143
ܢІ̣ OECD Convention
144
(c) to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations.
Article 2
In the pursuit of these aims, the Members agree that they will, both individually and jointly:
(a) promote the efficient use of their economic resources;
(b) in the scientific and technological field, promote the development of their resources, encourage research and promote vocational training;
(c) pursue policies designed to achieve economic growth and internal and external financial stability and to avoid developments which might endanger their economies or those of other countries;
(d) pursue their efforts to reduce or abolish obstacles to the exchange of goods and services and current payments and maintain and extend the liberalisation of capital movements; and
(e) contribute to the economic development of both Member and non-member countries in the process of economic development by appropriate means and, in particular, by the flow of capital to those countries, having regard to the importance to their economies of receiving technical assistance and of securing expanding export markets.
Article 3
With a view to achieving the aims set out in Article 1 and to fulfilling the undertakings contained in Article 2, the Members agree that they will:
(a) keep each other informed and furnish the Organisation with the information necessary for the accomplishment of its tasks;
(b) consult together on a continuing basis, carry out studies and participate in agreed projects;
and
(c) co-operate closely and where appropriate take co-ordinated action.
Article 4
The Contracting Parties to this Convention shall be Members of the Organisation.
Article 5
In order to achieve its aims, the Organisation may:
(a) take decisions which, except as otherwise provided, shall be binding on all the Members;
(b) make recommendations to Members; and
(c) enter into agreements with Members, non-member States and international organisations.
Article 6
1 . Unless the Organisation otherwise agrees unanimously for special cases, decisions shall be taken and recommendations shall be made by mutual agreement of all the Members.
2. Each Member shall have one vote. If a Member abstains from voting on a decision or recommendation, such abstention shall not invalidate the decision or recommendation, which shall be applicable to the other Members but not to the abstaining Member.
3. No decision shall be binding on any Member until it has complied with the requirements of its own constitutional procedures. The other Members may agree that such a decision shall apply provisionally to them.
Article 7
A Council composed of all the Members shall be the body from which all acts of the Organisation derive. The Council may meet in sessions of Ministers or of Permanent Representatives.
Article 8
145
The Council shall designate each year a Chairman, who shall preside at its ministerial sessions, and two Vice-Chairmen. The Chairman may be designated to serve one additional consecutive term.
Article 9
The Council may establish an Executive Committee and such subsidiary bodies as may be required for the achievement of the aims of the Organisation.
Article 10
1. A Secretary-General responsable to the Council shall be appointed by the Council for a terra of five years. He shall be assisted by one or more Deputy Secretaries-General or Assistant Secretaries-General appointed by the Council on the recommendation of the Secretary-General.
2. The Secretary-General shall serve as Chairman of the Council meeting at sessions of Permanent Representatives. He shall assist the Council in all appropriate ways and may submit proposals to the Council or to any other body of the Organisation.
Article 11
1. The Secretary-General shall appoint such staff as the Organisation may require in accordance with plans of organisation approved by the Council. Staff regulations shall be subject to approval by the Council.
2. Having regard to the international character of the Organisation, the Secretary-General, the Deputy or Assistant Secretaries-General and the staff shall neither seek nor receive instructions from any of the Members or from any Government or authority external to the Organisation.
Article 12
Upon such terms and conditions as the Council may determine, the Organisation may:
(a) address communications to non-member States or organisations;
(b) establish and maintain relations with non-member States or organisations; and
(c) invite non-member Governments or organisations to participate in activities of the Organisation.
Article 13
Representation in the Organisation of the European Communities established by the Treaties of Paris and Rome of 18th April, 1951, and 25th March, 1957, shall be as defined in Supplementary Protocol No. 1 to this Convention.
Article 14
1 . This Convention shall be ratified or accepted by the Signatories in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.
2. Instruments of ratification or acceptance shall be deposited with the Government of the French Republic, hereby designated as depositary Government.
3. This Convention shall come into force:
a) before 30th September, 1961, upon the deposit of instruments of ratification or acceptance by all the Signatories; or
(b) on 30th September, 1961, if by that date fifteen Signatories or more have deposited such instruments as regards those Signatories; and thereafter as regards any other Signatory upon the deposit of its instrument of ratification or acceptance;
(c) after 30th September, 1961, but not later than two years from the signature of this Convention, upon the deposit of such instruments by fifteen Signatories, as regards those Signatories; and thereafter as regards any other Signatory upon the deposit of its instrument of ratification or acceptance.
146
4. Any Signatory which has not deposited its instrument of ratification or acceptance when the Convention comes into force may take part in the activities of the Organisation upon conditions to be determined by agreement between the Organisation and such Signatory.
Article 15
When this Convention comes into force the reconstitution of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation shall take effect, and its aims, organs, powers and name shall thereupon be as provided herein. The legal personality possessed by the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation shall continue in the Organisation, but decisions, recommendations and resolutions of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation shall require approval of the Council to be effective after the coming into force of this Convention.
Article 16
The Council may decide to invite any Government prepared to assume the obligations of membership to accede to this Convention. Such decisions shall be unanimous, provided that for any particular case the Council may unanimously decide to permit abstention, in which case, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 6, the decision shall be applicable to all the Members.
Accession shall take effect upon the deposit of an instrument of accession with the depositary Government.
Article 17
Any Contracting Party may terminate the application of this Convention to itself by giving twelve months' notice to that effect to the depositary Government.
Article 18
The Headquarters of the Organisation shall be in Paris, unless the Council agrees otherwise.
Article 19
The legal capacity of the Organisation and the privileges, exemptions, and immunities of the Organisation, its officials and representatives to it of the Members shall be as provided in Supplementary Protocol No. 2 to this Convention.
Article 20
1. Each year, in accordance with Financial Regulations adopted by the Council, the Secretary-General shall present to the Council for approval an annual budget, accounts, and such subsidiary budgets as the Council shall request.
2. General expenses of the Organisation, as agreed by the Council, shall be apportioned in accordance with a scale to be decided upon by the Council. Other expenditure shall be financed on such basis as the Council may decide.
Article 21
Upon the receipt of any instrument of ratification, acceptance or accession, or of any notice of termination, the depositary Government shall give notice thereof to all the Contracting Parties and to the Secretary-General of the Organisation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly empowered, have appended their signatures to this Convention.
DONE in Paris, this fourteenth day of December, Nineteen Hundred and Sixty, in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited with the depositary Government, by whom certified copies will be communicated to all the Signatories.
147
ܢІ̱ CCC Convention
January 1967
CONVENTION ESTABLISHING A CUSTOMS CO-OPERATION COUNCIL
signed in Brussels on December 15, 1950 came into force on November 4, 1952 The Governments signatory to the present Convention,
Considering it advisable to secure the highest degree of harmony and uniformity in their Customs systems and especially to study the problems inherent in the development and improvement of Customs technique and Customs legislation in connection therewith, Convinced that it will be in the interest of international trade to promote co-operation between Governments in these matters, bearing in mind the economic and technical factors involved therein,
Have agreed as follows :
ARTICLE I
A Customs Co-operation Council (hereinafter referred to as "the Council") is herebym set up.
ARTICLE II
(a) The Members of the Council shall be :
(i) the Contracting Parties to the present Convention;
(ii) the Government of any separate Customs territory which is proposed by a Contracting Party having responsibility for the formal conduct of its diplomatic relations, which is autonomous in the conduct of its external commercial relations and whose admission as a separate Member is approved by the Council.
(b) Any Government of any separate Customs territory, which is a Member of the Council under paragraph (a) (ii) above, shall cease to be a Member on notification to the Council of the withdrawal of its membership by the Contracting Party having responsibility for the formal conduct of its diplomatic relations.
(c) Each Member shall nominate one delegate and one or more alternates to be its representatives on the Council. These representatives may be assisted by advisers.
(d) The Council may admit representatives of non-Member Governments or of international organizations in the capacity of observers.
ARTICLE III
The functions of the Council shall be :
(a) to study all questions relating to co-operation in Customs matters which the Contracting Parties agree to promote in conformity with the general purposes of the present Convention;
(b) to examine the technical aspects, as well as the economic factors related thereto, of Customs systems with a view to proposing to its Members practical means of attaining the highest possible degree of harmony and uniformity;
(c) to prepare draft Conventions and amendments to Conventions and to recommend their adoption by interested Governments;
(d) to make recommendations to ensure the uniform interpretation and application of the Conventions concluded as a result of its work as well as those concerning the Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs and the Valuation of Goods for Customs Purposes
148
prepared by the European Customs Union Study Group and, to this end, to perform such functions as may be expressly assigned to it in those Conventions in accordance with the provisions thereof;
(e) to make recommendations, in a conciliatory capacity, for the settlement of disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Conventions referred to in paragraph (d) above in accordance with the provisions of those Conventions; the parties in dispute may agree in advance to accept the recommendations of the Council as binding;
(f) to ensure the circulation of information regarding Customs regulations and procedures;
(g) on its own initiative or on request, to furnish to interested Governments information or advice on Customs matters within the general purposes of the present Convention and to make recommendations thereon;
(h) to co-operate with other inter-governmental organizations as regards matters within its competence.
ARTICLE IV
The Members of the Council shall supply to the Council any information and documentation requested by it which is necessary for the execution of its functions provided that no Member shall be required to divulge confidential information, the disclosure of which would impede the enforcement of its laws, or which would otherwise be contrary to the public interest or prejudice the legitimate commercial interests of any enterprise, public or private.
ARTICLE V
The Council shall be assisted by a Permanent Technical Committee and a General Secretariat.
ARTICLE VI
(a) The Council shall elect annually, from among the delegates of Members, a Chairman and not less than two Vice-Chairmen.
(b) It shall establish its own Rules of Procedure by a majority of not less than two-thirds of its Members.
(c) It shall establish a Nomenclature Committee as provided in the Convention on Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs and a Valuation Committee as provided in the Convention on the Valuation of Goods for Customs Purposes. It shall also establish such other committees as may be desirable for the purposes of the Conventions referred to in Article III (d) or for any other purposes within its competence.
(d) It shall determine the tasks to be assigned to the Permanent Technical Committee and the powers to be delegated to it.
(e) It shall approve its annual budget, control its expenditure and give such directions as it may consider desirable regarding its finances to the General Secretariat.
ARTICLE VII
(a) The Headquarters of the Council shall be in Brussels.
(b) The Council, the Permanent Technical Committee and any committees established by the Council may meet elsewhere than at the Headquarters of the Council, if the Council so decides.
(c) The Council shall meet at least twice a year. Its first meeting shall take place not later than three months after the entry into force of the present Convention.
149 ARTICLE VIII
(a) Each Member of the Council shall have one vote except that a Member shall not have a vote on any question relating to the interpretation, application or amendment of any of the Conventions referred to in Article III (d) which is in force and which does not apply to that Member.
(b) Except as provided in Article VI (b) the decisions of the Council shall be taken by a majority of two-thirds of the Members present and entitled to vote. The Council shall not take a decision on any matter unless more than half of the Members entitled to vote on that matter are present.
ARTICLE IX
(a) The Council shall establish such relations with the United Nations, its principal organs, subsidiary bodies and specialized agencies, and any other inter-governmental organizations, as may best assure collaboration in the achievement of their respective tasks.
(b) The Council may make arrangements necessary to facilitate consultation and cooperation with non-governmental organizations interested in matters within its
competence.
ARTICLE X
(a) The Permanent Technical Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Members of the Council. Each Member of the Council may nominate one delegate and one or more alternates to be its representatives on the Committee. Representatives shall be officials specialized in technical Customs matters. They may be assisted by experts.
(b) The Permanent Technical Committee shall meet not less than four times a year.
ARTICLE XI
(a) The Council shall appoint a Secretary General and a Deputy Secretary General whose functions, duties, conditions of service and terms of office shall be determined by the Council.
(b) The Secretary General shall appoint the staff of the General Secretariat. The establishment and staff regulations shall be approved by the Council.
ARTICLE XII
(a) Each Member shall bear the expenses of its own delegation to the Council, to the Permanent Technical Committee and to any committees of the Council.
(b) The expenses of the Council shall be borne by its Members in accordance with a scale to be determined by the Council.
(c) The Council may deprive of its voting rights any Member which does not pay its contribution within three months of being notified of the amount thereof.
(d) Each Member shall pay its full annual contribution for the financial year during which it becomes a Member of the Council and for the financial year during which its notice of withdrawal becomes effective.
ARTICLE XIII
(a) The Council shall enjoy, in the territory of each of its Members, such legal capacity, as defined in the Annex to the present Convention, as may be necessary for the exercise of its functions.
(b) The Council, the representatives of Members, the advisers and experts appointed to assist them, and the officials of the Council shall enjoy the privileges and immunities specified in the Annex to
150 the present Convention.
(c) The Annex to the present Convention shall form an integral part thereof, and any reference to the Convention shall be deemed to include a reference to the Annex.
ARTICLE XIV
The Contracting Parties accept the provisions of the Protocol concerning the European Customs Union Study Group opened for signature at Brussels on the same date as the present Convention.
In determining the scale of contributions provided for in Article XII (b), the Council shall take into consideration membership of the Study Group.
ARTICLE XV
The present Convention shall be open for signature until 31 March, 1951.
ARTICLE XVI
(a) The present Convention shall be subject to ratification.
(b) Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which shall notify all signatory and acceding Governments and the Secretary General of each such deposit.
ARTICLE XVII
(a) When instruments of ratification have been deposited by seven of the signatory Governments, the present Convention shall come into force between them.
(b) For each signatory Government ratifying thereafter the present Convention shall come into force upon deposit of its instrument of ratification.
ARTICLE XVIII
(a) The Government of any State which is not a signatory to the present Convention may accede thereto as from 1 April, 1951.
(b) Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which shall notify all signatory and acceding Governments and the Secretary General of each such deposit.
(c) The present Convention shall come into force for any acceding Government on the deposit of its instrument of accession, but not before it comes into force in accordance with paragraph (a) of Article XVII.
ARTICLE XIX
The present Convention is of unlimited duration, but at any time after the expiry of five years from its entry into force under paragraph (a) of Article XVII, any Contracting Party may withdraw therefrom. Withdrawal shall take effect one year after the date of receipt by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the notification of withdrawal. The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall notify each withdrawal to all signatory and acceding Governments and to the Secretary General.
ARTICLE XX
(a) The Council may recommend amendments to the present Convention to the Contracting Parties.
151
(b) Any Contracting Party accepting an amendment shall notify the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in writing of its acceptance and the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall notify all signatory and acceding Governments and the Secretary General of the receipt of the notice of acceptance.
(c) An amendment shall come into force three months after receipt by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of notice of acceptance by all the Contracting Parties. When any amendment has been accepted by all the Contracting Parties the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall notify all signatory and acceding Governments and the Secretary General of such acceptance and of the date on which the amendment will come into force.
(d) After an amendment has come into force, no Government may ratify or accede to the present Convention unless it also accepts the amendment. In witness whereof the undersigned, having been duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Convention.
Done at Brussels on the fifteenth day of December, nineteen hundred and fifty (December 15, 1950) in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single original, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of Belgium which shall transmit certified copies thereof to each signatory and acceding Government.
ANNEX
TO THE CONVENTION ESTABLISHING A CUSTOMS CO-OPERATION COUNCIL LEGAL CAPACITY, PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF THE COUNCIL
ARTICLE I