Control and limitation of documentation

VI. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE
593. Control and limitation of documentation

The General Assembly, Noting the steps taken and the progress so far achieved in the organization of documentation and the stabilization of publication programmes, Noting also, however, the continued increase in the volume of documentation requested by the various organs of the United Nations, and the ever-growing difficulty encountered by delegations in making the most effective use thereof, Appreciating that, in order to be effective, further action to limit documentation costs must apply alike to the number of documents, to their individual bulk and to the number of copies issued,

1. Invites the governments of Member States:

(a) To assist in reducing the number and individual bulk of documents to a minimum by:

(i) Bearing in mind the desirability of ensuring that all draft resolutions which may call for studies and reports and for their dissemination clearly indicate the scope of such studies and reports;

(ii) Restricting both the number and the volume of the documents submitted for processing to what is strictly required by resolutions and other statutory decisions of a United Nations organ, or is clearly relevant to agenda items under discussion;

(b) To assist in reducing the number of copies of such documents as are issued by:

(i) Reviewing and reducing as far as possible their requests for documents issued in first distribution, and submitting to the Secretary-General their revised lists;

(ii) Avoiding as far as possible conference room requests for additional copies;

(iii) Reducing any other subsequent demands to a minimum, in particular refraining from requesting the repetition or reissuing of material readily available in other United Nations documents;

2. Requests the Secretary-General:

(a) To exercise a strict control of documentation by refraining from publishing documents not called for by an organ of the United Nations or not necessary for the conduct of meetings or the proper exercise of the functions of the Secretariat;

(b) To exercise discretion as to the disposition of material received from delegations which does not fall within the requirements of paragraph 1 (a) (ii) above;

(c) To restrict to an essential minimum the free distribution of internally-processed publications and the distribution of documents which are still in draft form;

(d) To submit to all organs of the United Nations, before the adoption of draft resolutions requiring documentation, an estimate of the cost and, if possible, an estimate of the off-setting, sales revenue;

(e) To strengthen the internal control of documentation by enforcing strict editorial policies to eliminate unnecessary and repetitious matter;

(f) To make available to delegations the relevant services of the Secretariat for consultations in the matter of the organization of their documents files, with a view to avoiding as far as possible requests for redistribution.

373rd plenary meeting,
4 February 1952.