|
GB.270/LILS/1
|
|
Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards |
LILS |
FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA
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
1.At its 85th Session (June 1997), the International Labour Conference adopted an instrument for the amendment of the Constitution(1) which adds a new paragraph to article 19 so as to enable the Conference, by a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast by the delegates present (the same as that required for its adoption), to abrogate any Convention if it appears that it has lost its purpose or that it no longer makes a useful contribution to attaining the objectives of the Organization.
2. In adopting the constitutional amendment, the Conference reaffirmed the distinction to be made between abrogation properly so-called and withdrawal of international labour Conventions and Recommendations. Although both are subject to the same strict procedural guarantees, an express constitutional authority for the Conference to abrogate ratified Conventions is only needed in cases where legal obligations have been established between two or more States. On the other hand, the Conference can withdraw a Convention that either has not come into force or is no longer in force as a result of denunciations, and even more so a Recommendation, without waiting for the entry into force of the constitutional amendment relating to abrogation, since no legal obligations exist in such cases.
3. The Conference also considered and adopted consequential and related amendments to its Standing Orders(2) on the understanding that those of the new provisions which relate to abrogation -- as opposed to withdrawal -- would only become applicable on the entry into force of the instrument of amendment in accordance with its article 36.
4. Following the above Conference decision, it is now for the Governing Body, in line with the amendments to the Conference Standing Orders, to amend its own Standing Orders so as to lay down the procedure to be followed for placing on the Conference agenda the question of abrogation or withdrawal, as the case may be, of a Convention or Recommendation. At its 267th Session (November 1996) the Governing Body already considered and accepted the Office proposals to that effect, as amended by the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards,(3) on the understanding that they would only be effectively introduced if and when the Conference had adopted the constitutional amendment and related Standing Orders provisions. These proposals are reflected in a new Article 12bis which would read as follows:
Article 12bis
Procedure concerning the placing on the Conference agenda
of the abrogation(4) 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.
5. The first paragraph in the text proposed above would simply reproduce article 45bis, paragraph 1, of the Conference Standing Orders. The second paragraph would establish a special procedure requiring decisions to be taken by consensus if possible. Failing a consensus, a four-fifths majority would be required: the Governing Body has in its earlier discussions considered this qualified majority to be necessary in order to exclude the possibility of a decision being taken despite the opposition of one of the groups.
6. In the light of the foregoing, the Committee is invited to recommend to the Governing Body that it confirm its preliminary decision to add a new Article 12bis to its Standing Orders worded as in paragraph 4 above.
Geneva, 11 October 1997.
Point for decision: Paragraph 6.
1. See Provisional Record No. 15.
2. See Provisional Record No. 15A.
3. GB.267/LILS/WP/PRS/1 and GB.267/LILS/4/1.
4. Only applicable upon the entry into force of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization Instrument of Amendment, 1997.