(1) Technical changes in certain of the general provisions; (2) minor technical changes in the general provisions designed to bring the General Agreement into conformity with the proposed OTC; and (3) substantive changes in the preamble and parts II and III of the General Agreement. Shortly before the beginning of the 12th Session, on October 7, 1957, the third protocol, amending the preamble and parts II and III, entered into force for two-thirds of the contracting parties. By June 30, 1958, it was in effect for 29 contracting parties.61

Since so many contracting parties had not accepted the protocol amending the preamble and parts II and III of the General Agreement, the Contracting Parties extended the deadline for signing the protocol until 2 weeks after the opening of the 13th Session in October 1958. They also instructed the Intersessional Committee to advise, in the meantime, those contracting parties which have not accepted the protocol, of their position with respect to the provisions of article XXX:2. This article provides that the Contracting Parties may decide that any contracting party not accepting an amendment within a specified period of time shall be free to withdraw from the General Agreement or to remain a contracting party with the consent of the Contracting Parties. The Contracting Parties agreed to review the situation again at their 13th Session. By June 30, 1958, only 20 contracting parties had signed the Agreement on the Organization for Trade Cooperation; this agreement and the first and second protocols of amendment had not become effective by that date.

Because the protocol amending the preamble and parts II and III of the General Agreement had entered into force, the Contracting Parties took action at the 12th Session with respect to five of the revised articles.62

Rectification, Modification, and Consolidation of Schedules Tariff concessions negotiated under the General Agreement are incorporated into the agreement by means of the schedules of tariff concessions. A schedule is a listing of all the concessions negotiated-pursuant to the provisions of the General Agreement-by one particular contracting party with other contracting parties. Each such country schedule contains, for each product on which the contracting party has granted a concession, the number under which the product is classified

60 Protocol of organizational amendments.

61 The first two protocols described above had not entered into force by June 30, 1958. The first protocol requires acceptance by all the contracting parties; the second will come into force concurrently with the Agreement on the Organization for Trade Cooperation.

62 The actions of the Contracting Parties on arts. XII and XVIII are discussed in the section of this chapter on examination of restrictions imposed for balance-of-payments reasons. The action on art. XXVIII is discussed in the section on continued application of schedules; that on art. XVI, in the section on limitation and elimination of subsidies; and that on art. XVII, in the section on notifications of state trading activities.

in the tariff of the particular contracting party, a description of the product, and the rate of duty applicable to it. Article II of the General Agreement makes each schedule of concessions an integral part of the agreement.

From time to time the Contracting Parties find that the texts of the schedules should be modified formally to take into account changes that have, in fact, become effective by action of the Contracting Parties or in accordance with procedures established by the Contracting Parties.63 Accordingly, they prepare protocols of rectifications and modifications, which list the changes necessary to bring the schedules up to date. The protocols, which are then submitted to the individual contracting parties for acceptance, formally enter into force when they have been accepted by all the contracting parties. However, since the modifications or rectifications contained in the protocols have already been placed in effect by action of the Contracting Parties, there is slight incentive for individual contracting parties to "accept" them formally.

On June 30, 1958, the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Protocols of Rectifications and Modifications, prepared by the Contracting Parties and submitted to the contracting parties during the period 1952-57, had not yet entered into force, but the concessions listed in them had been placed in effect by the contracting parties concerned. The Seventh Protocol of Rectifications and Modifications, prepared during the 12th Session, was approved by the Contracting Parties and opened for signature on November 30, 1957.

At the 10th Session, several of the contracting parties expressed serious concern over the complexity of the schedules of concessions in the General Agreement. They pointed out that the original concessions and the subsequent rectifications and modifications were scattered among more than 20 legal instruments and several GATT documents. The Contracting Parties, therefore, explored the possibility of preparing a set of up-todate, consolidated schedules. Toward the close of the session they adopted a tentative plan to prepare such consolidated schedules, and agreed to consider the plan again at their 11th Session in 1956.

By the 11th Session, copies of new consolidated schedules for several individual contracting parties were available. However, as completion of schedules for most of the contracting parties had been delayed, the Contracting Parties deferred until the 12th Session consideration of the form in which the consolidated schedules will be published and of a plan for keeping them up to date. At the 12th Session, on the recommendation of the working party on schedules, the Contracting Parties decided to

Changes in the schedules may be substantive or nonsubstantive. An example of a substantive change is the modification of a rate of duty pursuant to art. XXVIII of the Genera Agreement; an example of a nonsubstantive change is the correction of a textual spelling

error.

consider the publication of the consolidated schedules again at their 13th Session.

Intersessional Administration of the General Agreement The General Agreement does not specifically provide for any organization for its administration. Article XXV provides that the contracting parties shall meet from time to time to consider matters arising out of the application of the agreement, but it does not provide any mechanism for administering the agreement during the period when the Contracting Parties are not in session. As a result of discussions at their Sixth Session in 1951, the Contracting Parties established-on an experimental basisan ad hoc Committee for Agenda and Intersessional Business to deal with matters that might require immediate action during the period between the sessions of the Contracting Parties. This arrangement for intersessional administration of the agreement-modified somewhat at the Ninth Session in 1954-55-has since been continued.

The Intersessional Committee, as it is now termed, is authorized to consider matters that require urgent action between sessions, but for which the Contracting Parties have made no special arrangements. The Intersessional Committee is authorized also to establish working parties to consider special problems, and may request the convening of special sessions of the Contracting Parties to consider matters that require their immediate attention. The Committee is also directed to meet 4 to 6 weeks before the opening of each regular session of the Contracting Parties to prepare the agenda and order of business.

Usually the members of the Committee are selected in such a manner as to insure that the Committee will be representative of the broad geographical areas to which the contracting parties belong, and of the dif ferent degrees of economic development and divergent economic interests that are to be found among them. At their 12th Session, however, for the period between the 12th and 13th Sessions, the Contracting Parties reconstituted the Committee, increasing its membership to include representatives of all the contracting parties. They also directed the Committee to arrange for further consideration of the Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community and the Treaty Establishing the European Atomic Energy Community before the 13th Session in October 1958.

Continued Application of Schedules, and Article XXVIII

Negotiations

Since the signing of the General Agreement in 1947 and the negotiation of the first schedules of concession, the Contracting Parties have agreed for successive periods of time not to modify, under the provisions of article XXVIII, the concessions they have granted in their respective

schedules. At the end of each of these periods the Contracting Parties have made specific arrangements to permit contracting parties to modify their schedules.64

The last of such periods was to terminate on December 31, 1957.65 In anticipation of the ending of this period, the Contracting Parties on November 28, 1957—at their 12th Session-adopted another Declaration on the Continued Application of Schedules. This declaration applied to those countries for whom the revised article XXVIII has not become effective. Those countries for whom the revised article XXVIII is effective are subject to the provisions of that article. The deadline for modification of schedules under both the declaration and the revised article XXVIII was extended from December 31, 1957, to March 31, 1958, for those contracting parties that notified the Contracting Parties by December 31, 1957, of their intention to enter into negotiations for modification of concessions under the revised article XXVIII in the last declaration. At its April 28, 1958, meeting the Intersessional Committee extended the terminal date for completion of the authorized negotiations to the end of the 13th Session. Under the revised article XXVIII, the new period for the continued application of schedules will terminate on December 31, 1960.

Ministerial Meetings at Sessions of the Contracting Parties

During their 11th Session the Contracting Parties agreed that meetings of the foreign ministers of the Contracting Parties, held in the early stages of succeeding sessions, would contribute to a more effective operation of the General Agreement. They decided, therefore, to arrange for such a ministerial meeting at their 12th Session in 1957.

At the 12th Session, foreign ministers and ministerial representatives of the Contracting Parties took part in the meetings of the Contracting Parties from October 28 to 30, 1957. Their discussions at these meetings related chiefly to the European Economic Community and to trends in international trade.

Election of Chairman and Vice Chairmen of the Contracting Parties

At the beginning of the 12th Session the Contracting Parties elected as Chairman of the Contracting Parties Mr. L. K. Jha, Special Secretary, Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and as Vice Chairmen, Mr. Fernando Garcia-Oldini, Chilean Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland, and Dr. Heinz Standenat, Counselor of Legation, Austrian Federal Chancellery, Department of Foreign Affairs.

"For further discussion of these arrangements, see Operation of the Trade Agreements Program: 7th report, pp. 80-83; 8th report, pp. 73-74.

"This date was specified in the Contracting Parties' declaration of Mar. 10, 1955.

Mr. Jha replaced Sir Claude Corea, K.B.E., High Commissioner of Ceylon in the United Kingdom.

Training Program for Government Officials of Contracting Parties to the General Agreement

At their 10th Session in 1955 the Contracting Parties tentatively approved a training program to familiarize young government officials of the contracting parties with the problems dealt with by the GATT Secretariat in administering the agreement, and authorized the Executive Secretary to place it in effect on an experimental basis.66 At the 11th Session the Intersessional Committee, the Secretariat, and the contracting parties concerned reported their satisfaction with the program that had been conducted in the interim between the 10th and 11th Sessions. As a result of these reports, the Contracting Parties unanimously endorsed the training program as one of the positive achievements of GATT, and extended it into 1957. Because of the success of the program, the Contracting Parties increased the number of trainees from 6 to 10, effective for the second half of 1957. Financing of the increased number of trainees was made possible by the United Nations Technical Assistance Administration, which granted additional fellowships.

At their 12th Session the Contracting Parties extended the training program for another year and authorized the Executive Secretary to accept trainees from countries that are not contracting parties to the General Agreement.

Financial and Budgetary Matters

At their 12th Session the Contracting Parties approved the audit of the 1956 accounts and the report by the Executive Secretary on the financing of the 1957 budget. They also adopted an estimated budget of $512,960 for 1958, the United States contribution to which was $81,020. As has been true for the past 5 years, the budget estimate for the year ahead (1958) was higher than that for the preceding year. The increased budget resulted from a permanent increase in the workload of the GATT Secretariat.

66 See Operation of the Trade Agreements Program (10th report), pp. 53–54.