ENT AL MARITIME ~~"~""'" AnVE ORGANIZATION

INTERN1.TIOHl.L COHFERENCE ON LOOT.ATION OF LIlJ3ILlTY FOR. MARI'I1MEl CIJ~D\lS, 1976 ~da itcn 5 IMeo

I..JJn/ JONb"" 5/3 1 C'Jtober 1976 OrilJinal ~ ElfGLISII

ORG!.NIZATION OF WORK OF Tm~ COlf.F'IliUUNCE. INCLUDING TIlE EST.aBLISBMEN'l' OF COl-IUI'l'l'l'lL'S, 1J3 NlOOESS1l.RY

Note, bZ the, S...9..c,;',()j;At:~J.1 ..

1. In a.uthorizing the convcr.d.ng of the Intcl.'TlUtional Conference on

Linitation of r1ari~ine Cla.:iDs, the n,rco CotUlcil at its thirty-sixth session.

(JtUlC 1976) also authorized the Secrete.ry-Gener8ol, in consultation with the

Lego.1 Coor.l!ttco, to nakEl proposa.ls to the Conferenoe on the orc,"Bllization ot its worlt:, inclUding the estllol1shoent of oolJtlittees and other subsi-diary .

bodies, cs nay be necessary.

2. Pursuant to this authorization tho Cocl'Ctary-G(meral presented to tho

wc,'Ill Cor.u:d.ttoo at its twent"..n!nth session (JtUle/July 1976) proposals on

tho orenn1zation of work of tho Conforenco.

PROPOSl.1S ON TEE ORGANIZATION Oll' WOnK

3. The proposals presented by the Socretary-General were as follows:

(a) .9_oH±i.'!:_~truotUfe clf tb0 COpfe.l'Sll~

4. Since the Conference will be dea.linG' ,,11th just one instruoent, i't doo's

not appear necessary to establish fJIlY fornal Connittees of 'the Whole. It is,

therefore, proposed that substantive consideration of the Convention Articlos

be undertaken in the plenary sessions of the Confer-enoe. The Plenary will,

of course, be able, whenever it deens it necossary or useful, to establirul

cotlDittoes, working &,TOUpS or 0 ~ .. t;;Ir £1.ppropri£1.toaubsidic.ry bodies to deal

with any particular issues or groups of related issues. Such oOIJI.1ittees

or workinG groups rmy, as the ConferEll1Ce doone appropriate, be oastablished

wi th restrj,cted n9nbership or open to ::,:mrticipation by all interested

,doleaations ..

r For r.alonl of 8i',onomv. this document i_ printed in a limited number, Deleoat. L ar. klndlV alked 10 bring their copl. to meetings and not to requ .. t additional copies,

ïJiG¡ Uaiixt.j¡ J -2-

5. Ïn viorq of their rather specializcd. na'bure, it is proposed that tlieFinaL Clarrses of the Convention be assignecl for consÍcleration to a specialcor¡rittee lthich r¡ill be open to par-licipation by any d.eIegation whích r.¡ishes

to d.o so.

6. Tn add.ition to the Plenary and. the Cor:nittee on 5'inal Clauses, it isproposed. that the folloü¡íng Ste.:rd.ing Coi:nÍ'btces be .establiihed e

(i) .L Credentíals Coünittee of not nore than five nenbers appointecl by

the Conference on the proposaL of the President. It will e:ranine

the cred.entíals of d.elegations ancl report thereon to the Plenary.

(ii) .¿L Draftirig Coffrittee of not r:orc -bhan nine nenbers'appointed. by

the Conference on the proposal of 'bhe President.

(t ) In-t-e;gelet¡e¡irré&parts-

7. Sirlrltaneous interpretation will be provid.ed for neetings of alL the

above-nentionecl Corrnittees. SÍnce only tuo fuII teans of ínte4rreters tuiI1

be avaÍlal:Le for the work of the Conferencc, arrangenents will be rrade to€nsurê tha"t. no nore tha¡r two neetings requiring sinultaneous interpretationwÍll be schecluLed at any given tÍle"

8. h¡rsuant to the d.ecísi.ons of the Council and. /,ssenbly, sunnary recorcls

wíl1 be provícl.ecl only in respect of ueetj.ngs of the PLenary. ïn accorclairce

with previous practice, reports will l:c lrrcpared. of the proceed,i.ngs ofCor'¡:Ít-bees and other subsid.iary bod.ieg est¿'þlished. by the Conferenceo

(") -oj]¡pg- erq+ngeqtgnE :

9. 3o1louing the d.ecj.sion of the CouncíL to convenee in conjunction wi'Lh

the Conference, three other conferenccs to revise the ttunit of accounttt

provisions in certain l-egal conventions adol:'ced und.er the auspices ofII{COe it r,¡ill be necessary to d.evote sone of thc tine orígínal-Ly alLocatäc1

for the Conference on Linitatíon of lie.bility for Maritine Clains for the

work of the other conferences. In orcleri;hat the hold.ing of these revj.sion

conferences does not jeopard.ise the rvork of the nain Conference, it has bcen:

proposed that the revfsion conferences r.riLl be helcL Ín the third week -preferably on a day when the Plenary of the r:ain Conference is not neeting.

- :;; -On the basis of previous praotic(;, tho :30cl'o'b.:ry-General ha.s proposed toot

the revision oonferenoes be held on \'loc1nosc:.cy. 11 NOVOIlbcr 1976, tho whole

of the.t de.y beillG' d(;lvoted to the three l'cvioion conferonoes. Signature of

a:ny instruoenta rosul t1ng froo the ,",ork of the revision oonferenoes unl take

place at the aaoe title as the siB'Ilature of the instruoents adopted by

the nnin Conference.

l.cTIOH T1Jailif DY TIlE LEGAL COMMITllEE

10. The proposals of the Seoretary-General vlore endorsed by tho Lecra.!

Cotluittoo at its t, ... enty-ninth seosion (Juno/July 1976). 1 .. nuobor of

dolo~.ticns oxprosse~ nisgivings over the fact that, 13.6 a result of decisions

of the 1..saotlbly and the COlU10!l, sUIJOa:ry rocords would 'be provided only ill

respect of lloetings of the Plenary, but not for Ileotings of the CotlDittoe of

the 1'Jholo. Sooo Ctologations felt that U \~culd be oost itlportDllt for thG

Conference to hold a first roading of tho draft articles of the Convontion

in a Coooi ttee of the \Vllol.o ra.ther thnn in l'lenary, evon if this oeant foro­

going the nvailability of suooary recorda of the proceedings in such a

CoDDittGo. other delegations on tho othol' halld took tho view that for u.

legal conior0ncc full recorcls of thG proceedings were ot such fundanontal

inportCllloe that, under the C:ircuootrolOcs, it would be preferable to work

exclusively in Plenary, everl if this ioplied oore romal working and

deoision-Dclcing procodurGs.

11. l.£ter crivillG' careful consideration to those alternatives, the Coooittoe

Ot,"Toed to roooru:lend that substantive consideration of tho Convention Articles

be under~D.kcn in the plenary sessions of the Conference. The Conoittec

however recolJIJonded that a f:trot roacting ot the draft l..rtiolea bo held under

tho slllpler prooedurel provielions noruclly npplioable to oom! ttee proceedings.

It necessary, tho Conference could e:~licitly provide tor this by adaptinG

its nulos ot Procodure acoord:i.ngly.

PROPOSED l'ROGRLMlrE AND OHG1JUZL.TIOlT 01' HOme OF THill COllFERENCE

12. On the basis ot the proposals 0<'1.c10 by the Secretary-Genel'al and endorsed

by the Legal CoIJtlittee t the Secretarini; hr,s prepared, in the I..nnex to this

:r..En/COlf.F.5/3 - 1,. -

docunont, 0. chart i.1ldioa.ting tho prOC .... 'C'J:lllO and sohedule of work of tho

This l)!'oCT£U:lUe and sohodulo will, of oourse,

ramin subjoot to suoh adjuotuonts by tho Conferenoe a.u cay booooo noooasD-ry

j,l). tho l.tGht of the dovql.op:J(mta of tho Hork of the Conferonoo.

llCTIOH m;Q,UDSTED OF TBECOl\JFER1!U~CE

13. TIlO Conferonoe is invited, on tho peois of tho proposa.ls Dado in this

docuoent, to considor and deteruine tho CODn! ttoe struoture and work Pro8'rl.:1.tlIlo

of the COllio:r;:enoe, and. to deoide on other. unttorB connectod therowith.

':H:-;:~

... , I \. . . ." .

1 Nov 2 Nov

i I

I

WORI PIIO<IIAMM! AID SCHEDULE or MRE'l'IWGB

-) S1multan9OUS j~terpretation will be avaiIable for meetings of all the bodies listed above. be held f,\t ~ time, if they- do not require interpretation.

LliC/CONF.5/'

i

I Meetings of other subsidiar,r bodies O~