Annex I

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE REGIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

 adopted by the Regional Road Transport Committee at its first session at Alexandropoulis (Greece) on 13 October 1999 in accordance with Article 12, paragraph 2 of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Facilitation of International Road Transport of Goods in the SECI Region.

Article 1

    Each Party shall appoint one representative and one deputy representative to the Regional Road Transport Committee by notification to all other Parties.

Article 2

     Representatives of the European Commission, the UN/ECE and ECMT shall be invited as observers to participate in all sessions.

     Representatives of other international organizations, non-governmental organizations, international financial institutions and other observers may be invited to the sessions of the Regional Road Transport Committee, as appropriate.  Invitations shall be issued by the chair on its own initiative or at the suggestion of at least one of the Parties.

Article 3

     In principle, decisions shall be taken by consensus.

    Decisions may also be taken by a majority of 3/5 of the Parties of the MoU.  Such decisions will only be binding for those Parties which have voted for them. 

Article 4

    The Regional Road Transport Committee shall establish a programme of work which will be reviewed annually.  The chair shall also prepare annually a progress report on the activities of the Committee.

Article 5

    The Regional Road Transport Committee may decide to establish ad hoc working groups, as appropriate, to fulfil the scope of work as contained in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and to prepare decisions for the Regional Road Transport Committee.

Article 6

    Initially,  the UN/ECE shall provide the necessary secretariat services for the Regional Road Transport Committee.

Article 7

    The Regional Road Transport Committee shall meet at least once a year. Additional sessions may be called by the chair or at the initiative of any Party, in any case, in agreement with at least 3/5 of the Parties. The Parties shall be duly informed by the chair about the convening of such meetings.

    Additional meetings may be hosted either by the chair or by any other interested Party.

Article 8

    The Party hosting the meeting of the Regional Road Transport Committee shall hold the chair. Upon decision of the Parties, the meetings may be co-chaired by representative(s) of the UN/ECE secretariat and/or the European Commission.

    The Parties shall decide annually which Party will chair the meeting(s) for the following year.

Article 9

    The cost of the organization of the meeting(s) shall be borne by the host Party, except for travel and accommodation cost.

    The host Party may cover accommodation cost, if so desired.

 Article 10

    The host Party shall prepare and disseminate to all Parties invitations, the agenda and working documents in due time, but at least three weeks before the session.  It shall also prepare and disseminate to all Parties the conclusions of the session, including possible decisions.

Article 11

    The working language of the Regional Road Transport Committee shall be English.  Therefore, documents shall be established in English.