RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/INF/23
6 April 2000
(00-1400)
SCHEDULING OF WTO MEETINGS WITH INTERPRETATION IN 2000
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat would like to draw Members' attention to the fact that recruitment of free-
lance interpreters for the remainder of this year will be extremely difficult for the following reason:
Due to the uncertainty of the outcome of negotiations on new terms and conditions of
employment between the International Association of  Conference Interpreters (AIIC) and the Inter-
Organization Consultative Committee on Administrati ve Questions (CCAQ), it is probable that free-
lance interpreters will no longer accept to work at the rates which prevailed until 31 March 2000. This
may result in there being no interpreters available for a given meeting.  In anticipation of this situation
the United Nations and other Geneva-based organizations have already secured recruitment of
interpreters for their meetings for the remainder of this year.
Under these circumstances, the WTO finds itself with very little flexibility for rescheduling
this year's meetings with interpretation.  As Members are aware, the WTO programme of meetings is
somewhat unpredictable and meetings are frequently rescheduled or cancelled at short notice.  It is
WTO practice to recruit interpreters only once a meeting has been convened.  However, in view of theabove, the Secretariat has proceeded with the recruitment of a minimum number of free-lance
interpreters for meetings already planned until the end of the year, on the basis of past experience.
Any further requests for, or rescheduling of meetings with interpretation , may prove difficult to
accommodate  for the reasons above, especially from now until 19 June when no further recruitment of
interpreters is likely to be possible for meetings other than for those already planned.
Finally, it should be noted that when meetings are rescheduled or cancelled, the WTO must
nevertheless bear the expenses incurred for the recruitment of a team of interpreters at a cost of
Frs. 3,582 per day even when those interpreters are not reassigned to other meetings.
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