Susan Markham, the Spokesperson for the UN Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, began her daily briefing by expressing regret that the representative of Australia, who had been scheduled to attend, would not be present.

There would be a press conference by David Scheffer of the United States at 2:30 pm, she said.

She recalled that yesterday, the Foreign Minister of Italy, Lamberto Dini, had delivered a strong statement to the Committee of the Whole.  The Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Cherif Bassiouni, had then introduced its first reports to the Committee of the Whole.  Those reports could be found in documents L.64 through L.68.

At last count, there were 2,870 passes issued to Conference participants, she said, noting that this figure could be "a little misleading" since those people were not necessarily all present at any given time.

Ms. Markham drew correspondents' attention to an announcement in today's Journal concerning the signing ceremony at the Campidoglio which would be hosted by the Mayor of Rome.  The Journal announcement explained how delegations could get tickets, she noted, adding that all members of the press who were accredited to the Conference were also invited.  Because space was limited, journalists were requested to sign up to ensure that space would be available, especially for still photographers.  She said there would be a sign-up sheet in her office (room A274), and in the press documents area.  She requested that all journalists sign up before mid-day on Friday.  She noted that conditions would be slightly different for radio and television media, since they would receive feeds of the proceedings in an overflow room.

The Spokesperson went on to point out that according to the Journal, the plenary was scheduled to meet on Thursday, "but that really depends on the availability of the document" so perhaps the Committee of the Whole would meet instead.

 In response to a question, Ms. Markham said that there were still 161 States accredited to the Conference.

A correspondent said that apparently, some States which were not present were asking other countries to represent them at the Conference.  Would they be able to vote?  Ms. Markham said she would check on that.

Another correspondent asked about the procedures that would be taken in the coming days regarding the treaty.   "It is rather complicated, I know," Ms. Markham replied.  She explained that the Committee of the Whole first discussed parts of the draft statute -- which was the same as the treaty --  and then referred them to the Drafting Committee.  The Drafting Committee then checked the language and the translations without altering the substance of the text.  It then reported back to the Committee of the Whole, which then took action on the reports of the Drafting Committee before referring them to the plenary.

"We suspect that the document will be in bits as it goes to the plenary," Ms. Markham continued, adding that "those pieces will all be put together and that will be the statute."  There would be two documents open for signature in the plenary hall on Friday: the statute, which again was the same as the treaty, and what was called the "final act" of the Conference.  The final act was akin to a report of the Conference detailing what it had done, which governments had attended, and who the members of the Bureau and chairmen of the working groups were.

"We expect everyone will be able to sign the final act," Ms. Markham said.  She recalled that at his briefing on Monday, the Secretary-General's Representative, United Nations Legal Counsel Hans Corell, had pointed out that some governments may not have the constitutional powers required to enable them to sign the statute right away, although they might have wished to do so.  Therefore, the number which signed this week would not be totally indicative.

In addition to the signing on Friday, there would be the signing ceremony on Saturday morning at 10 am mentioned previously.  At that ceremony, Mr. Corell would give the statute over to the Italian Government, which would keep it open for signature in Italy until 18 October.  The statute would then be transferred to the United Nations Secretary-General in New York, where it would remain open for signature until 31 December, 2000.  After that date, countries could not sign the statute, but they could still accede to it through a parliamentary act.

Asked how many States would be required to constitute a two-thirds majority at the Conference, Ms. Markham pointed out that 161 were participating.  The Credentials Committee would soon meet to analyze the credentials of the participants and to make recommendations on which could vote, she added.

A correspondent described the process as "mind-numbing" and said he would be interested in hearing a comment on why delegations had repeated their positions so many times when their views could have ben expressed in a much more timely manner in other ways.  Ms. Markham recalled that the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Philip Kirsch, had been asked a similar question the previous day.  He had pointed out that it had been necessary to hear from all of the participating governments before drafting a working paper based on their views.  "This is a negotiating Conference," she observed, noting that negotiations did not only take place in the Committee of the Whole but in many different forums as well.

Asked if a country's representative would have to physically come to Rome to sign the treaty, Ms. Markham said that countries could become party to the statute through accession without having physically signed the treaty.  Otherwise, they could empower their ambassadors in Rome to sign.

Asked where negotiations outside of the Committee of the Whole were taking place, Ms. Markham said a list was posted outside the Committee's meeting room.

A correspondent then asked about the status of three proposals: one by India on the issue of nuclear weapons, one by Iran on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement on the crime of aggression, and one by Japan on the possibility of "opting-in" by States.  Ms. Markham said that none of those had yet been issued as official documents.  She said she would check to see if they were being discussed in one of the working groups.