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IRELAND
ITALY
PORTUGAL
SWITZERLAND

At the Third Plenary Meeting of the Second Session, 3 September 1946, the Conference adopted the following report of the General Committee:

"The General Committee concurs with the Executive Committee's proposal concerning the temporary suspension of paragraph 2, Rule XX of the Rules of Procedure, which requires ninety days' notice of application for admission to the Organization. This proposal was made following the decision to bring the date of the Conference forward to September 2, which made it impossible for any nations wishing to apply for admission to comply with the ninety-day notice of application. Furthermore, two governments had applied at a date which would have complied with the rule if the Conference date had been at the time prescribed by the Rules of Procedure. It was also thought likely that other nations which were members of the International Institute of Agriculture intended to apply for admission.

"Accordingly the General Committee recommends to the Conference that, as an exceptional measure, paragraph 2 of Rule XX be waived for the Second Session of the Conference;

"The General Committee recommends that only those applicants that have been invited as Observers to this Conference and members of the International Institute of Agriculture be considered for admission to membership at this session.

"Four governments attending this session and applying for membership comply with these criteria and the General Committee recommends to the Conference admission of these governments: Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland.

"The General Committee takes note of the facts that the Executive Committee, acting as the Committee on Financial Control, has the responsibility under Regulation VII of the Financial Regulations for proposing to the Conference the amount of the contribution to be paid by the proposed members; that in fixing the contribution the Conference is required to take account of the proposals of the Committee on Financial Control; and that the contribution fixed by the Conference must be communicated to the proposed member government at the same time as the communication informing it of acceptance of its application for admission.

"The Committee likewise notes that in making its proposals, the Executive Committee has emphasized the emphasized fact that the scale of contributions adopted provisionally for the second financial year by the First Session of the Conference is a temporary scale designed to take account of the aftermath of the war and that it is envisaged that in the next year, after the United Nations has examined the question of contributions, it should be possible to adopt a common rationalized scale of contributions for all the United Nations organizations.

"The General Committee therefore concurs in the recommendation of the Executive Committee that the contributions to be paid by the four proposed members in the second financial year, 1 July 1946 to 30 June 1947, should be":

Following the adoption of the report and in accordance with Article II of the Constitution, the Conference took a secret ballot on each of the applying member nations. Twenty-six nations took part in the ballot. The result showed the necessary two-thirds majority vote for all four countries-a unanimous vote in favor of accepting Italy and Switzerland, and twenty-four affirmative and two negative votes for Ireland and Portugal.

The above four countries having submitted credentials which were approved by the Credentials Committee, the Chairman proclaimed them new members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The General Committee was informed that Hungary would also have applied for membership before the opening of the session if that country had been correctly informed of the conditions governing application. On that basis, the Hungarian representative at the Conference asked whether it would be in order to bring the matter before the Conference at a later date. Following this request, the General Committee decided to circulate a note to the various delegations, inviting them to seek whatever instructions they might need, so that a decision on the issue might be made before the close of the session.

At the Tenth Plenary Meeting, 13 September 1946, the Conference decided that the application of Hungary was in order and should be made the subject of a vote immediately, and a secret ballot was taken. The Conference numbered forty member nations. The number of votes cast was thirty-two. The result showed the necessary two-thirds majority-an affirmative vote of thirty, with two countries abstaining from voting. The Credentials Committee having approved Hungary's credentials, the Chairman proclaimed

Hungary a new member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

At the Eleventh Plenary Meeting, 13 September 1946, the General Committee submitted the following report:

"The Executive Committee proposed to the General Committee that the annual basis of Hungary's contribution for this financial year should be 43,000 U. S. dollars. This was accepted unanimously by the General Committee and it is recommended to the Conference."

The Conference adopted the proposal by the General Committee to fix the annual basis of Hungary's contribution for this financial year at 43,000 U. S. dollars.

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