Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Paris Peace Conference: Documents, Volume IV

CFM Files

Draft Rules of Procedure, Prepared by the Commission on Procedure

C.P.(Plen)Doc.1

[ August 7, 1946.]

Organization and Procedure of the Peace Conference

(The underlined paragraphs¹ are additions made by the Commission on Procedure to the suggestions of the Council of Foreign Ministers)²

i. organs of the conference

1. The draft Treaties prepared by the Council of Foreign Ministers will be submitted to the Plenary Conference composed of all Member States represented by the Heads of their Delegations. The Conference will refer them to Commissions for study, the various sections of the Treaties being referred to the competent Commissions.

The Conference may, at the request of one or more delegations, place on its agenda any question connected with the draft peace treaties.

The Plenary Conference shall receive reports drawn up by Commissions, discuss them and adopt all recommendations it deems appropriate.

2. A General Commission, composed of one representative from each of the Member States, shall be set up to assist the Plenary Conference. It will co-ordinate the work of the various Commissions.

[3.] The following Commissions will be set up to study the various sections of the Treaties and to make recommendations to the Plenary Conference.

(a) Commissions for Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland to consider the political and territorial clauses of each Treaty.

These Commissions will in each case consist of the representatives of the Members of the Council who prepared the Draft Treaties and of the Member States at war with the enemy State in question.

(b) Two Economic Commissions: the first to consider the economic and financial clauses of the Treaty with Italy and to be composed of representatives of the States at war with Italy; the second to consider the economic and financial clauses of the Treaties with Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland and to consist of representatives of the Members of the Council who prepared the Draft Treaties and of the Member States at war with any one of the enemy States in question.

(c) The representatives of any States-Members of the Conference may be heard by any Commission, if they so notify the Chairman of the Commission concerned.

(d) A Military Commission to consider the military, naval and air clauses of all five Treaties.

(e) A Legal and Drafting Commission.

The Military and Legal and Drafting Commissions will be composed of representatives of all the Member States. All the Commissions may set up Sub-Commissions in order to study particular questions.

ii. chairmen, rapporteurs

The Chairmanship of the Conference will be held in the first place by the representative of the host Government and thereafter in turn by each of the Members of the Council of Foreign Ministers in the French alphabetical order, each Chairman holding office for three days.

Each Commission will elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman respectively and appoint Rapporteurs.

No member of the delegation of any state represented on the Council of Foreign Ministers shall be eligible for election to the chairmanship of any commission.

No member of the delegation of any state having one of its members elected to the chairmanship of any commission shall be eligible for election to the chairmanship of any other commission.

iii. invitation to other states

The Conference will invite Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland to state their views in accordance with the conditions which will be laid down.

The Conference may invite other countries which are not members of the Conference to state their views.

The Secretariat is asked to invite the representatives of Italy, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland to attend and submit their views at Plenary Meetings of the Conference beginning on 10th August. Commissions may arrange for representatives of ex-enemy States to be heard as and when deemed desirable.³

iv. official and working languages

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

v. secretariat

1. Under the direction of the Secretary General who will be appointed by the Conference at its first meeting the organisation of the Conference will include:

• —an Administrative Secretariat;
• —a Secretariat responsible for the work of the Conference and the Commissions;

2. The Administrative Secretariat will be exclusively French.

3. A Secretariat of eight members will be set up including a representative of each of the Members of the Council who prepared the Draft Treaties, and an equal number of Members appointed by the Conference.

The additional staff necessary for the working of the Secretariat will be provided by the French Government and the various Delegations.

vi. voting

(a) Plenary Conference

Decisions of the Conference on questions of procedure will be adopted by a majority vote. Decisions on all other questions will be adopted by a two-thirds majority.

Recommendations of the Plenary Conference shall be of two kinds:

(1) those adopted by a majority of two-thirds of the members of the Conference,

(2) those which obtained a majority of more than half but less than two-thirds of the members of the Conference.

Both types of recommendation shall be submitted to the Council of Foreign Ministers for their consideration.

(b) Commissions

Should a two-thirds majority be obtained in any Commission, the Commission’s report will be presented as a recommendation, but the minority will have the right to present its views and to ask for a decision. Should a two-thirds majority in any Commission not be obtained, the Commission will submit two or more reports to the Conference, each member retaining his full right to present his own point of view and to request that this should be the subject of a decision in the Conference.

vii. records of the meetings

Verbatim records will be made of the meetings of the Plenary Conference.

For the Commissions a summary record of decisions will be prepared. To the record will be annexed copies of the statements which delegates have asked should be inserted in the record and proposals submitted, in the form in which they have been handed by delegations to the Secretariat.

viii. general provisions

On all questions of procedure not covered by these rules of procedure the Conference and the Commissions shall in appropriate cases be guided by the principles of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization.

ix. amendments and suspensions

The Conference may decide to amend or suspend the provisions of the Rules of Procedure after their adoption.

Annex

Resolution

Should a proposal made by an Allied State which borders on the State whose particular case is under discussion not be accepted either by a two-thirds or a simple majority, the Government of the said Allied State may submit such proposal direct to the Council of Foreign Ministers for its consideration.⁴

1. These paragraphs are printed in italics.
2. For the text of C.F.M.(46)204(2nd Revision), July 9, 1946, the Rules of Procedure suggested by the Council of Foreign Ministers, see vol. ii, p. 852. The present document was approved by the Commission on Procedure at its Twelfth Meeting, August 7; for the United States Delegation Journal account of the proceedings of that meeting, see vol. iii, pp. 130–131 ff.
3. In the course of the Eighth Plenary Meeting, August 9, during which the present document was approved, it was decided to transfer the third paragraph of Section III to the Annex; it became Annex II of the Rules of Procedure of the Conference. The verbatim record of the Eighth Plenary Meeting is printed in vol. iii, p. 148.
4. The Conference adopted two Annexes to the Rules of Procedure at the Ninth Plenary Meeting, August 9; for an account of the discussion on the Annexes at that time, see the editorial note on the Ninth Plenary Meeting, vol. iii, p. 162. The present resolution became Annex I; for identification of Annex II, see footnote 3, p. 797.