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Procedures for Amendments
Copied from Rules of Procedure for Technical Commissions (WMO-No. 1240). Annex VII.
ANNEX VII. PROCEDURES FOR AMENDING THE TECHNICAL REGULATIONS (WMO-NO. 49), THEIR ANNEXES, GUIDES AND OTHER CORRESPONDING NON-REGULATORY PUBLICATIONS
1.1 The present procedures describe the steps involved in drafting, evaluating and approving amendments to the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49) and the manuals which are annexes to the Technical Regulations, guides and other corresponding non-regulatory publications.
1.2 An amendment, in the context of these procedures, is any revision of the content of a publication, the addition of a new publication or the discontinuation of an existing publication. Purely editorial modifications that do not change the meaning of the content of a publication may be carried out by the Secretariat at its discretion and are not discussed herein.
Submission of the initial request
2.1 An initial request for an amendment is submitted to the Secretariat by a Member or an expert of a technical commission.
Assessment of the initial request
2.2 The initial request is assessed by the Secretariat in consultation with the chair of a relevant standing committee or study group respective technical commission to determine whether an amendment is warranted. If it is determined that an amendment is not warranted, no further action is taken.
3.1 If it is determined that an amendment is warranted, the request is sent to the responsible body standing committee or study group. If the subject of the request does not fall under the responsibility of existing bodies of a technical commission, the request should be considered by the Management Group of the commission, which should decide how to address such a request.
3.2 The responsible body (standing committee or study group) shall draft the proposal for the amendment following the principles defined in the General Provisions (paragraph 13) to the Technical Regulations, the Guidelines on the Preparation and Promulgation of the WMO Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 1127) and appropriate WMO editorial procedures and in consultation with other WMO bodies and technical experts, as needed.
3.3 The proposal for the amendment shall, at a minimum, contain the following information:
(1) Title and, as applicable, WMO number, relevant volume, part, section, regulation, provision, paragraph or other such subdivision of the publication to which the amendment applies,
(2) Details of the amendment,
(3) Rationale for the amendment,
(4) Originator of the initial request.
3.4 The proposal should also include the following information:
(1) Expected impact of the amendment on Members, users of services, other international organizations and other WMO regulatory publications,
(2) Confirmation or estimate of the number of Members with the ability to support and follow the proposed amendment (principle 13(a) in General Provisions) to validate the proposal for standard practice (requiring strong majority of Members),
(3) Names of WMO Members and WMO bodies, including subsidiary bodies of constituent bodies, that were consulted during, or assisted with, the drafting of the proposal,
(4) Proposed implementation date, that is, the date on which the amendment will become effective,
(5) Validation information, where applicable. If the amendment concerns changes that may impact automated processing systems, these changes should be tested using at least two independently developed tool sets and two independent centres, and the resulting validation information should be included with the proposal.
3.5 All related proposals should be combined into one comprehensive proposal.
After a proposal for an amendment is drafted, the Secretariat administers its submission for approval. The principal methods for approving a proposal for an amendment are the standard approval procedure and the fast-track approval procedure.
4.1.1 The standard approval procedure is the default procedure used to approve a proposal for an amendment to the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49) and the manuals which are annexes to the Technical Regulations, guides and other corresponding non-regulatory publications.
4.1.2 The steps involved in the standard approval procedure are the following:
(1) The relevant technical commission management group shall consider the proposal for an amendment in consultation with other bodies, as needed, and either request that the proposal be further revised by the responsible body or submit the proposal to the full technical commission.
(2) The technical commission shall consider the proposal for an amendment at a session or by correspondence and either request that the proposal be further revised by the responsible body or carry out one of the following actions:
ANNEX VII. PROCEDURES FOR AMENDING THE TECHNICAL REGULATIONS (WMO-NO. 49), THEIR 29 ANNEXES, GUIDES AND OTHER CORRESPONDING NON-REGULATORY PUBLICATIONS
(a) If the proposal for an amendment concerns a guide or another corresponding non- regulatory publication, the commission shall normally adopt such amendment at a session or by correspondence. If a member of the commission considers that publication is not purely technical, at the request of that member the adoption of the publication may be referred to the Executive Council. The commission, at a session or by correspondence, may decide to delegate to the president approval of guides and other corresponding non-regulatory publications, in consultation with the management group of that commission and with other relevant bodies, as needed.
(b) If the proposal for an amendment concerns the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49), the commission shall recommend it for adoption by the Congress or by the Executive Council in case the new regulation needs to be implemented before the next session of Congress (according to General Provisions paragraph 15).
(c) If the proposal for an amendment concerns annexes to the Technical Regulations, the commission shall recommend it for adoption by the Executive Council, unless there is a Congress request to submit specific amendments to Congress.
(3) The Secretariat shall distribute a WMO circular letter to Members informing them of the proposal for the amendment with an indication of new obligations for Members, if any.
(4) Congress or the Executive Council shall consider the recommendation of a technical commission and either adopt it or request that the proposal be further revised by the commission.
4.2.1 The fast-track approval procedure, as authorized by the Executive Council (Resolution 12 (EC-68) and Resolution 9 (EC-69)), is applicable to the updating of certain components (designated as technical specifications) of the following manuals: Manual on Codes (WMO-No. 306), Manual on the Global Telecommunication System (WMO-No. 386), Manual on the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WMO-No. 485), Manual on the WMO Information System (WMO-No. 1060), and Manual on the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WMO-No. 1160).
4.2.2 The fast-track approval procedure may also be applied to guides and other corresponding non-regulatory publications, authorized by the technical commission concerned.
4.2.3 The list of technical specifications, guides and other corresponding non-regulatory publications is made available to Members along with designated focal points or national authorities used for the fast-track approval procedure.
4.2.4 The fast-track approval procedure is normally carried out twice a year.
4.2.5 The steps involved in the fast-track approval procedure are the following:
(1) The Chair of the relevant standing committee shall examine the proposal for an amendment in consultation with other bodies and with the Secretariat, as needed. The Chair shall either request that the proposal be further revised by the responsible body or submit the proposal to the designated focal points or other such designated national authorities with technical competence in the relevant area for their review.
(2) Once the proposal for an amendment has been submitted to them, the designated focal points or other such designated national authorities with technical competence in the relevant area shall have two months to provide comments. After all comments received have been addressed, the proposal for an amendment shall be submitted to the president of the relevant technical commission.
(3) The president of the relevant technical commission shall consider the proposal for an amendment in consultation with the management group of that technical commission, the president of the other technical commission and the Secretariat, as needed, and shall either request that the proposal be further revised by the responsible body or carry out one of the following actions:
(a) If the proposal for an amendment concerns a guide or another corresponding non- regulatory publication, the president of the relevant technical commission shall approve the amendment, at which point it shall be considered to be adopted.
(b) If the proposal for an amendment concerns a manual which is an annex to the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49), the president of the relevant technical commission shall approve the proposal for submission to the President of WMO.
(4) The President of WMO shall consider the proposal for an amendment to one of the manuals which are annexes to the Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 49) and shall either request that the proposal be further revised by the responsible body or, on behalf of the Executive Council, approve the amendment for adoption.
(5) Upon approval of the proposal for an amendment by the President of WMO, the amendment shall be considered to be adopted, and the Secretariat shall notify the Members of its adoption and of its implementation date.
The steps outlined in 4.1 and 4.2 above are the steps customarily followed for the standard approval procedure and the fast-track approval procedure, respectively. In exceptional circumstances, alternative steps are permitted. See the General Regulations in Basic Documents No. 1 (WMO-No. 15) and the Guidelines on the Preparation and Promulgation of the WMO Technical Regulations (WMO-No. 1127) for further information.