Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Permanent Council^1/

January - December 2006

[1]. Article 5 of the Statutes of the Permanent Council provides:  The office of Chair of the Permanent Council shall be held by each of the principal representatives in turn, following the alphabetical order in Spanish of the names of their respective countries.  Article 6 provides:  The Chair and Vice Chair shall hold office for a term of three months.  These terms shall begin automatically on the first day of each quarter of the calendar year.  Article 7 provides:  In the event of the temporary absence or disability of the Chair, the Vice Chair shall replace him/her and, in the event of the absence or disability of both of them, the principal representative of greatest seniority shall preside.  If for any reason the country to which the Chair corresponds does not have a principal representative, the Vice Chair shall serve as Chair until a principal representative of that country joins the Council.  If during a term or part thereof a country to which the Chair or Vice Chair corresponds does not have a principal representative, that term shall not be interrupted.  Once it has ended, the Chair or Vice Chair shall go to the following country, in accordance with the order established in Article 5.

[2]. Serves as acting vice chair in the absence of the principal representative of Uruguay (Articles 4 and 5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Permanent Council.

[3]. Article 7 of the Rules of Procedure of the Permanent Council establishes that if the offices of chair and vice chair of the Permanent Council should both devolve upon the principal representative of the same state, the representative shall be the chair.  The office of vice chair shall devolve upon de principal representative of the state next in reverse alphabetical order, and thus, successively.