Tasks. Any Conference of Representatives is empowered to "modify, by unanimous decision, the maximum amount of the expenditure of the International Bureau" as far as the countries members of the Conference of Representatives are concerned, provided that it meets as a "Conference of Plenipotentiaries" (Resolution of 1970, point 6). "Modify" means to modify the amount fixed in the Convention itself (120,000 Swiss gold franes per annum according to Article 23(1) of the 1948 (Brussels) Act). Since 1970, such "modification is made by the Conference of Representatives, meeting as a Conference of Plenipotentiaries, by reference to the amount decided upon by the Assembly of the Union.

Otherwise, each Conference of Representatives has two objectives or tasks: "to draw up for each three-year [beginning with the 1980-1981 biennium, two-year] period to come, a report on the foreseeable expenditure of the International Bureau as far as the Berne Union is concerned, and to consider questions relating to the protection [sauvegarde] and the development of the said [i.e., the Berne] Union" (Resolution of 1970, point 5). The first is, in practice, the same as the budget adopted by the Assembly. The second corresponds to what, in respect to the Assembly, is called dealing with "matters concerning the maintenance and development of the Union."

Sessions. By January 1, 1986, that is, by the beginning of the year of the centenary of the Berne Convention, the Conference of Representatives has held seven sessions. All sessions were ordinary. and each session was held jointly with the ordinary sessions of the Assembly. They took place in 1970, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985.

Representation on the Executive Committee. At each of its ordinary sessions, the Conference of Representatives may elect, among its members, and for each four of such members, one country to serve on the Executive Committee (see below) as an "associate member." At the beginning of 1986, the year of the centenary of the Berne Convention, the number of associate members was one (corresponding to one quarter of the five members of the Conference of Representatives). It was Turkey.

The Executive Committee

First Occurrence in the Berne Convention and Membership. The Executive Committee is first mentioned in the 1967 (Stockholm) Act. References to articles are references to articles in that Act and in the 1971 (Paris) Act.

The Executive Committee is a sub-organ of the Assembly The Assembly shall have an Executive

Committee" says Article 23(1). Thus, it is an organ which, like the Assembly, started functioning in 1970.

The Executive Committee consists of countries elected by the Assembly from among countries members of the Assembly and. ex officio, of Switzerland (Article 23(2)(a)). The number of countries members of the Executive Committee corresponds to one fourth of the number of countries members of the Assembly (Article 23(3)) plus one fourth of the members of the Conference of Representatives At the beginning of 1986, the year of the centenary of the Berne Convention, the Executive Committee had 19 members. one (Switzerland) is a member ex officio, 17 were elected by the Assembly of the Berne Union (Canada, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire. Czechoslovakia, France. German Democratic Republic, Hungary, India, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Senegal, Sweden, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Zimbabwe), one (Turkey) was elected, as an associate member, by the Conference of Representatives of the Berne Union.

Representation and Voting. As already stated, the members of the Executive Committee are countries. Each country member of the Executive Committee has one vote (Article 23(8)(a)). Each country member of the Executive Committee is represented by one delegate, and each delegate may represent, and vote in the name of, one (namely, its own) country only (Article 23(8)(e}} One half of the members constitute a quorum, and all decisions are made by a simple majority of the votes cast (Article 23(8)(b) and (c)).

With respect to matters which are of interest also to other Unions administered by WIPO, the Executive Committee must, before making a decision, hear the advice of the WIPO Coordination Committee (Article 23(6)(b)).

Mandate and Renewal Each member of the Executive Committee serves from the close of the session of the Assembly which elected it to the close of the next ordinary session of the Assembly (Article 23(5)(a)).

The Executive Committee is renewed every two years, at the biennial ordinary session of the Assembly Members may be re-elected but only up to a maximum of two thirds of its members (Article 23(5)(b)).

The Executive Committee meets in ordinary session once a year (Article 23(7)(a))

The Executive Committee may meet in extraordinary session upon convocation of the Director General, either on his own initiative, or at the request of its chairman or one fourth of its members (Article 23(7)(b)).

During the 16 years of its existence so far (1970 to 1985), the Executive Committee has held 25 sessions: 16 of them were ordinary and nine were extraordinary.

The ordinary sessions- which are yearly - were held at the same time and place as the ordinary sessions of other governing bodies of WIPO and the Unions administered by WIPO. In them, mainly administrative questions are dealt with.

The extraordinary sessions generally take place once every two years. Most of these sesssions are held at the same place (alternating between Geneva and Paris) and time as sessions of the Intergovernmental Copyright Committee, a committee established by the Universal Copyright Convention, administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with headquarters in Paris. When the two Committees meet at the same time and place, most of their meetings are joint. In those joint meetings, matters of substantive copyright law-mostly matters of topical interest-are dealt with. The preparatory working papers on such matters are usually prepared jointly by the two Secretariats (the International Bureau of WIPO and the Secretariat of Unesco) and are published under a heading which refers to both Organizations (WIPO and Unesco) and both Committees. The joint meetings are jointly serviced by the two Secretariats, and the draft reports on the joint meetings are prepared by the two Secretariats and are considered in a joint meeting of the two Committees. More is said about matters of topical interest, referred to above, in the part entitled "Copyright Law Subjects of Topical Interest," below.

Tasks. Article 23(6)(a) of the 1967 (Stockholm) and 1971 (Paris) Acts lists, in six points, the tasks of the Executive Committee. They are quoted hereafter, with a few comments in each case:

"The Executive Committee shall:

"(i) prepare the draft agenda of the Assembly." In fact, what the Executive Committee has done so far is to list items, a year ahead of each ordinary session of the Assembly, that should be included in the draft agenda of that ordinary session. If, however, events between the session of the Executive Committee listing the items and the session of the Assembly make it desirable that certain items so listed not be included, or certain items not so listed be included, in the draft agenda, the Director General presents a draft agenda modified accordingly. The draft agendas of the extraordinary sessions of the Assembly would be prepared by the Director General rather than by the Executive Committee.

"(ii) submit proposals to the Assembly respecting the draft program and [biennial] budget of

the Union prepared by the Director General.” In fact, and so far, this has been treated as a mere formality since the draft program and budget are presented on the same day, at the same time, to the Assembly and the Executive Committee, and the Assembly proceeds, in fact, with the consideration of the draft program and budget without any substantive proposals coming from the Executive Committee.

*(iii)" This provision is no longer in force. Before its deletion, it read as follows "approve, within the limits of the program and the triennial budget, the specific yearly budgets and programs prepared by the Director General." It applied until 1979. In that year, its omission was decided.

counts.

"(iv) submit, with appropriate comments, to the Assembly the periodical reports of the Director General and the yearly audit reports on the acThe periodical reports of the Director General are considered separately by the Executive Committee when it meets in an ordinary session in a year in which the Assembly does not meet in an ordinary session. But otherwise, and for the reasons stated in connection with item (ii), above, such reports, in fact, have so far gone direct to the Assembly. The same was true for the yearly audit reports on the accounts until 1979, the year in which biennial budgeting was introduced. Since 1979, a complete audit report is issued for the budgetary biennium only after the biennium is

over.

"(v) in accordance with the decisions of the Assembly and having regard to circumstances arising between two ordinary sessions of the Assembly, take all necessary measures to ensure the execution of the program of the Union by the Director General." So far, no such measures have appeared necessary and no such measures have been taken by the Executive Committee.

"(vi) perform such other functions as are allocated to it under this Convention." There are two such functions expressly mentioned in the Berne Convention: cooperation in the preparation of conferences of revision of the substantive provisions of the Convention, and the right to initiate amendments to the administrative clauses of the Convention (see Articles 24(7)(a) and 26(1)).

Sessions. The first ordinary session of the Executive Committee was held in 1970. The others, until now, were held in each year between 1970 and 1986. Thus, so far, there have been 16 ordinary sessions. There have been nine extraordinary sessions so far, one in 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1977, two in 1979, and one in 1981, 1983 and 1985.

The Predecessor of the Executive Committee: the Permanent Committee of the Literary and Artistic Union (1948-1970). This body was set up by a decision of the 1948 (Brussels) Conference of Revision and existed until it was replaced in 1970 by the Executive Committee. It had 12 members and dealt with a great variety of questions of interest to international cooperation in the field of copyright and neighboring rights It held 14 ordinary and five extraordinary sessions and one joint session with the Consultative Committee of the Paris Union. It established a four-member (later, fivemember) Subcommittee that met six times between 1951 and 1955. Since there exists no comprehensive study on the activities of this Committee and its Subcommittee, the places in the BIRPI periodicals Le Droit d'auteur ("DA") or Copyright ("CR") where reports on those activities are to be found are indicated hereafter. Ordinary Sessions of the Permanent Committee: 1. Neuchâtel 1949 (1949 DA 130); 11. Lisbon 1950 (1950 DA 127 and 141); III. Paris 1951 (1951 DA 122); IV. Neuchâtel 1952 (1952 DA 100); V. Lugano 1954 (1954 DA 141); VI. Paris 1956 (1956 DA 69); VII. Geneva 1958 (1959 DA 188); VIII. Munich 1959 (1959 DA 206); IX. London 1960 (1960 DA 324); X. Madrid 1961 (1961 DA 318): XI. New Delhi 1964 (1964 DA 50); XII. Paris 1965 (1966 CR 9); XIII. Geneva 1967 (1968 CR 23); XIV. Paris 1969 (1970 CR 21). Extraordinary Sessions of the Permanent Committee: Geneva 1962 (1962 DA 282); Geneva 1967 (1967 CR 66); Paris, February 1969 (1969 CR 48); Geneva. June 1969 (1969 CR 146); Geneva 1970 (1970 CR 209). Joint Session of the Permanent Committee with the Consultative Comof the mittee Paris Union: Geneva 1962 (1962 DA(CR) 186). Sessions of the Subcommittee of the Permanent Committee. I. Paris, March 1951 (1951 DA 35), II. Stresa, May 1951 (1951 DA 70); III. Paris, October 1951 (1951 DA 122); IV. Neuchâtel 1952 (1952 DA 100); V. Berne 1953 (1953 DA 81); VI. Berne 1955 (1955 DA 52).

The Permanent Committee dealt, among other things, with the relations between the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention (which, at the time the Permanent Committee was established in 1948, was a mere plan but which became a reality four years later, that is, in 1952) and between itself and the Intergovernmental Copyright Committee of the Universal Copyright Convention. administered by Unesco (the two Committees adopted the habit of meeting at the same place and time from 1958 onwards), with the preparations of the "Neighboring Rights Convention." eventually adopted in Rome in 1961. and with a certain number of questions of topical

interest.

The International Bureau

First Occurrence in the Berne Convention and the Evolution of the Bureau. In the history of the Berne Union, one has to distinguish between three "International Bureaus" (a designation in vogue in the last century for the permanent secretariats of intergovernmental organizations) the International Bureau of the Berne Union, the United International Bureaus and the International Bureau of WIPO.

The Bureau of the International Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Burcum de l'Union internationale pour la protection des œuvres littéraires et artistiques) is mentioned in the original (1886) text of the Berne Convention As already stated, that text says that “an international office (office) shall be organized" under the said title and that it "shall be placed under the high authority of the highest Government authority (Administration supérieure) of the Swiss Confederation" (Article 16). As equally already stated the same text also provided that the International Bureau "shall function under the supervision [surveillance]" of the said highest Government authority of the Swiss Confederation.

When the original (1886) text of the Berne Convention entered into force (1887), there was already in Berne, also under the high authority of the Swiss Confederation another, earlier constituted, International Bureau in the field of intellectual property. It was the International Bureau constituted by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property signed three years earlier (1883). At that time, the Swiss Federal Council then appointed Henri Morel, a member of the Conseil national suisse, as Secretary General (secrétaire général) of the United Bureaus (Bureaux réunis). Thus, de facto, the International Bureau created by the Berne Convention really never had an independent existence as it has, from the very beginning, been united with the International Bureau created by the Paris Union.

This is how the United Bureaus-in the plural came into existence. Their existence was formalized when the Swiss Federal Council adopted. on November 11, 1892, a decree (arrête) in which the organization of the United Bureaus was fixed The high supervision was to be exercised by the Swiss Federal Council, whereas for the less impor tant matters the supervision was entrusted to what is today called the Federal Department (Ministry) of External Affairs (Département federal des af faires étrangères) and what, at that time, was called the Département politique At the same time. Henri Morel was appointed Director the first one to have that title of the United Bureaus.

This kind of Bureau, the United Bureaus, was not mentioned in any of the texts or Acts of the Berne Convention, which continued to speak about the International Bureau- in the singular - of the Berne Union. There is, however, an oblique reference to the United Bureaus in the 1967 (Stockholm) Act, where that Act says, in Article 24(1)(a), that the International Bureau of WIPO IS a continuation of the International Bureau of the Paris Union "united with the Bureau" of the Berne Union (emphasis added).

This International Bureau, the International Bureau of WIPO, started functioning in 1970 when the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization and the 1967 (Stockholm) Act of the Berne Convention entered into force. However, the former kinds of International Bureaus did not, at the same time, altogether stop existing. They continue, at least in theory, for the purposes of the countries members of the Berne Union that have not yet become members of WIPO. This idea is expressly stated in the transitional clauses of the said Act in the following terms: "As long as all the countries of the [Berne] Union have not become members of the Organization (WIPO), the International Bureau of the Organization [WIPO] shall also function as the Bureau of the [Berne] Union, and the Director General [of WIPO] as the Director of the said Bureau (of the Berne Union]" (Article 38(3)). In practice, however, the situation is that the Swiss Government no longer exercises, since 1970, its supervisory functions and the Director General of WIPO no longer uses his title of Director of the International Bureau of the Berne Union, although, as already stated, there are still some countries (five on January 1, 1986, that is, at the beginning of the year of the centenary of the Berne Convention) that are members of the Berne Union since a date preceding the creation of WIPO without having yet become members of WIPO. However, the fact that no practical use has been made so far of the quoted transitional provision does not mean that it could not be applied if any of the interested parties wanted it to be applied.

Three more observations concerning the evolution of the Bureaus:

One is that the International Bureau of the Berne Union has frequently been referred to, in common parlance, as the "Secretariat" of the Berne Union and that the International Bureau of WIPO is sometimes referred to as the "Secretariat" of WIPO.

The second is that, up to 1960 when the United Bureaus moved from Berne to Geneva -- it was quite common to refer to it (or them) as "the Berne Bureau" or "the Berne Bureaus." This des

ignation was merely based on the location of the Bureaus.

The third observation is that, in the nineteenfifties and nineteen-sixties, the United Bureaus were frequently referred to as the "United International Bureaus for the Protection of Intellectual Property" or, in an abbreviated form, "BIRPI" (corresponding to the initials of the French designation Bureaux internationaux réunis pour la protection de la propriété intellectuelle). There was no legal basis for either this designation or its abbreviation. They were probably invented by Jacques Secrétan, Director of the United Bureaus from 1953 to 1963. Until then, the full name of the United Bureaus in usage was "United International Bureaus for the Protection of Industrial, Literary and Artistic Property." This was obviously too long. Replacing the separate references to industrial property, on the one hand, and literary and artistic property, on the other, by the single adjective "intellectual" was an ingenious innovation, although, in the beginning, it was sometimes misunderstood as some believed that "intellectual property" was coterminous with copyright. In any case, the expression "intellectual property" found its official recognition in the title of the World Intellectual Property Organization, when the Convention establishing WIPO was concluded at Stockholm in 1967.

Tasks. As far as the tasks of the first kind of International Bureau are concerned, the original (1886) text of the Berne Convention mentions four, namely, that the International Bureau:

(i) "shall centralize information of all kinds concerning the protection of the rights of authors in their literary and artistic works. It shall coordinate and publish such information" (Final Protocol of 1886, emphasis added);

(ii) shall make general studies of general usefulness of interest to the Union" (ibid.; emphasis added);

(i) "shall on the basis of documents which shall be put at its disposal by the different Governments (Administrations) edit (rédigera) a periodical (feuille périodique), in the French language, covering questions concerning the objects (l'objet) of the Union" (ibid.; emphasis added);

(iv) "must at all times be at the disposal of the members of the Union, to furnish them, on questions concerning the protection of literary and artistic works, with specialized information that they may require" (ibid.; emphasis added).

The definitions of those four tasks were slightly changed by some of the conferences of revision. In the latest Acts, those of 1967 (Stockholm) and 1971 (Paris), they are worded as follows:

(i) "The International Bureau shall assemble and publish information concerning the protection of copyright" (Article 24(2); emphasis added);

(ii) "The International Bureau shall conduct studies, and shall provide services, designed to facilitate the protection of copyright" (Article 24(5)); emphasis added);

(iii) "The International Bureau shall publish a monthly periodical (Article 24(3); emphasis added);

(iv) "The International Bureau shall, on request, furnish information to any country of the Union on matters concerning the protection of copyright" (Article 24(4)); emphasis added).

This enumeration of specific tasks is preceded, in the 1967 (Stockholm) and 1971 (Paris) Acts, by a general statement to the effect that "administrative tasks with respect to the [Berne] Union shall be performed by the International Bureau" and that that Bureau "shall provide the secretariat of the various organs of the [Berne] Union" (Article 24(1)(a) and (b)). The administrative tasks include the convocation and servicing of meetings and the receiving and disbursing of funds. The main organs of the Berne Union are the Assembly and the Executive Committee.

In the following paragraphs, each of the four specific tasks mentioned above will be considered separately and some of the activities of the International Bureau under each of them will be briefly indicated.

General Information. The most important information assembled by the International Bureau relates to legislation in the field of copyright.

From the very beginning, the International Bureau has been collecting the texts of treaties, statutes and other legislative or regulatory texts concerning copyright both in their original version, and, where the original is other than French and where a French translation exists, also the texts of such translations. Since 1955, English translations, where available, have also been collected. The collection is constantly checked in order to make sure that it is complete, that repealed texts are treated as such and that new items are integrated promptly after their entry into force. Although the member States of the Berne Union are supposed to communicate promptly to the International Bureau all new laws and official texts concerning the protection of copyright (see Article 24(2) of the 1967 (Stockholm) and 1971 (Paris) Acts), the International Bureau regularly writes to the competent administrations of those States and also to the administrations of non-member States asking for the confirmation of information obtained from other than governmental sources or for a systematic review of the latest state of

the information available in the International Bureau.

In 1986, there were over 10,000 texts, covering some 120 countries, in the collection of the International Bureau.

The most important texts have been published. in French, since 1888, in the monthly periodical Le Droit d'auteur and in English, since 1965, in the monthly periodical Copyright. Where no French or English translations are available, the International Bureau prepares the translations; where such translations are available from outside sources, the International Bureau generally checks their correctness. The number of legislative texts thus published before 1986 in French is estimated to be around 1,500 and that in English around 300. Some of the texts are the consolidated versions of a basic text amended several times, the consolidation being done by the International Bureau.

In the framework of its information tasks, the International Bureau maintains a library-essentially on legal subjects-in which it collects books dealing with copyright law, periodicals that exclusively or frequently carry articles on copyright law, and separate items (e.g., an article on copyright law extracted from a periodical not subscribed to by the library). They are all catalogued. and a monthly list of new acquisitions and selected articles is widely circulated throughout the world (in 1986, to 500 addresses in 92 countries). The library of the International Bureau is doubtless the oldest specialized library in the field, and its collection is probably among the most complete that there is. On January 1, 1986, that is, at the beginning of the year of the centenary of the Berne Convention, it contained some 39,000 volumes of books and 19,000 volumes of periodicals and it was the recipient of 980 titles of periodicals. This is about ten times more than what it had 27 years earlier (in 1960) when the library, as part of the International Bureau, was moved from Berne to Geneva. The library is also the center of the printed archives of the International Bureau Approximately 30 percent of the holdings deal with copyright law, whereas the rest deals with industrial property law or general legal subjects. The library has a reading room open to the public. which was visited by 200 readers in 1960 and 2,350 readers in 1985

As a tool for its information tasks, the International Bureau has prepared multilingual glossaries of terms used in copyright law. In the early nineteen-eighties, it published them in the following versions: English-French-Spanish (1980). EnglishFrench-Arabic (1980), English-French-Russian (1981) and English-French-Portuguese (1983).