to the Charter must not be too easy or too difficult. That is to say, the Charter should neither impose undue rigidity nor permit dangerous instability. Consequently, the procedures for amendment, as submitted by Committee I/2, which the Commission recommends, follow a sound middle course.

The text recommended by Commission I provides that a two-thirds majority of the Assembly may adopt an amendment to the Charter and this amendment will come into force when it is ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the members of the Organization including all of the permanent members of the Security Council.

Taking cognizance of the facts that the Charter being prepared at San Francisco could not be perfect and that the delegates could not anticipate all eventual developments in international affairs, Commission I recommends for inclusion in the Charter provisions for a special conference on the revision of the Charter. Many delegates believed that this provision would increase the acceptability of the Charter.

The special conference may be held at a date and place to be fixed by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly with the concurrence of any seven members of the Security Council. It is also provided that, in case the conference is not held before the tenth annual meeting of the Assembly following the entry into force of the Charter, the proposal to call such a conference is to be placed on the agenda of that meeting of the Assembly, and a conference may be called by a simple majority of the Assembly with the concurrence of any seven members of the Security Council.

In this connection the Turkish Delegation suggested that the conference 10 years hence be held in the city of San Francisco, in recognition of the excellent manner in which the present conference was managed by the Government of the United States of America, and in gratitude for the great hospitality shown by the officials and people of the State of California, and the officials and inhabitants of this city by the Golden Gate. This suggestion met with general approval.

The procedure for ratification of the revisions which may result from such a conference would be the same as for ordinary amendments. With respect to ratification, the provision to have two thirds of the members ratify before amendments or revisions come into effect strengthens amendments which do come into force and, at the same time, prevents amendments coming into force without the approval of a considerable number of members who are not permanent members of the Security Council. If a member finds it impossible to accept an amendment which has come into force without its ratification or if an amendment duly accepted by the necessary majority in the Assembly or in a general conference fails to secure the ratification necessary to bring it into effect, the faculty of withdrawal is available to that member.

Accompanying the report are the reports of the Rapporteurs of Committees 1 and 2,28 and the texts of the Charter provisions adopted by the Committees and approved by the Commission.

2 Ante, pp. 490, 504, 509, 512, 519, and 527.

Commission II: General Assembly

(For officers of Commission II and its four committees, see ante, page 27.)

Summary Report of Meeting of Commission and Committee Officers, May 3

Doc. 83, May 4

The President of Commission II, Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Delegation of the Union of South Africa, called the meeting to order.

I. General Statement Concerning Work Before the Commission The President in his opening statement referred to a recommendation by the officers of the four commissions and approved by the Eighth Plenary Session of the Conference on May 2 that the officers of each commission meet with the officers of the committees of that commission in order that they might proceed upon their tasks as soon as possible; and that the commissions meet subsequently to receive the reports of their technical committees. This recommendation formed the mandate for the present meeting and, therefore, this was a meeting of the officers of Commission II and its four committees.

The President said that the immediate task ahead was the completion of the personnel of the Commission and its dependent committees. After the lists of personnel were completed the Commission would receive recommendations from the delegations. Then the committees could proceed with their task. The Dumbarton Oaks Proposals as supplemented by the Crimean decisions and by China's proposals, accepted by the sponsoring governments, were the basic materials before the Commission and committees. There were also the recommendations which had been received from the governments represented at the Conference. In due course the committees would submit their recommendations to the Commission, upon which rested the ultimate burden of reporting to the Conference in plenary session. The President emphasized that there would be full discussion in the Commission of matters considered in the committees.

II. Introduction of Officers of Commission II by the President

The President then formally introduced the officers of Commission II (Doc. 75).

III. Introduction of Other Secretariat Officers of Commission II by the Executive Officer

The Executive Officer, at the President's request, introduced other Secretariat officers of the Commission (Doc. 75).

IV. Introduction of Officers of Committees by the President of the Commission

The President introduced the chairmen and rapporteurs of the four committees (Doc. 75). He mentioned that the Rapporteur of Committee I, the Delegate of the White Russian S.S.R., was not present.

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