Members should also transmit to the Organization appropriate information regarding the formulation, provisions and operation of such agreements. 8. Publicity. Full publicity should be given to any commodity agreement proposed or concluded, to the statements of considerations and objectives advanced by the proposing members, to the operation of the agreements, and to the nature and development of measures adopted to correct the underlying situation which gave rise to the agreement. 9. Exceptions. The provisions of Chapter V are not designed to cover international agreements relating to the protection of public morals; the protection of human, animal or plant life or health; the conservation of reserves of exhaustible natural resources; the control of international monopoly situations; or the equitable distribution of commodities in short supply. However, such agreements should not be used to accomplish results inconsistent with the objectives of Chapter IV or Chapter V. If any such agreement involves the restriction of production or of international trade, it should not be adopted unless authorized or provided for by a multilateral convention subscribed to by a substantial number of nations, or unless operated under the Organization. Section A. Functions CHAPTER VI. ORGANIZATION The functions of the Organization should include the following: 1. To collect, analyze and publish information, regarding the operation of Chapter III, relating to general commercial policy, Chapter IV, relating to the prevention of restrictive business practices, and Chapter V, relating to intergovernmental commodity arrangements, or in general regarding international trade and commercial policy. 2. To provide technical assistance to members as may be required or appropriate under the provisions of Chapters III, IV and V. 3. To make recommendations to members regarding the operation of Chapters III, IV and V, including the following: a. Recommendations regarding the relaxation or removal of trade control measures permitted under Chapter III. b. Recommendations as to measures for implementing the objectives with regard to restrictive private business practices, set forth in Chapter IV. c. Recommendations regarding the application to commodity arrangements under consideration by members of the principles governing commodity arrangements set forth in Chapter V; and recommendations initiating proposals for new commodity arrangements, or proposing such modifications, including termination, of commodity arrangements already concluded, as may be deemed appropriate under the commodity principles or in the general interest. d. Recommendations designed to promote the maximum obtainable consistency in the operation of Chapters III, IV and V and in other arrangements in the fields of general commercial policy, commodity arrangements and private business practices. 4. To interpret the provisions of Chapters III, IV and V, to consult with members regarding disputes growing out of the provisions of those Chapters, and to provide a mechanism for the settlement of such disputes. 5. In accordance with criteria and procedures to be agreed upon, to waive particular obligations of members, in exceptional circumstances. 6. To make recommendations for international agreements designed to improve the bases of trade and to assure just and equitable treatment for the enterprises, skills and capital brought from one country to another, including agreements on the treatment of foreign nationals and enterprises, on the treatment of commercial travelers, on commercial arbitration, and on the avoidance of double taxation. 7. Generally to perform any function appropriate to the purposes of the Organization. Section B. Organs The Organization should have as its principal organs: A Conference, an Executive Board, a Commercial Policy Commission, a Commission on Business Practices, a Commodity Commission, and a Secretariat. Section C. The Conference The Conference should have final authority to determine the policies of the Organization and to exercise the powers conferred upon the Organization. 1. Membership. All states members of the Organization should be members of the Conference. 2. Voting. Each member of the Conference should have one vote. Except as may be otherwise specifically provided for, decisions of the Conference should be reached by a simple majority vote. It may be desirable to provide for special voting arrangements with regard to the exercise of certain functions of the Organization. 3. Sessions. The Conference should meet at least once a year. Section D. The Executive Board The Executive Board should be authorized to take provisional decisions between meetings of the Conference and to exercise such powers as may be delegated to it by the Conference. The Conference should in general be authorized to delegate its powers to the Executive Board. 1. Membership. The Executive Board should consist of not more than eighteen member states, each of which should have one representative. Member states of chief economic importance should have permanent seats. The Conference should elect the states to fill the nonpermanent seats for 3-year terms, one-third of the nonpermanent members retiring every year. The number of nonpermanent seats should exceed the number of permanent seats, but the latter should not be fewer than one-third of the total number of seats. 2. Voting and sessions. The Executive Board should regulate its own procedure. Section E. The Commissions The Commission on Commercial Policy, the Commission on Business Practices and the Commodity Commission should be responsible to the Executive Board. Each Commission should be given as much initiative and independence of action as may be necessary for the effective discharge of its functions. 1. Membership. The Commissions should be composed of experts appointed by the Executive Board. The terms and other conditions of office of the members of the Commissions should be determined in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Conference. Such terms and conditions need not be uniform, but may vary from Commission to Commission. Pursuant to the reciprocal arrangements with other specialized international organizations contemplated in Section H, paragraph 2, of this Chapter, provision should be made for appropriate representation on the Commodity Commission of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and of other specialized international organizations having an important interest in the commodity operations discussed in Chapter. V. 2. Chairmen. The Chairmen of the Commissions should be nonvoting members of the Executive Board and should be permitted to participate, without vote, in the deliberations of the Conference. 3. Voting and sessions. Each Commission should regulate its own procedure, subject to any decisions made by the Executive Board. 4. Functions. The functions of the Commissions should include the following: a. The Commercial Policy Commission. The Commercial Policy Commission should: 1) Review, and advise the Executive Board regarding, the operation of treaties, agreements, practices and policies affecting international trade. 2) Investigate, and advise the Executive Board regarding, the economic aspects of proposals to waive certain obligations of members in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5, Section A, of this Chapter. 3) Investigate, and advise the Executive Board regarding, the economic aspects of proposed customs unions. 4) Develop and recommend to the Executive Board, for adoption by members of the Organization, cooperative projects of a technical nature in the field of commercial policy (e. g. standard bases and methods of determining dutiable value, uniform customs nomenclature, and standardization of statistical methods and nomenclature in foreign trade statistics). 5) Develop and recommend to the Executive Board additional programs designed to further the objectives of the Organization in the general field of commercial policy. b. The Commission on Business Practices. The Commission on Business Practices should: 1) Inquire into activities on the part of private commercial enterprises which have the effect or purpose of restraining international trade, restricting access to international markets, or of fostering monopolistic controls in international trade. 2) Advise the Executive Board with regard to the recommendations which should be made to members in respect of business divestitures, reorganizations, dissolutions or other remedial actions. 3) Conduct investigations and make recommendations to the Executive Board looking to the promotion and adoption in all countries of codes of fair business practices designed to facilitate and enlarge the flow of international trade. 4) Advise the Executive Board as to the types of information which members should file with the Organization. 5) Facilitate appropriate intergovernmental arrangements for the international exchange of technological information, on a nondiscriminatory basis. c. The Commodity Commission. The Commodity Commission should: 2) Make recommendations to the Executive Board on appropriate courses of action, including recommendations for the establishment of Study Groups for particular commodities. Such Study Groups should be established by the Executive Board, upon the recommendations of the Commodity Commission, for the purpose of investigating problems with respect to particular commodities. The Study Groups should be composed of representatives of member governments invited to participate by the Executive Board and one or more representatives designated by the Commodity Commission. 3) Make recommendations to the Executive Board as to whether or not a particular commodity is in world surplus. 4) Make recommendations to the Executive Board as to whether an application made by a member for the convening of an intergovernmental conference should be granted. 5) Designate members of the Commission to participate in an advisory capacity in the formulation of intergovernmental commodity agreements. 6) Make recommendations to the Executive Board regarding the application of the commodity agreements under consideration by members. 7) Designate the Chairman and Secretary for any Commodity Council established to administer an intergovernmental commodity agreement. 8) Maintain continuous review of the conduct of the operations of intergovernmental commodity agreements in the light of the terms of the agreements, the commodity principles in Chapter V, and the general welfare; and make recommendations to the Executive Board with regard thereto. Section F. Industrial and Mineral Unit The Conference should create an Industrial and Mineral Unit responsible to the Executive Board. The Industrial and Mineral Unit should promote by technical assistance and other appropriate means the expansion of production and trade with regard to fabricated products and with regard to minerals and other primary commodities in respect of which such promotional activities are not under the jurisdiction of the Food and Agriculture Organization. Section G. The Secretariat The Secretariat, which should be divided into three or more offices, should serve all the organs of the Organization and the Commodity Councils established to administer specific commodity arrangements. It should be headed by a Director-General. Under his authority there should be three or more Deputy Director-General each of whom should be in charge of an office. The Director-General, and on the advice of the Director-General, the Deputy Directors-General, should be appointed by the Conference upon the nomination of the Executive Board. The Director-General should be the chief administrative officer of the Organization and should be an ex officio member, without vote, of the Executive Board. Three Deputy Directors-General should be er officio members of the three Commissions. The Director-General and the Deputy Directors-General should have the authority to initiate proposals for the consideration of any organ of the Organization. Section H. Relations with Other Organizations 1. Relations with the United Nations Organization. The Organization should be brought into relationship with the United Nations Organization on terms to be determined by agreement between the Executive Board and the appropriate authorities of the United Nations Organization, subject to approval by the Conference. 2. Relations with other specialized international organizations. In order to provide for close cooperation between the Organization and other specialized international organizations with related responsibilities, the Executive Board, subject to the approval of the Conference, should be authorized to enter into agreements with the appropriate authorities of such organizations defining the distribution of responsibilities and methods of cooperation. 3. Administrative arrangements. The Director-General should be authorized, subject to the authority of the Conference or of the Executive Board, to enter into agreements with other international organizations for the maintenance of common services, for common arrangements in regard to recruitment, training, conditions of service, and other related matters, and for interchanges of staff. EXHIBIT II ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL RESOLUTION REGARDING THE CALLING OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT The Economic and Social Council, considering it essential that the cooperative economic measures already taken be supplemented by further international measures dealing directly with trade barriers and discriminations which stand in the way of an expansion of multilateral trade and by an undertaking on the part of nations to seek full employment. 1. DECIDES to call an International Conference on Trade and Employment, in the latter part of 1948, for the purpose of promoting the expansion of production, exchange and consumption of goods: 2. CONSTITUTES a Preparatory Committee to elaborate an annotated draft agenda, including a draft convention, for consideration by the Conference, taking into account suggestions which may be submitted to it by the Economic and Social Council or by any Member of the United Nations; 3. SUGGESTS, as a basis of discussion for the Preparatory Committee, that the agenda include the following topics: (a) International agreement relating to the achievement and maintenance of high and stable levels of employment and economic activity. (b) International agreement relating to regulations, restrictions, and discriminations affecting international trade. (c) International agreement relating to restrictive business practices. (d) International agreement relating to intergovernmental commodity arrangements. (e) Establishment of an international trade organization, as a specialized agency of the United Nations, having responsibilities in the fields of (b), (c) and (d) above; 4. REQUESTS the Preparatory Committee, when considering the foregoing items, to take into account the special conditions which prevail in countries whose manufacturing industry is still in its initial stages of development, and the questions that arise in connection with commodities which are subject to special problems of adjustment in international markets; 5. REQUESTS the Preparatory Committee to report to a subsequent session of the Council recommendations regarding the date and place of the Conference and the agenda (including a draft convention) and also what States, if any, not Members of the United Nations, should be invited to the Conference on Trade and Employment; 6. APPOINTS as Members of the Preparatory Committee the representatives of the Governments of the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, India, Lebanon, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, USSR, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. |