116. At the suggestion of the representative of Canada, AC.3 agreed to add this new agenda item to consider the AC.2 discussion (see para. 6 (f) above) on possible amendments to the current legal and consolidated practices in administering the Agreement and to keep it for possible development at the next session of AC.3.

117. The representative of Canada recalled that AC.3 had established an “interim agreement” at its November 2002 session (TRANS/WP.29/885, para. 152), concerning Article 6 of Annex B and the organization of the election of officers. At that time, AC.3 agreed that, during the interim phase while the Agreement was being implemented, it would elect a Chair and two Vice-Chairs from the Contracting Parties that had been the principal negotiators, namely the United States, Japan, and the European Community. He emphasized that this arrangement should now be revisited to allow broader participation by other countries. He also proposed to liaise with interested parties to elaborate an informal document on this subject to be presented at the next session. The representative of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland offered to cooperate to revise this agreement.

118. The representative of the European Union stated that the interim agreement remained satisfactory He stated that the European Union would also agree to revert to the original provisions of the Agreement, or alternatively would be ready to revise the original provisions of the Agreement. The representative of the United States said she would carefully consider ways to open the interim agreement to additional countries, but that the United States of America remains firmly opposed to the amendment of the Agreement itself. The Secretariat reminded AC.3 that other legal issues, such as the quorum requirement, were increasingly affecting its smooth functioning, and recommended lowering the threshold from one half to one third of Contracting Parties. The representative of Canada suggested considering the change of establishment of criteria for the quorum carefully. The representative of the Russian Federation supported Canada’s position and urged changes in light of current global developments. Finally, the U.S. representative expressed firm opposition to amend the legal text and suggested that contracting parties who were actively participating in the meetings of AC.3 should reach out to contracting parties who were not present in order to ensure that the quorum would be reached.