Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Council of Foreign Ministers, Volume II

C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2065: Deputies Documents

Proposals by the French Delegation to the Conference of Deputies of the Council of Foreign Ministers⁶¹

secret
C.F.M. (D) (46) 52

2 April, 1946.

draft regulations for the paris conference

Article 1

The Conference shall consist of a representative of each of the five inviting States and the sixteen invited States.

Article 2

The Chairmanship of the Conference shall be held in turn and in the alphabetical order of the names of countries by the representatives of the States members of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Each Chairman shall hold office for a week.

Article 3

At its first meeting the Conference shall appoint the Secretary-General of the Conference.

Credentials Committee

Article 4

A Credentials Committee shall be elected at the same meeting. It shall consist of the representatives of seven countries appointed by the Conference on the motion of the Chairman. The Committee shall elect its own Chairman and a rapporteur, who will submit his report at the first meeting of the General Commission.

Languages and Conduct of Business

Article 5

English, French and Russian shall be the official and working languages of the Conference and the Commissions.

The provisions of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly of the United Nations regarding conduct of business shall apply to the proceedings of the Conference, the General Commission and the other Commissions.

Records

Article 6

Full records shall be kept of the meetings of the Conference.

Publicity of Meetings

Article 7

The discussions at meetings of the Conference shall be public unless otherwise decided.

General Commission

Article 8

The General Commission shall consist of one representative from each of the twenty-one States attending the Conference.

This representative may be assisted by one or more Deputies and technical advisors.

Article 9

The Chairman of the Conference shall be Chairman of the General Commission.

The latter may appoint one of its members to act as rapporteur for each of the questions which it will have to consider.

Article 10

The Conference shall refer to the General Commission the draft treaties presented to it by the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Article 11

The General Commission shall proceed to consider these treaties and make any recommendations it considers advisable to the Conference.

Invitations to Non-Member States

Article 12

The General Commission shall invite the States whose position is to be settled by the provisions of the Peace Treaties to express their views in conditions to be specified.

Voting

Article 13

Decisions of the General Commission on questions of procedure shall be adopted by majority vote.

Decisions on all other questions, including the determination of the nature of the question to be decided and the issue of invitations to Governments non-members of the Conference to present their views, shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the votes.

Recommendations made by the General Commission to the Conference shall be adopted by a similar majority.

Agenda

Article 14

The agenda of every meeting of the General Commission shall be drawn up by the Secretary-General of the Conference, in consultation with the Chairman of the Commission. It shall be communicated to the members of the General Commission at the opening of every meeting.

The agenda shall comprise:

(a) Any question which the General Commission has decided to consider;

(b) Any question directly affecting the Conference and proposed by the representative of any Government member of the Conference;

(c) Any question which in the opinion of the Chairman of the General Commission and the Secretary-General should be brought before the Conference.

(d) Any questions, reports or investigations which may be submitted for consideration or decision to the General Commission by the various Commissions.

Technical Commissions

Article 15

The Commissions of the Conference shall be composed in the same way as the General Commission.

The States members of the Conference may likewise nominate technical advisors, experts or other duly qualified persons to these Commissions.

Article 16

Each Commission shall elect its own Chairman, Vice-Chairman and rapporteurs.

Article 17

The Commissions of the Conference shall be the following:

1. Economic, Financial and Technical Commission;

2. Commission on Territorial Questions;

3. Military Commission;

4. Commission on Colonial Questions.

Article 18

The General Commission may decide to set up such other Commissions as may be deemed necessary for the fulfilment of its task.

Article 19

The Commissions shall consider the questions referred to them by the General Commission. They shall not begin the study of new questions on their own initiative.

Results of investigations and reports on each question considered by them shall be submitted to the General Commission.

Article 20

Decisions of the Commissions shall be taken by a majority of the members present and voting.

Sub-Commissions and Committees

Article 21

Any Commission may form sub-Commissions. It may create subcommittees to consider special questions. These sub-committees must include representatives of the States directly interested in the question under consideration. Sub-Commissions and sub-committees shall submit reports to the Commission by which they have been nominated, for purposes of discussion.

Records of Meetings

Article 22

No Minutes shall be kept of the meetings of the General Commission, Technical Commissions, sub-commissions and sub-committees.

Nevertheless, a record containing a list of the questions discussed and the decisions adopted will be kept. The representatives of the States members of the Conference may ask that their statements on a particular question be included in the record.

Publicity of Meetings

Article 23

The meetings of the General Commission, Commissions and sub-Committees shall be private. At the end of each meeting of the General Commission the Chairman may issue a communiqué through the Secretary-General. The preparation of such communiqué may be entrusted to a Committee of representatives of the Press services of the ten Delegations forming the Secretariat of the Conference.

Secretariat

Article 24

The Secretary-General of the Conference shall act in this capacity at all meetings of the Conference and the General Commission. He may authorise a Deputy to replace him with the same powers and duties as himself.

He may be asked by the Chairman of the General Commission to submit verbal or written notes on all questions placed on the agenda of the General Commission.

Article 25

Under the direction of the Secretary-General of the Conference there shall be formed a Secretariat of ten members consisting of one representative from each of the five inviting States and five other members appointed by the General Commission. Two of these shall act as Secretaries of the General Commission and the four technical Commissions respectively.

The additional staff necessary for the working of the Secretariat, shall be supplied by the French Government and the various Delegations.

Article 26

The Secretariat’s duties shall be:

(a) to assist the General Commission in the discharge of their duties;

(b) to supervise and co-ordinate the work of the secretariats of the special commissions, sub-commissions and sub-committees and to ensure liaison between these bodies and the General Commission.

Article 27

The Secretariat of each Commission shall be supplied by the Secretariat of the Conference.

Article 28

The Secretary-General of the Conference shall be in charge of the general administrative secretariat of the Conference which is responsible for all the technical arrangements.

Amendments and Suspensions

Article 29

The General Commission may decide to amend or suspend the provisions of the present rules of procedure after their adoption.

Such decision shall be taken on the motion of the Chairman of the General Commission which will instruct the Secretary-General of the Conference to report to the General Commission on the proposed amendment or suspension.

61. This paper was circulated to the Deputies at their 34th Meeting, held in London, April 2, 1946, and it was subsequently discussed by the Deputies in Paris at their 92nd and 93rd Meetings, July 5 and 6, 1946. The paper was referred by the Deputies to the Council of Foreign Ministers which discussed it at the Council’s 36th and 37th Meetings, July 6 and July 8, 1946, and at the Council’s 15th Informal Meeting, July 8, 1946. For the United States Delegation Records of these Council meetings, see pp. 801, 817, and 828. For the paper on the organization and procedure of the Paris Peace Conference as finally approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers, see C.F.M. (46) 204, July 9, 1946, p. 852.