ANNEX

Guidelines for the treatment of correspondence
with regard to periodic reports

1.

The Secretariat posts on the website of the Convention, in their original language, periodic reports as received for the current cycle.

2.

The Secretariat receives and registers correspondence relating to periodic reports, which can arrive at any time.

3.

Any correspondence received up to four weeks before the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee is transmitted, in the language in which it was received, to the Permanent Delegation concerned as well as to the contact person indicated in the periodic report of the submitting State Party concerned.

4.

The State Party that has submitted the periodic report concerned may submit to the Secretariat comments no later than two weeks before the meeting of the Committee. The response, if any, is communicated to the entity that sent the correspondence.

5.

The Secretariat makes available to the Committee the correspondence and any comments by the submitting State concerned, in their original language. These correspondences and comments are also posted on the website of the Convention.

6.

After the examination of the periodic reports concerned by the Committee, correspondence and response are removed from the website of the Convention, unless decided otherwise by the Committee.

7.

Any correspondence received after the deadlines defined above, or concerning a periodic report already examined by the Committee in a previous cycle, is transmitted, in the language in which it was received, to the Permanent Delegation concerned as well as to the contact person indicated in the periodic report of the submitting State Party. The response of the submitting State Party, if any, is communicated to the entity that has submitted the correspondence.