Distr.

GENERAL

FCCC/SBI/1996/8

26 February 1996

ENGLISH ONLY

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Second session

Geneva, 27 February - 4 March 1996

Item 8 of the provisional agenda

Paragraphs Page

I. INTRODUCTION 1 - 4 3

A. Mandate 1 - 2 3

B. Scope of the note 3 3

C. Possible action by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation 4 3

II. NOTES ON ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS 5 - 28 3

A. Participation 5 - 9 3

B. Rules of procedure 10 5

C. Agenda 11 - 12 5

D. Officers 13 - 15 5

E. Admission of organizations as observers 16 - 19 6

F. Organization of work 20 - 24 7

G. Statements 25 - 27 8

H. Special events 28 8

GE. 96-

Page

I. Second session of the Conference of the Parties: possible elements

for a provisional agenda 9

II. Second session of the Conference of the Parties, 8 to 19 July 1996:

tentative schedule of meetings 12

1. Article 8.2 of the Convention provides that the functions of the secretariat shall be, inter alia, "to make arrangements for sessions of the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies established under the Convention and to provide them with services as required."

2. At its meeting held on 31 October 1995, the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties (COP) decided that the second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 2) would be held within the period of 8 to 19 July 1996, at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. In this connection, it will be recalled that all subsidiary bodies are also scheduled to meet within that sessional period. The Bureau further decided that the secretariat would prepare, in consultation with the Bureau, a paper on all aspects of COP 2 that would be considered at the second session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), in February 1996, in the context of an agenda item on arrangements for COP 2.

3. Accordingly, the secretariat has consulted the Bureau before submitting the present note to the SBI. This note contains information on organizational matters for COP 2, and it provides a list of possible elements for a provisional agenda for the session.

4. Guidance is invited from the SBI on the matters raised in this note, in particular on: (a) the provisional agenda for COP 2; (b) consultations on the composition of the Bureau for COP 2; and (c) the organization of the work of COP 2, including the possibility of holding a high-level or ministerial segment and providing for a general discussion as part of that segment.

Notification and attendance

5. Rule 5 of the draft rules of procedure of the COP and its subsidiary bodies provides that "the secretariat shall notify all Parties of the dates and venue of a session at least two months before the session is held" (see A/AC.237/L.22/Rev.2 and FCCC/CP/1995/2). Formal notification of the second session will be communicated in due course to all Parties through the Permanent Missions in Geneva, or the Permanent Missions in New York of Parties not represented in Geneva, or the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Parties not represented in Geneva or New York, as well as to States not parties to the Convention. The notification will request that the representatives of Parties be provided by their Governments with full powers to participate in the session, including the possibilities to vote and to serve as officers of the second session and of any sessional bodies, and as officers of the subsidiary bodies established by the Convention.

6. As regards attendance, since all subsidiary bodies will also meet during the sessional period, it is recommended that Parties include in their delegations, whenever possible, representatives with expertise in the various economic, social, scientific and environmental fields that are relevant to the objective of the Convention.

7. It should be noted that, in accordance with Article 23, States that wish to participate in COP 2 as Parties, from the opening day (8 July 1996), should deposit their instruments of ratification or accession by 9 April 1996 at the latest. Such instruments should be received by that date by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as Depositary of the Convention (Treaty Section, Room S-3200A, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations Headquarters, New York).

Financial support for participation

8. At recent sessions of Convention bodies, the resources available to the special voluntary fund for participation established under General Assembly resolution 45/212 generally permitted the secretariat to offer funding to one delegate each from all eligible Parties, giving priority to those that are least developed or small island developing States selected as eligible for funding. In accordance with decision 15/CP.1, ⁽¹⁾ a new trust fund for facilitating the participation of Parties in the work of the Convention has been established by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. It is to be hoped that contributions to this trust fund will be forthcoming in the next few months so as to allow the secretariat to fund two delegates from each eligible Party to attend COP 2, especially in view of the heavy workload of the sessional period. Should that prove not to be possible, an effort would still be made to fund two delegates each from least developed countries and eligible small island developing States, and one delegate each from all other eligible Parties.

Credentials

9. In accordance with rule 19 of the draft rules of procedure, the credentials of representatives of Parties, as well as the names of alternate representatives and advisers, shall be submitted to the secretariat not later than twenty-four hours after the opening of the session. Any later change in the composition of the delegation shall also be submitted to the secretariat. The credentials shall be issued either by the Head of State or Government or by the Minister of Foreign Affairs or, in the case of a regional economic integration organization, by the competent authority of that organization. The Bureau of COP 1 shall examine the credentials and submit its report to the Conference (see rule 20 of the draft rules of procedure). It should also be noted that representatives shall be entitled to participate provisionally in the session, pending a decision by the COP to accept their credentials (see rule 21 of the draft rules of procedure).

10. As the Conference of the Parties did not adopt its rules of procedure at its first session, it decided at that session: (a) to request the President to conduct consultations on the subject with the various geographical groups and interested parties, and report back to it; and (b) to apply the draft rules of procedure to its work, pending the results of the President's consultations on the draft rules. The President of the first session of the COP will report to the second session on the results of her consultations.

11. Rule 9 of the draft rules of procedure provides that, "in agreement with the President, the secretariat shall draft the provisional agenda of each session." In this connection, the Bureau, at its meeting on 31 October 1995, decided that the secretariat should proceed with the preparation of a draft provisional agenda for COP 2 that would be kept under review by the Bureau and included in the document on arrangements for COP 2 to be submitted to the SBI. The Bureau further decided that a thematic approach should guide the preparation of the provisional agenda.

12. In accordance with this decision, a list of possible elements for a provisional agenda is contained in annex I to this document. In order to facilitate the work of COP 2, the secretariat has attempted to organize the elements in such a way as to reflect an agenda that

distinguishes between: (a) political stock-taking (including a review of the work of the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM)); (b) substantive decisions needed to advance the Convention process; (c) progress reports from the other subsidiary bodies on matters not requiring specific decisions and guidance to these bodies on their work programmes and priorities; (d) administrative and financial matters; and (e) organizational and procedural matters. The SBI may wish to express its views on this approach to a provisional agenda.

13. It will be recalled that rule 22 of the draft rules of procedure provides that "at the commencement of the first meeting of each ordinary session, a President, seven

Vice-Presidents, the Chairmen of the subsidiary bodies established by Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention, and a Rapporteur shall be elected from among the representatives of the Parties present at the session. They will serve as the Bureau of the session. Each of the five regional groups shall be represented by two Bureau members and one Bureau member shall represent the small island developing States. The offices of President and Rapporteur shall normally be subject to rotation among the five regional groups." Rule 22 further states that "no officer may serve on the Bureau for more than two consecutive terms of one year."

14. The President of the first session of the COP will open and preside over the second session until it has elected a President for the session (see rules 23 and 26 of the draft rules of procedure). In keeping with the principle of rotation among the five regional groups, it would be the turn of the Group of African States to provide a representative for the presidency of the second session. Preliminary consultations indicate a readiness by the Group of African States to accept that responsibility. Further consultations will be required to determine the composition of the Bureau of COP 2, as well as the officers of the subsidiary bodies as appropriate.

15. The elected President of the second session will invite the Conference to elect the remainder of its officers and the Chairmen of the subsidiary bodies established by Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention. Rule 27 of the draft rules of procedure provides that "each subsidiary body shall elect its own Vice-Chairman and Rapporteur." It is proposed that, if there is agreement on the nominations for these officers of subsidiary bodies, the precedent of the first session be followed and the provisions of rule 27 be waived to allow these officers to be elected directly by the Conference in plenary session.

16. The admission of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations as observers is governed by Article 7.6 of the Convention, which provides, inter alia, that "any body or agency, whether national or international, governmental or non-governmental, which is qualified in matters covered by the Convention, and which has informed the secretariat of its wish to be represented at a session of the Conference of the Parties as an observer, may be so admitted unless at least one third of the Parties present object."

17. At its first session, the COP agreed (FCCC/CP/1995/7, para. 22), on the proposal of the President, that the secretariat should invite to the future sessions of the Conference and of its subsidiary bodies all intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations admitted at that session and at future sessions, unless an objection was raised to any particular organization in accordance with the Convention and the rules of procedure. Consequently, all the organizations admitted to the first session will be invited to attend the second session, and the procedure for admission to the Conference of the Parties will apply to new applicants only.

18. Following the precedent of COP 1, the secretariat will prepare a list of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that have expressed a wish to be invited to COP 2 for consideration by the Conference at the start of the session. In drawing up the list, the secretariat will take due account of the provisions of Article 7.6 and of the established practice whereby non-governmental organizations are required to furnish proof of their non-profit (tax-exempt) status in a State Member of the United Nations or of a specialized agency or of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The list will include all organizations that have requested and been accorded provisional admission to the work of the subsidiary bodies since COP 1.

19. As organizations will learn of the status of their application only after the second session has opened, and since many such organizations will have to make their travel plans to Geneva in advance, the following procedure is proposed in order to ease that process for applicants. The SBI may request the COP Bureau to consider the list of applicants prior to the second session with a view to establishing that the organizations contained in the list do meet all requirements, and to authorize the secretariat to advise those applicants of their

"pre-admittance status", on the understanding that the final authority for the admission of observers rests with the COP.

Allocation of tasks

20. Considering that the four subsidiary bodies have had their respective mandates spelled out by the COP and are required to report to it on the implementation of those mandates, it would seem appropriate for the second session of the COP to address the various items on its agenda on the basis of the work done by the subsidiary bodies. This would preclude the need for creating a sessional committee of the whole, which was needed at the first session but which would place additional pressure on an already overburdened schedule at the second session. At its meeting on 31 October 1995, the Bureau of the COP recommended that, in order to make it possible for the four subsidiary bodies to meet within the sessional period of

8 to 19 July, as previously decided, it would be necessary for COP 2 to open on 8 July and then suspend its plenary meetings until the middle of the following week (17 July).

21. The SBI may wish to suggest to COP 2 that it consider the items on its agenda, in plenary session, on the basis of either draft decisions submitted to it by the subsidiary bodies, or progress reports from the same bodies that clearly indicate where further action by, or mandates from, the COP would be needed. Should further work prove necessary on any given item after the subsidiary bodies have adjourned their sessions, the COP may wish to delegate such work, as appropriate, to contact groups.

22. Guidance is also sought from the SBI on the question of whether it would be useful for COP 2, in view of its agenda and programme of work, to have a high-level or ministerial segment. The SBI may wish to request its Chairman to consult the coordinators of the various regional groups and members of the COP Bureau on this issue and report back to it in the course of the current session. The secretariat will need timely guidance on this matter in order to organize COP 2 in consequence.

Schedule of meetings

23. The Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group on Article 13 informed the Bureau on 31 October that the Group had decided to forgo holding its second session within the period of 26 February to 8 March 1996 to allow more time for preparation. The Group expressed the wish to hold its second session in the July 1996 sessional period and to have three days available to it at that time.

24. Having taken into account the points outlined above, the secretariat has drawn up a tentative schedule of meetings for the sessional period (see annex II to this note). The COP would open in plenary session on 8 July, and then turn to the subsidiary bodies, and finally revert to its plenary on 17 July for action to be taken on draft decisions and progress reports submitted to it by the subsidiary bodies. In order to accommodate all four subsidiary bodies and the needs emanating from their respective programmes of work, as well as the plenary meetings of the COP, it will be necessary to return to the practice of holding parallel meetings. Nevertheless, the number of meetings taking place simultaneously would be limited to two.

25. At the opening plenary meeting on 8 July, statements will be made by the outgoing President of the first session of the Conference, the newly-elected President of the second session, the executive heads of partner organizations invited to do so, and the Executive Secretary.

26. Items 5 and 6 of the proposed list of possible elements for a provisional agenda, taken together, would provide an opportunity for general statements in plenary should it be decided to hold a general discussion. The question of holding a general discussion is linked to that of a high-level or ministerial segment, since participants in such a segment often expect an opportunity to make a general policy statement. The SBI may wish to give its advice on this question.

27. As has been the practice in previous sessions of Convention bodies, representatives of States not Parties to the Convention, and of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations would be given the opportunity to address the plenary of the COP under agenda item 3 (b) entitled "Other statements". This could be done at the second plenary meeting on 8 July.

28. As was the case at COP 1, it is expected that a number of special events, held in parallel to the COP, will be organized by Parties, as well as by observers. In this connection, the Government of Canada has offered to organize a Climate Change Technology Exhibit with participation open to private sector organizations from all countries that are Parties to the Convention, although exhibitors would be expected not to engage in commercial transactions. The proposal draws on the experience gained from Canada's support of similar exhibits at the first two sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The exhibit would be implemented by a consultant working under contract for the Government of Canada and reporting to a government interdepartmental working group. The secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change would be consulted on all aspects regarding the implementation and promotion of the exhibit.