Commodity1

Combined Tin Committee

Department of State, Washington, D. C.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

A joint communiqué issued by the President of the United States and the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Canada on December 10, 1945 announced the establishment, as an autonomous body, of the Combined Tin Committee to carry on work which had been

1An Interim Coordinating Committee for International Commodity Arrangements (ICCICA) has been established on the basis of a resolution adopted on Mar. 28, 1947, by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc), pursuant to the request of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment and the Food and Agriculture Organization Preparatory Commission on World Food Problems. This Committee was set up, in recognition of the necessity of adopting a systematic and coordinated approach to primary international commodity problems, to follow and facilitate intergovernmental consultations on such problems, pending the establishment of the proposed ITO. The Ecosoc has endorsed certain principles and procedures concerning intergovernmental arrangements which are embodied in the charter of the proposed ITO.

The ICCICA, which is serviced by the United Nations Secretariat, is composed of a chairman, representing the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, a representative of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations particularly concerned with agricultural primary commodities, and a member appointed by the United Nations having special competence with respect to non-agricultural primary commodities. The ICCICA has issued two reports (indicated below), the first of which contains the texts of the agreements or negotiations concerning the various commodity councils and study groups presented in this volume.

See Review of International Commodity Arrangements (United Nations, Geneva, 1947) and Review of International Commodity Problems, 1948 (United Nations, Lake Success, N. Y., November 1948).

54

previously performed by the Combined Raw Materials Board, liquidated December 31, 1945.2

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the Combined Tin Committee is limited to governments of major tin producing and tin consuming countries. Countries may become members on invitation of the Committee and on agreement to carry out its functions. The following countries are members of the Committee: The United States, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, France, China, India, and Canada.

PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

While the emergency period of shortage continues, the functions of the Committee shall be to keep the tin metal situation under review and to allocate supplies of tin metal to member and non-member countries in such manner as may be agreed upon among the countries represented. The Committee operates as an independent body and members are responsible to their respective governments. It functions by means of a series of recommendations to these governments. Such recommendations are not binding until the agreement of each member government has been confirmed. These recommendations embody agreements reached by the committee without voting.

STRUCTURE

Since January 1, 1946, Dr. A. H. Phillipse has been chairman of the Committee, which meets about six or eight times a year at irregular intervals in Washington. Representatives are selected by the member governments and have full participation rights. The tenure of office of officers of the committee is indefinite. The official language is English. There are no subordinate bodies.

FINANCES

The Committee has no budget. The United States and the United Kingdom furnish the few secretarial services it requires.

UNITED STATES RELATIONS

The United States participates in the meetings of the Combined Tin Committee under the Executive authority for participation in international conferences.

The Departments of State and Commerce and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation are the United States agencies chiefly concerned

'See p. 313.

with the work of the Committee. The former is responsible for implementing the import and export controls by which the United States meets its obligations. The United States Member of the Committee is an officer of the Department of Commerce.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Combined Tin Committee has no relationships with other international organizations.

BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

Department of State Bulletin, December 16, 1945, p. 975.

The Committee's papers are confidential and distributed only to the members. Its only publications are the occasional press releases announcing allocations of tin.

International Cotton Advisory Committee

Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

The International Cotton Advisory Committee was established in accordance with a resolution approved by the participating governments at the International Cotton Meeting held in Washington, September 5-9, 1939.3 Eight annual meetings have been held since that date, including one at Brussels in April 1949. Each meeting has reviewed the world cotton situation, as well as conditions with respect to cotton in each of the member states. In 1945 a study group was appointed to prepare a report to include definite proposals for international collaboration looking toward a reduction in cotton surpluses through the regulation of one or more of the following: exports, export prices, and production, and also through expansion of cotton consumption. The study group was unable to arrive at an agreed program but recommended that the International Cotton Advisory Committee itself continue to study the international problems.

MEMBERSHIP

The original members of the Committee were primarily cotton exporting countries: Brazil, Egypt, France, India, Mexico, Peru, Turkey, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the

3 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 59.

United States. In 1945 all other United and Associated Nations substantially interested in the production, importation, and/or exportation of cotton were invited to join. The present members of the Committee are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.

PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

The International Cotton Advisory Committee is a medium for assembling and analyzing data on world cotton production, consumption, and trade stocks and prices, and for problems of international scope. Its functions are to observe and keep in close touch with developments in the world cotton market and to suggest, when advisable, to member governments any measures considered suitable and practicable for the achievement of ultimate international collaboration.

STRUCTURE

The Committee is composed of one or more representatives appointed by the member governments and meets annually in plenary session. Between these sessions, it functions in Washington as a standing committee on which all members are represented. A secretariat, located in Washington, collects, analyzes, and distributes current official cotton information to participating governments.

Robert Brown Evans is the present Executive Secretary.

English is the language commonly used, and reports are also readily available in French. The official and working languages adopted are those used by the United Nations, i. e. Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

FINANCES

Budget. The Committee, at its eighth plenary meeting, held in April 1949, adopted an expenditure budget of 60 thousand dollars for the fiscal year 1950, the same amount that was authorized for the fiscal years 1948 and 1949. Expenditures are financed by contributions from member governments.

Members' Quotas. During its sixth plenary meeting, the Committee adopted a resolution whereby members are grouped into five categories of contributors according to the annual average of total cotton exports and imports in the five years 1934-35/1938-39. The amount

842727-50-5

Group III-500,000 to 2,000,000 bales

of the contribution assessed each government within the group is the same as that assessed every other government within the same group. The scale of contributions for the fiscal year 1950 is as follows:

Group I-Over 4,000,000 bales

(United States)

Group II-2,000,000 to 4,000,000 bales.

(United Kingdom)

(Brazil, China, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Pakistan)

Assessment

$12,000.

8,000.

4,000.

Group IV-100,000 to 500,000 bales

2,500.

(Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia,

Mexico, Netherlands, Peru)

Group V-Less than 100,000 bales

1,000.

(Australia, Colombia, Cuba, Greece, Lebanon, Paraguay, Turkey, Venezuela)

*Any excess of contributions received over actual expenditures is to be set aside in a reserve fund.

UNITED STATES RELATIONS

Authorization. The United States participates in the International Cotton Advisory Committee by Executive authority to participate in international conferences. On December 19, 1947, the President designated the Committee as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the benefits of the International Organizations Immunities Act.*

Payments. The United States contribution is paid from funds appropriated to the Department of State. Its quota for the fiscal year 1950 amounted to 12 thousand dollars or 15.79 percent of total assessments. The same amount was contributed for each of the fiscal years 1948 and 1949.

Agencies Chiefly Concerned. The United States Departments of State and Agriculture are primarily concerned with the formulation of United States policy toward and participation in the Committee.

Participation. United States Representatives are designated for each session of the Committee and standing committee and participate fully as official delegates.

This Government has played an important part in the Committee's work. The initiative in calling the first international cotton meeting to discuss the serious over-supply of cotton and all subsequent meetings were held in Washington until the seventh meeting in Cairo, April 1948. Following an offer extended by the Secretary of Agri'See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 59.