Europe wants ITU deputy tasks back before Council every term

The ITU Deputy’s To-Do List May Have to Return to Council Every Term

Why it matters

Europe wants the Secretary-General to show the Council a fresh delegation of the deputy’s tasks after every Plenipotentiary Conference. One changed sentence would turn a one-off handover into a recurring appointment with the people who oversee it.

Daniel Kade26 October 2026 at 07:23 UTCReading Time 2 minLast update: 26 October 2026

Europe proposes recurring Council review of duties delegated to the ITU Deputy Secretary-General.

Summary

European administrations propose that the ITU Secretary-General submit directives on the Deputy Secretary-General’s delegated tasks to the first ordinary Council session after each Plenipotentiary Conference.
The adopted rule sent the directives to the next ordinary Council session. A 2023 Council document shows that route was used after the 2022 conference.

Job descriptions are usually written once and found again when something goes wrong. Europe wants a different habit for the deputy’s office at the International Telecommunication Union. Its proposed amendment to Resolution 148 replaces a single timing phrase: the Secretary-General would bring the deputy’s delegated duties to the first ordinary Council session following each Plenipotentiary Conference.

That “each” earns its place. The 2022 adopted resolution says the basic instruments do not expressly list the deputy’s tasks. The Secretary-General manages the Union’s resources and should delegate part of the management work. Written directives state what has been handed over; members and staff must be able to see them. The 2022 text instructed submission to the next ordinary Council session. An ITU Council document registered in 2023 shows the first post-conference use of that requirement.

The proposed change would make the Council encounter the task map after every future conference, rather than rely on a one-time delivery followed by change notices. Consider the practical question: a new conference cycle begins, the Secretary-General decides which management functions the deputy will carry, and the Council receives that allocation at its first ordinary sitting. Members can see where an instruction comes from before they have to untangle a dispute between offices. The amendment asks the Council to consider the directives as appropriate; it does not write the deputy’s duties into the treaty itself.

November’s conference in Doha will decide whether to adopt the new rhythm. The next useful piece of paper would be the post-conference Council submission: did it show a concrete delegation, or simply point back to an old file? A job title is easy to print on a door. The work behind it needs a current page.