UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT HELD AT HAVANA, CUBA FROM 21 NOVEMBER 1947 TO 24 MARCH 1948 REPORTS OF COMMITTEES AND PRINCIPAL SUB-COMMITTEES INTERIM COMMISSION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE ORGANIZATION GENEVA SEPTEMBER 1948 ICITO 1/8 September 1948 This collection of reports has been assembled and edited by the Secretariat of the Interim Commission. These reports are to be read in conjunction with The Final Act and Related Documents of the Havana Conference (United Nations document ICITO/1/4 or E/CONF. 2/78) and the Report of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee (United Nations document E/PC/T/186). The texts of the Havana Charter and Resolutions appear in the former. The text of the " Geneva Draft " appears in the latte . TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction .... ...... 5 I. Reports relating to the First Committee: Employment and Economic Activity. 7 II. Reports relating to the Second Committee: Economic Development .I9 III. Reports relating to the Third Committee: Commercial Policy .39 IV. Reports relating to the Fourth Committee: Restrictive Business Practices .120 V. Reports relating to the Fifth Committee: Inter-governmental Commodity Agreements.127 VI. Reports relating to the Sixth Committee: Organization .149 VII. Documents relating to the Co-ordinating Committee. 160 Reference List Identifying Proposals of Individual Delegations 164 Indices in terms of the Article, Section and Chapter Numbers of the Geneva Draft and of the Havana Charter . 177 INTRODUCTION The terms of reference of the Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization, after enumerating certain specific functions, provide that the Commission shall " generally perform such other functions as may be ancillary and necessary to the effective carrying out of the provisions of this Annex ". Among " such other functions " the Executive Committee decided that arrangements should be made for the publication, as soon as possible, of the principal background documents on the Havana discussions. At its first meeting the Executive Committee directed the Executive Secretary to " publish the reports of the principal committees, supplemented by such sub-commitee reports and other documents or extracts therefrom as may be necessary for an understanding of such reports ". In the preparation of the present collection of reports, and particularly in securing comparability between the English and French texts, the Secretariat has had the benefit of advice from the panel designated by the Executive Committee consisting of Mr. Jean Royer (France), Mr. H. M. Catudal (United States of America), Mr. J. E. S. Fawcett (United Kingdom), Baron de Gaiffier (Belgium), and Mr. L. E. Couillard (Canada). The general aim in preparing this material has been to provide a record of the principal discussions at the Havana Conference which would give an indication of the origins of the various articles in the Havana Charter, explaining particularly the changes made in the Geneva draft, and which would preserve the comments or observations of the committees and sub-committees regarding the text of the Charter. The material covers also the origins of the resolutions adopted by the Conference. It has not been feasible to include the numerous proposals made by individual delegations with respect to the Charter or to the resolutions. For convenience of reference, however, a list of the principal formal proposals made by individual delegations, with identifying document symbols, appears in an annex to the present collection of reports. File copies of the documents listed are available for reference in the - 6 - Documents Office of the United Nations at Lake Success and at the office of the Interim Commission in Geneva. In preparing these reports for publication certain procedural portions have been deleted as being unnecessary in the published edition and certain other portions have been changed slightly, particularly in order to reduce duplication as between the reports of committees and their respective sub-committees. No change has been made which would affect in any degree the substance of the reports. It has been found impossible, without taking considerable liberties with the original text, to present all of the reports in a uniform manner, in view of differences in the form in which they were approved. Accordingly, the section relating to each committee has been prefaced by a brief note concerning the form in which the reports in that section have been presented. In general the chapter, section, article and paragraph numbers used in the original reports (i.e., numbers based on those of the Geneva draft) have been retained in the present edition, with the corresponding number of the Havana Charter given in square brackets in each case in which the Havana number differs from the original number. When a number appears without any correspond- ing number in square brackets the intention, unless otherwise stated in the particular case, is to indicate that the original or Geneva number and the Havana number dealing with that particular subject are identical, although, of course, the two texts may not be exactly the same. This collection of reports is accompanied by an index indicating the pages on which references will be found to each article, section or chapter. Concerning the status of these reports, the President of the Conference at the final Plenary meeting on 24 March declared the reports of the full Committees approved by the Conference. The status of the reports of the various sub-committees is indicated in the reports of the full Committees. I. REPORTS RELATING TO THE FIRST COMMITTEE EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY This section contains the following documents relating to the work of the First Committee: (i) Report of the First Committee. (ii) Report of Sub-Committee A: Fair Labour Standards. (iii) Report of Sub-Committee B: Articles of Chapter II other than the Article on Fair Labour Standards. (iv) Report of Sub-Committee C: Resolution on Employment. REPORT OF THE FIRST COMMITTEF: EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY 1 I. The First Committee was responsible for the examination of the Geneva draft text of Chapter II on "Employment and Economic Activity ", together with proposals submitted by delegations relating to the subject matter of that Chapter. 2. Mr. J. J. DEDMAN (Australia) was elected Chairman. Mr. E. WAERUM (Denmark) was elected Vice-Chairman. 3. The Committee held thirteen meetings and succeeded in resolving all issues before it. Mr. DEDMAN presided at the first ten meetings and Mr. WAERUM at the last three meetings. 4. To facilitate its work the Committee established three sub- committees. 5. Sub-Committee A was appointed to consider proposals relat- ing to the article on " Fair Labour Standards ". 6. Sub-Committee B was appointed to examine proposals relating to the other articles of the Chapter. 1 E/CONF.2/55. -8-- 7. Sub-Committee C was set up to consider the draft resolution on employment which had been prepared by the First Session of the Preparatory Committee, together with any new proposals which might be submitted relating to this subject. 8. In the preparation of the text of the Chapter assigned to it, the First Committee took account of the suggestions put forward by the Central Drafting Committee. 9. The reports of the Sub-Committees which examined these proposals were accepted. Certain questions which the Sub-Com- mittees were not able to resolve have now been resolved as indicated in the attachment to the present Report. The text of Chapter II was recommended unanimously by the First Committee for approval by the Conference. 10. The First Committee transmitted to the Conference, and a Plenary Session of the Conference acted upon, the text of a resolution to the Economic and Social Council relating to employ - ment.1 ATTACHMENT TO THE REPORT OF THE FIRST COMMITTEE DISPOSITION OF PROPOSALS REMAINING AFTER THE SUBMISSION OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS. The following statement indicates, with reference to each Article, the action taken on proposals which had not been satisfied by the Sub-Committee texts or which arose after the submission of the Sub-Committee reports. Article 2. All proposals were dealt with in the Sub-Committee's report. Article 3. The proposal of the delegation of N orway concerning fluctuations in demand and prices, which had not been covered in the Sub- Committee's report, was dealt with in a modified form through 1 The text recommended by the Committee was approved by a Plenary Meeting of the Conference with the insertion of the word " may " before " need to be combatted" in the third paragraph (E/CONF.2/SR.13). The approved text appears on page 75 of the Final Act and Related Documents (ICITO/1/4 or E/CONF.2/78). - 9- the amendment of Article 7 [6]1 at the eleventh meeting of the Com- mittee. The question raised by this proposal was also mentioned in the preamble of the Resolution on Employment. The proposal by the delegation of Italy concerning the inter- national mobility of labour was dealt with in a modified form by introducing present paragraph 1 (b) in Article 6 [5] and by Section 3 of the Resolution on Employment. The proposal by the delegation of Mexico concerning migratory workers was dealt with in a modified form in Section 4 of the Resolution on Employment. Article 5 [4]. The proposal of the delegation of Peru regarding the disposal of surpluses during periods of widespread balance-of-payments dif- ficulties was withdrawn at the ninth meeting in view of the fact that the Sub-Committee had not been prepared to recommend the inclusion of a provision on this subject in Chapter II. Article 6 [5]. As indicated above in connection with Article 3, sub-para- graph (b) was added to paragrah 1 of Article 6 [5] as a result of a proposal by the delegation of Italy.