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RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR THE COP

Article 23.3 states that the COP shall agree on its rules of procedure. The Secretariat prepared a draft set of rules for consideration by this meeting (UNEP/CBD/IC/1/6) based on the rules of procedure of the Basel Convention and, where appropriate, the Climate Change Convention. The Chair asked delegates to identify rules requiring substantive changes to enable the Secretariat to produce a revised draft for the next meeting. The EC noted that the decision by the COP on the amount of resources needed does not apply to the extent, nature or form of contribution. He suggested including a provision in Rule 40 on voting that would replace majority with consensus as the basis for decision-making on paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 21, dealing with financial matters. Regarding Rule 52 on official languages, Japan requested that the Secretariat provide the Committee with information on how much money would be saved by restricting the number of languages in the COP. This proposal was dropped after objections from many delegates, including Colombia, on behalf of the G-77.