Notification to the Parties

CONCERNING:

Guidelines for the submission of draft resolutions and decisions

1. With Notification to the Parties No. 1999/33 of 30 April 1999, the Secretariat distributed an explanatory memorandum on the submission of draft resolutions and decisions, at the request of the Conference of the Parties.

2. The Secretariat has now revised that document, taking into account the few comments received and has produced new guidelines for the use of Parties that are preparing documents for consideration at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. These guidelines are attached to the present Notification.

3. The Secretariat is at the service of the Parties to provide advice on the preparation of documents for meetings of the Conference of the Parties and to provide comments on the substance of any draft resolutions or decisions.

4. Parties are reminded that all documents to be considered at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties should be submitted to the Secretariat by 6 June 2002.

 

Guidelines for the submission of draft resolutions and decisions

Introduction

Background

When the Conference of the Parties to CITES meets, every two to three years, it may adopt proposals to amend the Appendices to the Convention and it may also adopt two other types of decisions. These are formally recorded as Resolutions and as Decisions.

There has been some uncertainty about the difference between Resolutions and Decisions. As a result, a number of the documents that have been submitted in the past for consideration by the Conference of the Parties were incorrectly labelled.

Some Parties have also not been aware of the appropriate form in which to submit documents for consideration at meetings of the Conference of the Parties, nor of the ‘rules’ that have been agreed that guide the preparation and submission of documents.

Because of these difficulties, the Conference of the Parties agreed at its 10th meeting that:

A model explanatory memorandum shall be developed in good time for the Parties to use when preparing draft resolutions for the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Decision 10.96).

The Secretariat therefore prepared a memorandum to respond to this instruction, and to provide a guide to the preparation and submission of documents for meetings of the Conference of the Parties. That document was revised to produce the present Guidelines.

Agenda items for meetings of the Conference of the Parties

Any Party may propose the inclusion of a subject in the Agenda of a meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

As a rule, proposals for agenda items should be received by the Secretariat at least 150 days before the meeting where they are to be discussed (i.e. by 6 June 2002 for the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties).

Documents to be considered by the Conference

For each item to be discussed at a meeting of the Conference of the Parties, a supporting document must be submitted. This should be received by the Secretariat 150 days before the meeting [see Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev.)]. It may accept documents after this deadline only in exceptional cases (for example, where there is an urgent enforcement problem to be resolved). (NB: No exception is possible in the case of proposals to amend Appendices I and II, which may not under any circumstances be accepted after the deadline of 150 days.)

Some of the documents submitted are for information only. This should be clearly indicated at the beginning of the document, so that the Conference of the Parties can deal with them appropriately. However, the majority of documents submitted contain proposals, either as draft resolutions or as draft decisions.

Length of documents

Participants in meetings of the Conference of the Parties have a great deal to read. Documents submitted should therefore be as clear and concise as possible. It is important, besides, to remember that all documents have to be translated and duplicated, costing considerable amounts of time and money. The Conference therefore recommends that, as a general rule, documents submitted should not be more than 12 pages long [see Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev.), paragraph d) under RECOMMENDS].

Form of documents

It will help the Secretariat very much if documents submitted for consideration are sent both in printed form and in electronic form.

Documents submitted electronically can be provided on diskette or sent by e-mail (to CITES@unep.ch). The Secretariat prefers to receive documents in Word format (preferably version 2000), but other editable formats are acceptable.

‘Decisions’ and ‘Resolutions’ – What is the difference?

The Resolutions are generally intended to provide long-standing guidance. The Decisions, however, are generally to be implemented within a short time and then become obsolete. This is why the Secretariat has the responsibility, after each meeting of the Conference of the Parties, to revise the list of Decisions and to delete the ones that are out of date (for example, because they have been implemented or superseded). This is not the case for Resolutions, however, which may be repealed only by the Conference of the Parties.

Decisions include instructions to Committees, working groups or the Secretariat, unless the tasks to be done are part of a long-term procedure.

Resolutions include: decisions regarding the budget and the financial contributions of the Parties; terms of reference of Committees; interpretations of the provisions of the Convention; and recommendations designed to harmonize the implementation of the Convention and to improve its effectiveness.

The Decisions of the Conference of the Parties did not exist as a separate series of recommendations until the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The first list of Decisions, presented for adoption at that meeting, was compiled from all of the recommendations that had previously been adopted but had not been recorded in Resolutions, and from instructions that had been included in Resolutions but had not yet been implemented. The aim was to make these texts more accessible by printing them in a single document. The result of the way in which the list was compiled is that a number of the Decisions in effect are not typical of those that should be included; many of them, for example, provide long-term guidance to the Parties and should be included in Resolutions or repealed. A process has been started to eliminate these inconsistencies.

Presentation of draft resolutions and draft decisions

Documents that present a draft decision or draft resolution should be in two parts: an introductory text and a proposal.

INTRODUCTORY TEXT

This part of the document explains why it is being presented. Generally the introductory text will present information on a problem that is being experienced in the practical implementation or enforcement of the Convention. It should then provide a brief explanation of the proposed solution to the problem.

PROPOSAL

This part of the document is generally in an annex and consists of the draft text of a resolution or a decision. See below and in Annexes 1 and 2 the format to be followed.

Any draft resolution or draft decision that has budgetary and workload implications for the Secretariat must contain or be accompanied by a budget for the work involved and an indication of the source of the funding [see Resolution Conf. 4.6 (Rev.) under DECIDES].

Content and format of Resolutions

Resolutions are "soft law". That is to say, for the Parties, they have the effect of recommendations. They should therefore not repeat what is already said in the text of the Convention, which is "hard law" (legally binding on the Parties).

Unless practical considerations dictate otherwise, a draft resolution should not include:

a) instructions or requests to Committees, Working Groups or the Secretariat, unless they are part of a long-term procedure;

b) decisions on the presentation of the Appendices; or

c) recommendations (or other forms of decision) that will be implemented soon after their adoption and will then be obsolete. [see Decision 11.13]

When a draft resolution is intended to be exhaustive, or to treat a subject comprehensively, or to make significant changes in the way in which a subject is dealt with, it should be prepared so that, if adopted, it will replace and repeal all existing Resolutions (or, as appropriate, the relevant paragraphs) on the same subject. [see Decision 11.12]

Resolutions are in two parts: a preamble and an operative part.

a) The preamble of a resolution provides a list of the main considerations that lead the Conference of the Parties to adopt the resolution, each consideration being in a separate paragraph.

– It should be concise!

– It points out the relevant parts of the Convention, the relevant previous Resolutions and the problems or other considerations that are to be taken into account.

– It provides the assumptions and explanations for the operative part of the resolution.

– The order of the paragraphs should follow a logical structure, usually reflecting the structure of the operative part.

– All explanatory text should be included in the preamble, not in the operative part.

b) The operative part of a resolution presents the agreements of the Conference of the Parties on the subject being dealt with.

– This part begins with the words "The Conference of the Parties to the Convention".

– It continues with one or more sections each starting with a verb reflecting the nature of the agreement/s (e.g. DECIDES, AGREES, ESTABLISHES, RECOMMENDS, URGES, INVITES, DIRECTS, INSTRUCTS, etc.).

Content and format of Decisions

– Decisions have no preamble.

– If directed to Committees or the Secretariat, they should be written as instructions (e.g. the Standing Committee shall…; the Secretariat shall…).

– A deadline for implementation may be included.

– If directed to bodies that are not answerable to the Conference of the Parties (such as the secretariats of other conventions or intergovernmental organizations), they should be written as invitations, urgings, recommendations, etc.

– As a rule, Decisions should not be directed to the Parties unless they are being given a deadline for a specified task.

Revisions to existing Resolutions

A document presenting a proposal to amend one or more paragraphs of an existing Resolution should contain only an introductory text (see above) and an annex that specifies the amendments to the existing Resolution.

There should be no preamble to the proposal itself. However the document may propose amendments to the preamble of an existing Resolution as well as to the operative part. (For example, if it is proposed to delete text in the operative part, this change might make certain text in the preamble irrelevant, in which case it should also be deleted.)

For example, the annex might simply say, "In Resolution Conf. 9.26, replace the third paragraph under RECOMMENDS by the following text". The new text would follow.

Annex 1

Structure of documents presenting draft resolutions

INTRODUCTORY TEXT

• Explanation why the document is being presented.

• Usually comprises:

– presentation of a problem experienced in the practical implementation or enforcement of the Convention

– outline of the proposed solution

PROPOSAL (as an annex)

Preamble

• Comprises paragraphs beginning with, e.g.:

AWARE NOTING
CONCERNED OBSERVING
CONSCIOUS RECALLING
CONSIDERING RECOGNIZING
CONVINCED

Operative part

• Begins with: "THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION"

• Continues with paragraphs or sections beginning, e.g.:

– (for decisions directed to the Conference itself or adopting an interpretation, for example)
AGREES, DECIDES

– (for decisions directed to the Parties, for example)
INVITES, RECOMMENDS, URGES

– (for decisions directed to organizations, for example)
INVITES, URGES

– (for instructions to a Committee or the Secretariat as part of a long-term procedure, for example)
DIRECTS, INSTRUCTS

– (when repealing or replacing an existing Resolution)
REPEALS (always the final paragraph)

Annex 2

Structure of documents presenting draft decisions

INTRODUCTORY TEXT

• Explanation why the document is being presented.

• Usually comprises:

– presentation of a problem experienced in the practical implementation or enforcement of the Convention

– outline of the proposed solution

PROPOSAL (as an annex)

• No preamble.

• The body to which the Decision is directed must be indicated.

Usually this is the Standing Committee, the Animals Committee, the Plants Committee, the Nomenclature Committee or the Secretariat. Decisions should not normally be directed to Parties.

• Therefore each draft decision presented begins with, e.g.:

– "The Standing Committee shall…"

– "The Secretariat shall…"

– etc.

• Preferably a deadline for implementation of the Decision should be included.

• If directed to bodies that are not answerable to the Conference of the Parties (such as the secretariats of other conventions or intergovernmental organizations), the text should be written as an invitation, urging, recommendation, etc.