on questions arising out of the 85th Session of the Conference, both the Employer and the Worker Vice-Chairpersons complained that the unavailability of trilingual Provisional Records during the session, reflecting all the speeches made in plenary, had constituted a serious hindrance to a proper understanding of all the views expressed on the Director-General's report. In the absence of these Provisional Records, it had been impossible to assess the thrust of the discussion, analyse the substance of different statements or consequently draw any meaningful conclusions from the debate. This problem was all the more acute in that the topic of the Report was particularly important and sensitive.

5. In summarizing the discussion on questions arising out of the 85th Session of the Conference, the Chairperson of the Governing Body referred to these complaints. It was understood that, at the specific request of the Worker Vice-Chairperson, the resumption of the in-session production of the Provisional Records reproducing speeches in plenary would be considered by the Governing Body at its current session.

Options with corresponding costs

6.Before presenting possible options, it is suggested that whatever the option retained, the Office would anyway continue to provide the Internet and audio services. These services were highly appreciated, and as the initial investment has already been made, they can be provided in future at very little cost (estimated at $6,000 per year). On the other hand, should the Governing Body decide that the Provisional Record should be produced in-session in printed form, the photocopy service would obviously become redundant, even though the cost of this service is also negligible.

Option 1. Status quo with improved services

7. The Programme and Budget for 1998-99 approved by the International Labour Conference last year does not provide for the in-session production of trilingual Provisional Records of speeches made in plenary. In other words, the Budget was calculated on the assumption that the approach implemented at the 85th Session of the Conference in 1997 would continue to be followed in the next biennium. Thus, the status quo option would not have any budgetary implications. However, in response to Mr Brett's assessment that the equipment made available at the Palais des Nations was insufficient to meet demand, it might be advisable, should this option be retained, to foresee a small credit ($20,000) to provide more PCs and printers to ensure delegates' access to the speeches on Internet.

Option 2. Printed trilingual Provisional Record every year

8. In the light of the views expressed by the Employer and Worker Vice-Chairpersons, the Governing Body could opt to reinstate the full service of printed Provisional Records available daily in English, French and Spanish. The additional cost of this option (at the 1998-99 budget rate of exchange of Frs.1.46 Swiss francs to the US dollar) would be $750,000 for the biennium, corresponding to an estimated cost per Conference session of $375,000, broken down as follows:
 

Option 3. Printed trilingual Provisional Record every other year

9. As already mentioned, the problem arising from the unavailability of the Provisional Records reflecting all the statements made was exacerbated in 1997 by the fact that the Director-General's Report covered an important and sensitive topic. As the Committee will recall, since the reforms of 1993 the Director-General is expected to present to the Conference during a given biennium one report on a topical issue (during "budget years") and one general report on the activities of the ILO (during "non-budget years"). The importance of being able to assess in depth and in detail the statements made in the discussion of the Director-General's Report may be thought more significant when the report covers a policy issue (as was the case in 1997) than when it covers ILO activities in general (as in 1998). The Governing Body may therefore choose to have full Provisional Records in the former case, but not in the latter. If so, the additional cost would be halved to $375,000 per biennium.

Option 4. Daily availability of all statements in English,
French and Spanish, but not in printed form

10. With current technology, it is now possible to make all the statements available daily in English, French and Spanish without necessarily printing them all systematically. Under this option, the work of editing, translating, text-processing and proof-reading would be undertaken daily, but not the actual printing of Provisional Records. Instead, all statements, once ready in the three languages, would be made available on-line and could be read and printed directly from any computer anywhere within the Conference premises and outside. Furthermore, the photocopy service could be maintained to provide statements in English, French and Spanish on demand. In other words, under this option, instead of all delegates picking up everyday all the statements in pre-printed form, delegates would not only choose, à la carte, the specific statements that interest them, but would also choose the manner of access to the statements (on screen from anywhere, as a printout or as a photocopy). Delegates would even be able to print out extracts of speeches for themselves if they so wished.

11. Although it can be assumed that some delegates will pick up the speeches that interest them outside the Conference premises (e.g. at their missions in Geneva or their hotels if duly equipped), many would no doubt wish to avail themselves of the service on the premises. In order to avoid the rush, three specific measures would be taken:

• the speeches in English, French and Spanish would be made available through a database with a fast search facility permitting almost instant location of the speech(es) sought;
• the database would be placed on the Conference network, thereby making it accessible from any PC on the premises (e.g. Employers' and Workers' delegates could obtain speeches from their respective liaison services);
• the number of PCs available could be increased by, say, five, and these PCs could be placed at various strategic locations within the Conference premises.

This option would have the added advantage that since all the statements would already be made available in the three languages during the session, the final Record of Proceedings, comprising these statements, could be printed and dispatched much earlier than at present.

12. The additional cost of this option would basically be the same as the one for Options 2 or 3, minus the significant cost of printing the Provisional Record ($205,000). There would be a one-off investment of some $20,000 in equipment. Thus, depending on whether the Governing Body retained this option for both years of the biennium (Option 4(a)), or only for 1999 (Option 4 (b)) when the Director-General's Report is expected to cover a policy topic, the supplementary cost for the 1998-99 biennium would be either $360,000 or $190,000 respectively.

Conclusion

13. The Programme, Finance and Administrative Committee may wish to recommend to the Governing Body the adoption of one of the options described above, as follows:
 

Option 1.		Status quo with improved services, at a cost of $20,000;
Option 2.		Printed trilingual Provisional Records every year, at a cost of $750,000;
Option 3.		Printed trilingual Provisional Records every other year, at a cost of $375,000;
Option 4	(a)	Availability of statements in three languages but not in printed form, every year, at a cost of $360,000;
Option 4	(b)	Availability of statements in three languages, but not in printed form, every other year, at a cost of $190,000;

14. The Committee may wish to recommend to the Governing Body that the additional costs arising in the 1998-99 biennium as a result of changing the existing practice of the publication of the Provisional Record be financed in the first instance from savings in Part I of the budget, on the understanding that, should this subsequently prove impossible, the Director-General would propose alternative methods of financing at a later stage in the biennium.

Geneva, 15 October 1997.

Points for decision:

Paragraph 13;
Paragraph 14.