Article 16 Other Committees

§ 1 The Committees referred to in Article 13 § 1, letters c) to f) and § 2 shall be composed, in principle, of all Member States. When the Revision Committee, the RID Expert Committee or the Committee of Technical Experts deliberate and take decisions, within the limits of their competence, about modifications of the Appendices to the Convention, Member States which have made a declaration in respect of the Appendices in question pursuant to Article 42 § 1, first sentence, shall not be members of the Committee concerned.

§ 2 The Secretary General shall convene the Committees either on his own initiative or at the request of five Member States or of the Administrative Committee. The Secretary General shall send the draft agenda to the Member States at least two months before the opening of the meeting.

§ 3 A Member State may arrange to be represented by another Member State; no State may however represent more than two other States.

§ 4 Each Member State represented shall have one vote. A proposal shall be adopted if the number of votes in favour is:

§ 5 On the invitation of the Secretary General, issued with the agreement of a majority of the Member States,

§ 6 The Committees shall elect for each meeting or for an agreed period a Chairman and one or several Deputy Chairmen.

§ 7 The proceedings shall be conducted in the working languages. The substance of what is said during a meeting in one of the working languages shall be translated into the other working languages; proposals and decisions shall be translated in full.

§ 8 The minutes shall summarise the proceedings. Proposals and decisions shall be reproduced in full. With regard to decisions, the French text shall prevail. The minutes shall be sent to all Member States.

§ 9 The Committees may appoint working groups to deal with specific questions.

§ 10 The Committees shall establish their rules of procedure.