10 Under Article 32 of the Constitution, the Director-General is ex-officio secretary of all commissions and committees of the Organization and of conferences convened by it. For meetings of experts, the Director-General delegates these functions to a technical officer in the subject concerned (referred hereafter as "the Secretary").
20 For meetings of experts to be included in approved and appropriately funded workplans, the Secretary prepares a justification at the time of the preparation of the workplan proposals, giving the title, objectives, composition, and estimated costs (including those related to the publication of the report in the Technical Report Series).
30 Proposals for meetings of experts are reviewed by the director and the assistant director-general concerned before being submitted, with the latter's recommendation, to the Director-General within the framework of the overall proposals for the headquarters programme.
40 As soon as the Director-General has decided on the proposals that are acceptable for inclusion in the Organization's workplans, the assistant director-general concerned takes the necessary steps to inform the Secretary. Once informed, the Secretary of the proposed meeting will begin to make detailed arrangements, such as preparing the draft agenda, drawing up a list of possible participants, selecting consultants or temporary advisers, and requesting the submission of working papers.
50 As part of the preliminary planning, the Secretary should prepare a provisional cost estimate. No commitment to any outside body or entity may be made until the work plan is approved and funded by an appropriate award.
60 As a rule, meetings of expert committees shall be included in the WHO biennial programme budget. If the meeting is not included in the programme budget, a full justification for the meeting, together with an indication of proposed alternative funding arrangements should be included in the memorandum requesting the approval of the meeting (see paragraph 30 above). Such alternative funding arrangements should be consistent with the WHO financial regulations and rules.
70 In this connection, it should furthermore be noted that pursuant to paragraph 23 of the Guidelines on interaction with commercial enterprises to achieve health outcomes (annex to EB 107/20) activities leading to the production of WHO guidelines or recommendations (e.g. expert committee meetings) may not be funded by commercial enterprises. The term "commercial enterprises" includes companies, industry umbrella associations, organizations representing commercial enterprises, state-run enterprises, foundations not at arms length from their commercial sponsors and nongovernmental organizations that receive significant funding from the commercial private sector.
80 See section IX.2.3 paragraphs 280 - 310 for travel and allowances for participants.
90 Well in advance of the meeting, both organizations must come to an agreement on the travelling arrangements to be made for the participants, the amount and method of payment of the per diem allowance, and the proportion of these expenses to be borne by each organization. They must at the same time determine how the other costs of the meeting (interpreters, documents, consultants or temporary advisers, etc.) will be shared between them. The decisions reached on these points should be confirmed in an exchange of letters between the two organizations.
100 Meetings of experts are normally held at headquarters, at another WHO office or on the premises of another agency in the United Nations system. When it is proposed to hold a meeting elsewhere, regardless of whether a government or a private institution has offered to act as host, the appropriate regional office must be informed before any detailed planning is undertaken so that it can obtain the formal approval of the government concerned to the meeting taking place on its territory. The procedures described in section IX.2 for inter-regional meetings should be followed, as appropriate.
110 The dates chosen should not coincide with those on which the World Health Assembly or the Executive Board will meet.
120 Joint meetings of experts may be held by WHO in conjunction with the United Nations, the specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or other United Nations bodies.
130 The preliminary planning within WHO for such meetings follows the same pattern as for meetings that are entirely WHO's responsibility. However, since the other organizations concerned may have a different budgetary cycle from that of WHO, negotiations between the Secretary in WHO and his or her counterpart in the other organization must begin in sufficient time for the projected meeting to be included in the workplans of both organizations.
140 No action that would commit WHO either financially or in any other way may be taken until both organizations have accepted the budgetary provisions for the meeting, and until the Secretary and his or her counterpart have obtained approval of the arrangements proposed for the meeting from the competent officer in their respective organizations (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 210).
150 Thereafter detailed preparations for the meeting, such as finally fixing the site and dates, determining which organization shall act as host, approaching, if necessary, the government of the country in which it is hoped to hold the meeting, requesting the reservation of conference accommodation and staff (see section IX.2.3 paragraphs 390 - 400), engaging consultants (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 340), issuing invitations to the participants (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 210), deciding for which expenses each organization will be responsible and how these are to be paid, may go forward in close collaboration with the other organization.
160 Should the Secretary and his or her counterpart in the other organization meet informally to discuss the points mentioned above, it is essential that any decisions reached be recorded in writing and confirmed by both organizations (for other references to the organization of joint meetings see also section IX.2.4 paragraph 140). The same procedures apply if more than one other organization joins WHO in sponsoring a meeting.
170 Full members of meetings are experts whose attendance as such has been approved by the Director-General or a representative designated by the Director-General. They do not include (a) invited representatives of governmental or nongovernmental organizations or (b) WHO staff members; nor do they include consultants, temporary advisers (see section III.16.1), or short-term staff servicing the meeting.
180 In accordance with Regulation 4.1 for Expert Advisory Panels and Committees and Regulations 1.2 and 2.2 for Study and Scientific Groups, etc., the Director-General determines the number of members to be invited to an expert committee, study or scientific group. The Director-General also determines the number of members to be invited to other meetings of experts. For joint expert committees, each of the sponsoring organizations appoints an agreed number of members (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 150). In selecting members for any of these meetings, attention should be paid particularly to the need to establish an adequate technical and geographical balance among the members (see section IX2.3 paragraph 210).
190 Members of expert committees, expert subcommittees, or joint expert committees must be drawn from among the members of expert advisory panels. For scientific groups and study groups, members need not necessarily be drawn from expert advisory panels. When it is proposed to invite members of more than one panel, the officer responsible for each panel should be consulted before the panel member's name is included in the proposed list of members.
200 For expert committees, study groups and scientific groups, consultants and temporary advisers form part of the secretariat of the meeting and must be so listed. They do not qualify for election as chairman, vice-chairman or rapporteur. In other meetings (see section IX.2.2 paragraphs 190 - 210), they may participate as full members, if they have been so designated when invited. WHO staff members are always listed under "Secretariat" (see Guidance for preparing manuscripts for publication in the WHO Technical report Series).
210 The assistant director-general concerned must approve the membership of all meetings of experts. At a suitable stage in the preparations, the Secretary addresses a memorandum through the responsible director (when applicable), and the Department Quality Assurance for Norms and Standards (SCI/QNS) to the assistant director-general requesting approval to send formal invitations to the proposed members. If one or more of the suggested experts are not yet panel members, enough time should be foreseen to permit the complete relevant procedure of their appointment to be carried out. The memorandum should include the following details about the meeting:
- its purpose;
- the reference to it in approved and appropriately funded workplans;
- its funding (see section IX.2.3 paragraphs 50 - 70);
- the names and specialties of the proposed members and the reasons for proposing them, together with the names of the expert advisory panels of which they may be members (if alternative choices are given, it should be stated which member or members each alternate is intended to replace);
- the names of any consultants or temporary advisers who may be invited to form part of the secretariat of the meeting (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 340), these should, if possible be selected from countries not represented among the members of the meeting;
- the names of the international, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations that it is proposed to invite to send representatives (see section IX.2.3 paragraphs 320 - 340).
Attached to this memorandum should be the proposed draft agenda and the cost estimate.
220 Once the assistant director-general has given his or her decision on the proposals, no change may be made in the membership without confirming with the assistant director-general except for the substitution of approved alternates for members originally proposed but unable to attend. Directors may approve changes to consultants or temporary advisers who are invited to form part of the secretariat.
230 Once the proposed membership has been approved by the assistant director-general, the concerned experts can be contacted. For this, please use the preliminary letter for members of expert committees, which is available on the right hand side column "related content".
240 The Secretary of the meeting should ensure that a declaration of interest form (DOI) is completed by each expert and temporary adviser, and evaluated by the WHO Secretariat as per the Guidelines for Declaration of Interest for (WHO Experts), available on the website of the Department of Compliance, Risk Management and Ethics (CRE): http://intranet.who.int/homes/cre/ethics/doiexperts / . CRE can be consulted in respect of those DOIs, which - upon evaluation by the Secretary - give rise to a significant or potentially significant conflict of interest (see the Guidelines mentioned above). The Secretary of the meeting should also conduct the public notice required by Information Note 22/2014.
245 Only after the DOI has been reviewed by the WHO Secretariat, the public notice been conducted, and the appropriate WHO officer has confirmed that the proposed membership is cleared to proceed, a letter of invitation may be issued. For members of expert committees, please use the invitation letter for members of expert committees, which is available on the right hand side column "related content".
250 The formal invitation should not be sent to approved members of an expert committee who are not yet a panel member until the procedure for their appointment (see section IX.2) has been completed. In the meantime, however, an informal letter may be written to them by the Secretary explaining the situation.
260 Should members of an expert advisory panel who are not invited to an expert committee meeting of interest to them express the wish to attend the meeting, they may do so as observers under Regulations 4.3 for Expert Advisory Panels and Committees, if authorized by the assistant director-general concerned, but they must pay their own expenses. Such panel members attend meetings of expert committees as observers; their names may not be included in the list of participants. They may also be invited to contribute working papers and may receive the main documents.
270 For joint meetings of experts, the sponsoring organizations determine in advance (see section IX.2.3 paragraphs 90 and 120 - 160) whether invitations shall be addressed separately by each organization to the members attending on its behalf, or whether the organization acting as host shall send invitations to all members. Whichever method is used, the invitation should be sent in the name of both organizations. The confirmation of the invitations should be issued, at the latest, two weeks prior to the commencement of a meeting. No experts should travel to attend the meeting without a completed and cleared DOI and confidentiality undertaking. The provisions surrounding public notice and comment as provided in the Guidelines apply to joint meetings and need to be adhered to.
280 For travel and allowances of experts, please refer to Part VII of the WHO eManual.
290 The Secretary will make arrangements for the payment of members' allowances and other reimbursable expenses as specified in the travel request.
300 If a meeting is being held jointly with another organization, care should be taken to ensure that any arrangements made by WHO for the travel of members attending on behalf of the other organization are in accordance with the rules of that organization (see section IX.2.3 paragraphs 90 and 120 - 160).
310 As explained in Part VII, a Travel Request (TR) must be approved prior to the meeting for all meeting attendees – staff, experts, consultants, temporary advisers, other participants etc. No expert shall travel without a submitted and cleared DOI and the confidentiality undertaking form. Note that each attendee must be established as a "supplier" in the Global Management System before a TR can be prepared.
320 The United Nations, the specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other United Nations bodies may, with the approval of the assistant director-general concerned (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 210), be invited to send representatives to meetings of experts in which they are directly interested. Representatives so nominated do not qualify for election as chairman, vice-chairman or rapporteur.
330 As provided in resolution EB29.R56 paragraph 3(iii), representatives of non-governmental organizations may, when appropriate, be invited to attend meetings of experts at their own expense (in the case of meetings of expert committees, these invitations are limited to representatives of non-governmental organizations in official relations with WHO). Such invitations should be limited to nongovernmental organizations actively interested in the scientific or technical field concerned and, if approved by the assistant director-general (see section IX.2.3 paragraph 210). Representatives so nominated do not qualify for election as chairman, vice-chairman or rapporteur.
340 If a consultant or temporary adviser is to be engaged to assist in the organization of the meeting by preparing documents for discussion, collaborating in the drafting of a report, etc., the Secretary should arrange for his appointment as provided in section III.16.2 or section III.16.1, respectively. The travelling arrangements for consultants and temporary advisers and the allowances to which are entitled are also described in Part VII.
350 Member States and Executive Board members have to be informed of the time and place of meeting of an expert committee by means of a note verbale, to which is attached a copy of the draft agenda. To ensure dispatch of the note verbale in due time, the Secretary should send the draft agenda, in English and in French, the number of the relevant Registry file, the approved list of members, and a form WHO 45.3 marked for the signature of the Director-General, to SCI/QNS, which prepares the note verbale and obtains the approval of the Director-General. A note verbale is not required for meetings of study groups and scientific groups.
360 The number of working papers for a meeting should not be greater than is strictly necessary to enable its members to conduct their business effectively. Their authors may be members of an expert advisory panel or other suitably qualified experts, including staff members. Such papers can normally be distributed in English and French. Authors should therefore be requested to submit them in one of these languages or, exceptionally, in Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish.
370 Invitations to contribute working papers should specify the date by which they are required, a limit of length and, if appropriate, clearly indicate that they do not imply an invitation to participate in the meeting or to attend it.
380 If papers are submitted by the United Nations, the specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency, other intergovernmental organizations or nongovernmental organizations in official relations with WHO when they are invited to a particular meeting, the Secretary determines whether to recommend to the director concerned that they should be reproduced and distributed as working papers.
390 The Secretary should make all arrangements for the meeting, such as space and logistics, interpretation, equipment, meals and refreshments, and any other hospitality to be offered.
400 The working languages of meetings of experts are English and French. However, according to the language requirements of the members, provision is made at the request of the Secretary of the meeting, for simultaneous interpretation into Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. The organization and cost of such interpretation is borne by the department sponsoring the meeting.
410 Normally, no headquarters technical or clerical staff members attend meetings held away from headquarters except for the Secretary of the meeting. Any exception to this provision must be authorized by the director concerned.
420 It is recommended that two weeks before the meeting is due to start, a draft of a speech of welcome to be delivered, normally by the assistant director-general concerned, at the opening meeting must be composed by the Secretary and sent through the director concerned to the assistant director-general.
430 The speech should begin by extending a welcome, in the name of the Director-General, to the members and especially to any representatives of nongovernmental organizations who may be attending. The reasons for holding the meeting should then be briefly recapitulated. Finally, the members should be reminded that they are expected to advise the Organization in their individual capacity as experts and not as representatives of their government or organization, and that the report must be prepared and approved by them before they leave the place of the meeting.
440 Depending on the outcome of the evaluation of the DOIs as referred to in paragraph 230 above, significant or potentially significant declared interests of the experts and temporary advisers may, in consultation with the Chair, need to be disclosed at the start of the meeting.
