IV. OTHER MATTERS
IV. AUTRES QUESTIONS
IV. OTROS ASUNTOS

7. Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
7. Accord portant création de la Commission des thons de l'océan Indien
7. Acuerdo para el establecimiento de la Comisión del Atún para el Océano Indico

EL PRESIDENTE: Distinguidos delegados, mientras se cuentan los votos deseo que apresuremos los trabajos de este Consejo. Pongo a su consideración el tema número 7 del programa de nuestro Consejo, lo adelanto porque este tema debe y puede ser tratado de manera expedita. Se refiere al Acuerdo para la creación de la Comisión del Atún para el Océano Indico. Para este tema se necesita el documento CL 105/LIM/5. Deseo llamar la atención de todos los delegados sobre el texto del párrafo 10 del documento mencionado. La Conferencia remitió la Resolución en la que se aprueba el Acuerdo para la Comisión del Atún en el Océano Indico a este Consejo para su aprobación.

LEGAL COUNSEL: The document before you is CL 105/LIM/5, Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, an extract from the Report of the recently-concluded session of the Conference.

This Agenda Item requires no real introduction as the substance of the matter has been introduced and discussed in depth both at the last session of the Council earlier this month and at the Conference itself. Suffice it to say that there is an urgent need for the establishment of a proper mechanism for the conservation and management of tuna in the Indian Ocean, that all are agreed on this need and on the draft text of the agreement now presented to you for adoption. The agreement was originally presented for approval to the last session of the Council, but the act of formal approval had to be postponed due to the fact that the bilateral discussions between Mauritius and the United Kingdom had not yet reached a point of fruition. The matter was therefore referred to the Conference to give time for those discussions to continue. We were informed during the Conference that these bilateral discussions had now reached a satisfactory stage, and that Mauritius was now ready to give its formal approval to the agreement.

Meanwhile, the Conference has approved the amendment to paragraph 10 of the Appendix to Conference Resolution 46/57 on the format of reservations clauses, which removes another obstacle to the adoption of the agreement.

Finally, the wider question of the so-called "double voice" of the European Economic Community and its Member States - if there is such a double voice - has been referred by the last session of Council to the CCLM for its consideration. The adoption of the present Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Agreement should not be viewed as pre-empting the review to be carried out by the CCLM, or the results of their consideration of the matter.

On this basis, the matter was considered by the Conference and the Report of the Conference on this matter was adopted by consensus. Due, however, to the lateness of the hour, there were not sufficient numbers of delegates in the hall to guarantee the required statutory majority formally adopt the Resolution and annexed Agreement. The Conference has therefore referred the Agreement and Resolution back to the Council for formal adoption under Article XIV.2 of the Constitution. I should stress here that the Council has, of course, the power to formally approve the Agreement, and indeed it is the normal practice for Regional Agreements of this sort to be approved by the Council under Article XIV.2 of the Constitution rather than by the Conference under Article XIV.1 of the Constitution.

I have one more point of a procedural nature to explain. Under Article XIV.2, the majority required is two-thirds of the Council membership - that is, 33 concurring votes. For all votes requiring a two-thirds majority we are required by the Basic Texts - that is, Rule XII.7(a), of the General Rules of the Organization - to hold a roll call vote. On this item under the Statement of Competence and Voting Rights Submitted by the EEC and its Member States, both competence and voting rights lie with the EEC rather than its Member States, within, of course, the limits of the General Declaration of Competence made by the EEC at the time of its admission to FAO. Therefore it will be the EEC which will exercise membership rights on this item and votes on this matter. We shall therefore be calling only on the EEC Member States which are members of the Council, the vote of the EEC will therefore be counted as six votes.

Since the whole question of the so-called "double voice" of the EEC and its Member States in similar circumstances will now be taken up by the CCLM next year, I should also state here that the procedure presently being adopted for the formal vote on this agenda item should itself not be viewed as pre-empting the results of the legal analysis and review to be carried out by the CCLM on this matter.

I should also add that there is a slight error in the text of the document before you, the Draft Report of the Conference on this agenda item. Paragraph 9 should also record that an offer to host the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission has been made by Sri Lanka as well as by India.

There is also a slight correction to be made to the Resolution to adopt the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. It is purely a formal correction due to the fact that this is now before the Council instead of the Conference. In the final preambular paragraph the words "by the Council" should be deleted and substituted by the words "to the Council by the Conference". The paragraph should therefore read: "Having examined the text of the draft Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission as submitted to the Council by the Conference and having reached full accord on a final text."

I now commend this Agreement and the Resolution for adoption by the Council.

EL PRESIDENTE: Muchas gracias al Consejero Jurídico. Como ustedes pueden observar este tema no lo someteremos a discusión, y pasaremos directamente a la votación, que es necesaria, como lo han escuchado, porgue se requiere una mayoría de dos tercios.

Voy a designar por suertes a la nación que ha de llamarse en primer lugar.

Subrayo, como lo ha mencionado el Consejero Jurídico, que el Representante de la Comunidad Europea contestará en lugar de los seis miembros del Consejo, que son miembros a la vez de dicha Comunidad y su voto, naturalmente, contará por seis. En la selección por suertes está, desde luego, incluida exclusivamente la Comunidad y no los otros seis miembros. El Representante de cada pais, cada miembro del Consejo, contestará al llamado del Secretario General si, no, o abstención.

Raphaël RABE (Madagascar): Malheureusement j'ai été appelé au-dehors et je ne pensais pas qu'on allait aborder ce point 7 immédiatement. Je suis un peu dépassé par les événements.

J'aimerais savoir si la décision qui sera prise aujourd'hui aura la même valeur que celle qui aurait pu être prise par la Conférence et est-ce que cette question ne sera plus soumise à la vingt-huitième session de la Conférence.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias por su comentario que creo es importante. Efectivamente, propuso el Consejo que adelantáramos este tema para ocupar el tiempo mientras esperamos los resultados de la votación. Como el Consejero Jurídico lo ha dicho, la Conferencia ha delegado al Consejo la aprobación de este proyecto de resolución, y, por tanto el Consejo tiene plenos poderes para votar el texto.

Se requiere, no obstante, una mayoría de dos tercios que significan 33 miembros.

Procederemos ahora por suertes.

El Consejero Jurídico me indica que tiene algo que decir. Le doy la palabra.

LEGAL COUNSEL: If I could just explain, the Council has the power to do this. It is not a delegated power. Under Article XIV.2 of the Constitution, it is the Council which normally adopts Regional Agreements such as the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. The only reason why this was referred to the Conference before was because there was difficulty between Mauritius and the United Kingdom in the bilateral discussions. The Council has the power under the Constitution, and it is appropriate and normal that the Council itself should take this decision. It need not be referred to the next Conference.

EL PRESIDENTE: Si no hay ninguna observación pasamos a la votación.

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RESULT SHEET / RESULTATS / RESULTADOS

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Votación para Resolution on the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

RULE XII - 13 (a) GRO

If a vote is equally divided on a matter other than an election, a second vote shall be taken at a subsequent meeting to be held not less than one hour after the conclusion of the meeting at which the equally divided vote occurred. If the second vote is also equally divided the proposal shall be regarded as rejected.

En cas de partage égal des voix lors d'un vote ne portant pas sur une élection, on procède à un deuxième vote en cours d'une séance ultérieure, qui ne peut avoir lieu moins d'une heure après la fin de celle à laquelle s'est produit le partage égal de voix. Si les voix restent également partagées lors de ce second vote, la proposition est considérée comme repoussée.

Si hubiera empate en un asunto que no sea una elección, se repetirá la votación en una sesión subsiguiente la cual no deberá celebrarse hasta que haya transcurrido una hora, por lo menos, desde la conclusión de aquélla en que se produjo el empate. Si en la segunda votación hubiera también empate se considerará rechazada la propuesta.

ROLL CALL VOTING AND ISSUE OF BALLOT PAPER REPORT
APPEL NOMINAL ET DISTRIBUTION DE BULLETINS
VOTACION NOMINAL Y DISTRIBUCION DE PAPELETAS

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EL PRESIDENTE: Señores Delegados, el Acuerdo para la creación de la Comisión del Atún para el Océano Indico ha sido aprobado por este Consejo.