Procedure for Appointing Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting Working Group Chairs


The Representatives,
Recalling that Rule 11 of the Revised Rules of Procedure for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting annexed to Decision 2 (2015) (“Rules of Procedure”) empowers the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (“ATCM”) to establish Working Groups and to appoint Working Group Chairs;

Noting that Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure is silent as to the practical arrangements for the appointment of Working Group Chairs;

Recalling that at ATCM XXXIX (2016) the Meeting agreed to develop procedures for the appointment of Working Group Chairs;

Decide that Working Group Chairs shall be selected and appointed in accordance with the following procedure:
1. At least 180 days before each Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (“ATCM”), the Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty (“the Secretariat”) will consult with any Working Group Chairs appointed at the previous Meeting regarding their availability to chair a Working Group, if eligible in accordance with Rule 11 of the Revised Rules of Procedure for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting annexed to Decision 2 (2015) (“the Rules of Procedure”).
2. At least 120 days before each ATCM the Secretariat will issue a circular to:
a) remind Consultative Parties of the provisional arrangements for Working Groups determined at the previous Meeting, in accordance with Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure, including:
i. the Working Groups established;
ii. the Working Group Chairs appointed; and
iii. the allocation of agenda items to each Working Group;
and
b) advise the Consultative Parties:
i. of any provisionally appointed Working Group Chair who has advised that they are unavailable to serve in that capacity at or beyond the coming Meeting or who is not eligible to continue to serve as Chair of a particular Working Group beyond the coming Meeting in accordance with Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure; and
ii. the number of consecutive Meetings for which other current Working Group Chairs have served as Chair of the same Working Group, and the number of years for which they were appointed;

and
(c) where vacancies are expected to arise, call for Consultative Parties to submit nominations for Working Group Chairs at least 60 days before the ATCM, specifying that each nomination should:

i. relate to a candidate with a sound working knowledge of the Antarctic Treaty system, the practices of the ATCM and the issues under consideration;
ii. indicate that the candidate has the support of their Party to serve in the role for at least the next meeting, and possibly up to 4 years, noting the requirement for Working Group Chairs to participate in, and adequately prepare for, annual meetings and be available to lead or coordinate activities during the intersessional period; and
iii. indicate the area(s) of expertise for which the candidate is being put forward, noting that the coming Meeting may decide to establish new or different Working Groups.
3. Before the ATCM, the Secretariat will issue a further circular summarising the results of any call for nominations.
4. At the ATCM, under the agenda item dealing with election of officers and creation of Working Groups, the Chair of the ATCM will:
a) remind Consultative Parties of the ability to establish Working Groups and appoint Working Group Chairs, in accordance with Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure;
b) confirm the Working Group Chairs provisionally appointed at the end of the previous Meeting and their availability to serve in that capacity at the current Meeting;
c) in the event that a Working Group Chair provisionally appointed at the end of the previous Meeting is no longer able to serve in that capacity, confirm whether any nominations were received in advance of the Meeting; and
d) invite nominations to be made, and in the event that there are two or more nominations for any one position, the procedure set out at paragraph 5(c) to (f) below will apply.
5. At the ATCM, under the agenda item dealing with organisation of the next Meeting, the Consultative Parties will, as far as practicable, utilise the following procedure to appoint the Chair (and any co-Chair(s) as applicable) for any Working Group to be provisionally established for the subsequent Meeting:
a) the Chair will summarise the current situation regarding the availability and eligibility of current Working Group Chairs to serve at the next ATCM and outline the other expressions of interest and nominations received by the Secretariat;
b) the Chair will invite expressions of interest or nominations to be made known to them during the Meeting;
c) a quorum will be required for a valid election;
d) each Consultative Party will be entitled to one vote (in each round of voting, if multiple rounds are required);
e) the outcome of the election will be decided by simple majority of Consultative Parties present and voting; and
f) where there are more than two candidates for a Working Group Chair position, rounds of voting will be conducted, eliminating the candidate with the least votes in each round.
6. When appointing Working Group Chairs, where possible:
a) the terms of the Chairs of different Working Groups will be staggered to help ensure continuity in the experience of the group of Working Group Chairs across ATCM; and
b) multiple Working Group Chairs will not be representatives from the same Party, and the appointments will provide gender and geographic diversity.