Former Bodies
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Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC)At the outset, the "UN system" consisted of the UN proper, and the specialized agencies. Though bound together by pledges of cooperation for the achievement of the broad aims set out in the Charter, the manner of the cooperation was set out in general terms only. Thus, there was set up, in 1946, a standing committee (the Advisory Committee on Coordination, ACC) consisting of the Secretary-General of the United Nations as chairman and the executive heads of the specialized agencies for the purpose of "taking all appropriate steps under the leadership of the Secretary-General to ensure the fullest and most effective implementation of the agreements entered into with these agencies. The growth of the UN's programmes and funds and the creation of new organizational entities has meant that the scope of the work of ACC has expanded beyond the initial emphasis on the implementation of the relationship agreements, to encompass the whole range of substantive and management issues facing the United Nations system. One of the most urgent tasks facing ACC was to attempt to bring about greater coherence in salaries and pensions in order to meet even the limited objective for cooperation provided for in the relationship agreements namely “to develop common personnel standard; methods and arrangements designed to avoid senior discrepancies in terms and conditions of employment, to avoid competition in recruitment of personnel, and to facilitate interchange of personnel…” At this point (1947-1948), the participating organizations each had obsolete or improved salary scales with different classification systems and ailing pension funds, temporary provident funds pending the creation of a proper pension scheme or no provision at all for retirement. The early consultations or these matters therefore paved the way for the development of the three pillars of a common system: common salary scales, a pension fund and arrangements for the transfer of staff between organizations, which would not be possible without the former two. Hence was born the “UN common system” which refers to “those organizations applying the common system of salaries, allowances and other conditions of service”. The common system is in essence a set of contractual obligations and of self-imposed rules which give practical reality to the desire for effective administrative coordination. In 1982, Henry Reymond described the common system “as a sub-system of the UN system itself. While contained in it, it is not identical with it. The World Bank and its affiliates and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have always remained outside its framework”. Although GATT applied the common system of salaries and allowances, the World Trade Organization left the common system in a bid to develop conditions of employment more akin to those of the Bretton Woods institutions. Former Subsidiary Bodies of the ACC |