The Preparatory Committee held its sixth and final session at U.N. New York Headquarters from 16 March to 3 April 1998.

The Committee concluded its work by adopting a draft statute on the establishment of an international criminal court (U.N. doc. A/AC.249/CRP.6-18), and the drafts organization of work (U.N. doc. A/AC.249/1998/CRP.21), final act (U.N. doc. A/AC.249/1998/CRP.19), and rules of procedure of the U.N. Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (U.N. doc. A/AC.249/1998/CRP.3/Rev.1). The Conference, which will be held in Rome from 15 June to 17 July 1998, is expected to finalize and approve a convention to establish the court. The draft will then be submitted to the General Assembly for its consideration and adoption later this year.

When the Preparatory Committee met for its final session, it had before it a consolidated text compiled by its Bureau and coordinators on the basis of all the texts that it had worked out or that had been submitted to it (U.N. doc. A/AC.249/1998/L.13). The Preparatory Committee conducted its work through working groups, which were formed to focus on procedural matters, composition and administration of the court, establishment of the court and relationship to the U.N., applicable law, ne bis in idem, jurisdictional issues, and enforcement. Final clauses were considered at informal meetings. The reports of the working groups were adopted by the Committee

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 52/160, the Preparatory Committee also adopted a list of 237 non-governmental organizations which are invited to participate in the upcoming Diplomatic Conference (U.N. doc. A/AC.249/1998/CRP.22).

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 51/207, the Secretary-General had established a trust fund for the participation of the least developed countries in the work of the Committee and the Conference. To date, the following Governments had made contributions to this fund: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, as well as the European Commission. Thirty-three representatives from 18 States had thus far utilized the trust fund to facilitate their participation in the meetings of the Preparatory Committee. By the same resolution, a trust fund for the participation of other developing countries was also established. The Government of the Netherlands had made a contribution to this fund.

During the final session, the Preparatory Committee also took note of the following nominations for the Conference:

President - Mr. Giovanni Conso (Italy)

Chairman of the Committee of the Whole - Mr. Adriaan Bos (Netherlands)

Chairman of the Drafting Committee - Mr. Cherif Bassiouni (Egypt)

[Report of the Preparatory Committee A/Conf/183/2, Add. 1 and Add. 2]