3 September 2010: The UNFCCC Compliance Committee has published a note (CC/8/2010/4) concerning the working arrangements to operationalize rule 9 of the rules of procedure.

Working arrangements to operationalize this rule were agreed on at the fourth meeting of the plenary of the Compliance Committee. The plenary agreed to revisit these working arrangements after more experience was gained, but no later than 2009. Rule 9 provides that meetings of the plenary and the branches shall be held in public, unless the plenary or branch of its own accord, or at the request of the party concerned, decides, for overriding reasons, that part or all of the meeting shall be held in private. However, the rule is subject to a provision that only members and alternate members of the Committee and Secretariat officials may be present during the elaboration and adoption of a decision of a branch.

The note on Rule 9 describes these working arrangements and how they have been implemented. It also provides information on the numbers of observers that have attended meetings of the Compliance Committee, as well as statistics concerning the webcasting of meetings of the Committee, following the introduction of the working arrangements. [The Note on Rule 9]