WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
____________________
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2
(12.XII.2012)
EC WORKING GROUP ON WMO STRATEGIC
AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING (WG/SOP)
Item: 9.2
Second session
GENEVA, 21-23 January 2013
ENGLISH ONLY
Number and distribution of seats in the Executive Council
(Submitted by the Secretariat)
Summary and Purpose of Document
This document presents elements to support a discussion on the number and
the distribution of seats in the Executive Council and make proposals for
recommendations to EC-65 on this matter.
ACTION PROPOSED
Pursuant to the request of Sixteenth Congress (Cg-16), the Group is invited to
consider the possibility of increasing seats in the Executive Council and make a
proposal to EC-65 for consideration, including potential amendments to Article 13
of the WMO Convention and General Regulation 17 on the distribution of seats in
the Executive Council.
REFERENCE:
Abridged final report with resolutions of the Sixteenth World Meteorological Organization,
Part I (WMO-No. 1077) general summary, paragraph 9.3.7
ftp://ftp.wmo.int/Documents/PublicWeb/mainweb/meetings/cbodies/governance/congress_re
pports/english/pdf/1077_en.pdf
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2
DISCUSSION
Number and distribution of seats in the Executive Council
1.
Congress considered at its sixteenth session to the distribution of seats in the
Executive Council, without debating on the number of seats as per Article 13 of
WMO Convention of the WMO. Items 10.3.12 and 10.3.13 of the Cg-XVI report are
recalled below:
10.3.9 Congress agreed that the distribution of seats between the Regions should be agreed
between them. Congress also acknowledged that a set distribution of seats between Regions
would facilitate the selection of the members of the Executive Council.
10.3.12 Congress also approved the amendments consequent upon the introduction of this
new regulation in the General Regulations and adopted accordingly Resolution 44 (Cg-XVI) –
Amendments to the General Regulations of the World Meteorological Organization –
Distribution of seats in the Executive Council with immediate effect.
Accordingly, “Article 13 of the Convention establishing the composition of the Executive
Council is clarified by the present regulation on the distribution of the seats in the Executive
Council as follows: Region I (Africa): 9; Region II (Asia): 6; Region III (South America): 4;
Region IV (North America, Central America and the Caribbean): 5; Region V (South-West
Pacific): 4;and Region VI (Europe): 9.";
10.3.13 Congress acknowledged the proposal made by the presidents of Regional
Associations II (Asia), IV (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) and V (SouthWest Pacific) to increase the number of Executive Council members to enable these Regions
to obtain an extra seat with respect to the distribution of seats adopted by Resolution 44 (CgXVI) for consideration at Seventeenth World Meteorological Congress, in accordance with
the procedures described in the WMO Convention. Congress requested the Executive
Council to further consider the enabling of increasing seats in the Council, and if necessary
prepare a proposal to Congress to potentially amend Article 13 of the WMO Convention and
the General Regulations.
2.
It should be recalled that since Cg-XVI, two new Members: Tuvalu (a LDC in RA V)
and South Sudan (a LDC in RA I) joined WMO. In the previous cases, it was the
increased membership of the Organization, which justified increasing the number of
EC seats through the amendment of the Convention.
3.
The average additional financial cost (e.g. accounting for travel cost from a Region
to Geneva and on the EC member coming form an LDC or not) of adding one extra
seat in the Executive Council is of the order of 45,000 CHF per 4-year financial
period (e.g. 4 EC attendance, 8 EC WGs meetings).
4.
The Working Group might wish to consider in its deliberations the following
elements:
- the number and the distribution of seats are not independent issues, and any
agreement on such figures, should be agreed among the Regions;
- any proposal to the EC should accompanied by its financial implications.
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2, p. 2
5.
Based on its debates, the Working Group may consider the following
recommendations to the EC.
- Invite the Presidents of the RAs to consult RAs Members or management groups
to elaborate their own proposal and justification for required number of seats for
their Region in the EC;
- PRAs to propose well justified options on the total number and distribution of
seats in the EC for consideration by EC-66.
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2, p. 3
Discussion background material
The following is a copy of the elements that were presented to Congress in support of its
deliberation on the distribution of seats in the EC. Only the tables at the end have been
updated to reflect the situation as after Cg-XVI.
1.
The number of seats in the EC has been discussed by Congress at its Ninth and
Fourteenth sessions, in which Resolution 41 (Cg-IX) and Resolution 39 (Cg-XIV) have been
adopted. Both texts are very similar and recalled hereinafter.
AMENDMENTS TO ARTICLE 13(c) OF THE CONVENTION
specific Resolution 41 (Cg-IX) – specific Resolution 39 (Cg-XIV)
THE CONGRESS,
CONSIDERING:
(1) The increased in the number of Members of the Organization,
(2) The need for a better representation of the various Regions in the Executive Council,
(2) The advisability of having wider consultation on the Executive Council, thus not only increasing the
number of Directors of Meteorological or Hydrometeorological Services taking an active part in the
operation of the Organization but also improving the representation of the Regions,
DECIDES:
(1) That the text of Article 13(c) of the Convention should be replaced by the following / amended as
follows:
"(c) Twenty-six / seven Directors of Meteorological or Hydrometeorological Services of Members of the
Organization, who can be replaced at sessions by alternates, provided:
(i) That these alternates shall be as provided for in the Regulations;
(ii) That no more than nine and not less than three / four members of the Executive Council,
comprising the President and Vice- Presidents of the Organization, the presidents of regional
associations and the twenty six / seven elected Directors, shall come from one Region, this Region
being determined in the case of each member in accordance with the Regulations."
(2) That these amendments shall come into force on 11 May 1983 / 14 May 2003.
2.
The Executive Council at its Sixty-second session (EC-LXII, 8-18 June 2010)
considered the proposal submitted by the president of RA II to increase the number of EC
members from 37 to 38 to allow for an additional EC seat (from six to seven) for RA II, for
discussion at the Sixteenth World Meteorological Congress in accordance with the
procedures given in the WMO Convention.
3.
During the discussion of the proposal the following opinions were expressed by the
members of the Council:
(a)
An increase in the number of seats would result in additional financial costs and would
make the EC decision-making process less efficient;
(b)
The number of seats given to a Region should be proportional to the number of
Members in the Region;
(c)
The maximum numbers of seats for Region should be increased up to 10;
(d)
Freezing the number of seats by Region would be desirable; and
(e)
Article 13 (c) should be kept as it stands, the distribution of seats amongst the Regions
based on agreement being reached by Members’ delegations both within and between
the regional associations.
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2, p. 4
4.
Given the fact that this matter required further analysis and consultations, the Council
requested its Working Group on WMO Strategic and Operational Planning (EC WG/SOP)
and the Secretary-General to make an analysis of factors underlying the distribution of seats,
as well as implications on the cost and efficiency of EC work.
5.
At the WMO Bureau meeting (Geneva, 10-13 November 2010), the president of RA II
stated on behalf of the RA II that the Association will not request Congress to increase the
total number of seats in the EC. The president of RA I informed the Bureau that, at its
Fifteenth session (XV-RA I, Marrakech, Morocco, 1-8 November 2010), the decision had
been taken to «request the president to propose a change to the WMO Regulations for
consideration at Cg-XVI such that Africa would be assured nine seats on the Executive
Council, and to request the Secretary-General to assist the president to undertake
consultations and to ensure the necessary preparation,» (ref.: XV-RAI/PINK 5.1, REV.,
paragraph 5.1.5). The president of RA I clarified that RA I requests for maximum 9 seats out
of 37.
6.
The Bureau recognized that there was no request for amendments to the WMO
Convention with respect to its article 13. The propose change(s) to the General Regulations
will be considered under item 10.3 of Cg-XVI: Revision of the General Regulations. The
Bureau noted that the established practice related to the number of seats in the EC required
that an agreement be reached within regions and between different regional associations.
The Bureau also noted that the implementation of this practice was facilitated by the
presidents of regional associations being designated members of the Nomination Committee
in Congress.
7.
The Bureau expressed the view that the determination of the number of seats in the
General Regulations would have to be for all Regions and not only for RA I as requested by
the president of that Region. In order to provide Congress with appropriate elements of
discussion, the Bureau suggested that the EC WG/SOP meet at the beginning of 2011 and
prepare those elements, which could be included in Cg-XVI/Doc 10.3.
8.
The WG discussed various aspects underlying the distribution of seats in the Council
and concluded that the distribution as per “gentlemen agreement”, namely RAI-9, RAII-6,
RAIII-4, RAIV-5, RAV-4, RAVI-9 should remain and recommended the following:
(a)
The existence and content of the practice of an agreement amongst Regions on the
distribution of seats in EC have to be communicated to Members in a preparatory
document of the Cg-XVI.
(b)
The distribution of seats amongst Regions in the EC should remain a “gentleman
agreement” type and not be codified via the use of a mathematical formula.
(c)
The WMO Secretariat is asked to assist Permanent Representatives in briefing their
authorities about issues considered of importance with respect to the governance
and management of the WMO constituent bodies, specific nature of the EC, and the
gender dimension.
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2, p. 5
9.
In view of the above, the Secretary-General prepared a discussion document for
consideration by Congress containing the following options:


10.
Decide to amend or not the General Regulations;
In case of a decision to amend, modify the General Regulations by the
introduction of a Regulation establishing the distribution of seats in the Executive
Council reflecting the “gentleman agreement” which was reached at Cg-XVIV and
Cg-XV, with the following alternative: keep the voting procedure of EC member
election during Congress unchanged, that is to keep a two-stage election, the first
one being per Region, and the second one across all Regions), or to implement a
one-stage election per Region.
An overview of the number of seats occupied by each Region in EC since Cg-IX is
provided in Table 1.
Table 1
Caption:
Nb:
Number of Members in the Region (In the case of a Member belonging to
several Regions, it is counted only in the Region where its capital town is, the purpose
being here to reflect the change in the total number of WMO Members with time)
EC: Number of seats of a Region in the EC
Pr/V: Indication of the Region to which the President (Pr), and the Vice-Presidents
(1st V, 2nd V, 3rd V) belong
11. A general indication of the proportions of number of Members represented by an
EC member and other comparative indicators with respect to Regions as of 01 January 2010
is given in Table 2.
Table 2
Representation of EC members as at Cg-XVI
Region I
Region II
Region III
Region IV
Region V
Region VI
Number of Members in the RA
56
35
13
26
23
50
% of States Members in the RA
27.6%
17.2%
6.4%
12.8%
11.3%
24.6%
Number of EC members
9
6
4
5
4
9
Average number of RA Members represented by a EC member
6.2
5.8
3.3
5.2
5.8
5.6
Region III
Region IV
Region V
Region VI
Representation of EC members as at Cg-XV
Region I
Region II
Number of Members in the RA
56
35
13
26
22
50
% of States Members in the RA
27.7%
17.3%
6.4%
12.9%
10.9%
24.8%
Number of EC members
8
7
4
5
4
9
Average number of RA Members represented by a EC member
7.0
5.0
3.3
5.2
5.5
5.6
EC WG/SOP-II(2013)/Doc. 9.2, p. 6
Representation of EC members as at Cg-XIV
Region I
Region II
Region III
Region IV
Region V
Region VI
Number of Members in the RA
56
35
13
26
21
49
% of States Members in the RA
28.0%
17.5%
6.5%
13.0%
10.5%
24.5%
Number of EC members
9
6
4
5
4
9
Average number of RA Members represented by a EC member
6.2
5.8
3.3
5.2
5.3
5.4