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

January - December 2010

[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].  The Permanent Mission of Dominica has indicated that it will not be able to assume the chair of the Permanent Council for the period from April 1 to June 30, 2010. Article 5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Permanent Council establishes that “[i]f the state to which the office of chair corresponds does not have a principal representative, the vice chair shall serve as chair. If the state to which the office of vice chair corresponds does not have a principal representative, the principal representatives of the states in reverse alphabetical order shall serve in turn as vice chair on an acting basis. The incumbency of such substitute in either office shall terminate with the arrival in the Permanent Council of the principal representative of the state to which that office pertains by right.” Accordingly, the Permanent Representative of the United States will serve as chair during the aforementioned period.

[3].   In addition, the provisions of Article 7 of the Rules of Procedure of the Permanent Council state that, “If the offices of chair and vice chair of the Permanent Council should both devolve upon the principal representative of the same state, that representative shall be the chair. The office of vice chair shall devolve upon the principal representative of the state next in reverse alphabetical order, and thus successively.” As the aforementioned Article 7 establishes, and because up to May 9, 2010 El Salvador was represented by an interim representative, the office of vice chair of the Permanent Council was assumed by the Permanent Representative of Ecuador.

[4].  The Permanent Representative of El Salvador presented credentials and assumed the office of vice chair of the Permanent Council on May 10, 2010.