International Tin Study Group

Abstract

In June 1949, the International Tin Study Group appointed a working party to 1) prepare a statement on the position and prospects of the tin industry for the guidance of a proposed United Nations conference in determining whether, under Article 62 of the International Trade Organization's charter, a commodity control agreement on tin might be desirable; and 2) to prepare the draft of such an agreement. The working party met at The Hague in October and November 1949 for these purposes and submitted both the completed statement and the draft convention to the Study Group which subsequently met in its fifth meeting in Paris from March 20 to 29, 1950. At this meeting, attended by representatives of all fifteen members of the group, the draft agreement was considered, modified, and amended; the final draft text was completed on March 29. The agreement, as approved, set forth its objectives as follows: 1) to prevent or alleviate widespread difficulties arising from an inability of adjustment between tin production and consumption; 2) to prevent excessive fluctuations in the price of tin; 3) to ensure the availability of supplies of tin adequate at all times to satisfy world demand at reasonable prices; 4) to provide the framework for the consideration and development of measures to effect economic adjustments designed to promote the expansion of tin consumption and the development of secondary industries based upon domestic production of primary commodities; and 5) to maintain and develop natural tin resources. Any government accepting the agreement as either a producing country