| Until 1949, the Executive Head of the
"Bureau of the International Telegraph Union"
was a Director, appointed by the Swiss Confederation
which was responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the
ITU on behalf of the Member States. In 1947, the
Plenipotentiary Conference (Atlantic City) decided to
create an organization under its own supervision and
from which it would receive its authority and powers.
The Executive Head became "Secretary-General".
The role of the Secretary-General is defined in
Article 11 of the ITU Constitution and Article 5 of the
ITU Convention. Assisted by a Deputy Secretary-General,
he is responsible for:
- the coordination the Union’s activities, with
the assistance of the Coordination Committee;
- the preparation, with the assistance of the
Coordination Committee, of the material required
for the preparation of a report on the policies
and strategic plan for the Union, and coordinate
the implementation of the plan;
- the economic use of the Union’s resources and
of all the administrative and financial
aspects of the Union’s activities;
The Secretary-General also acts as the legal
representative of the Union and may act as depositary of
special arrangements established in conformity with the
Constitution.
The Coordination Committee consists of the
Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General and the
Directors of the three Bureaux. It is presided over by
the Secretary-General, and in his absence by the Deputy
Secretary-General.
The Coordination Committee acts as an internal
management team which advises and gives the
Secretary-General practical assistance on all
administrative, financial, information system and
technical cooperation matters which do not fall under the exclusive competence
of a particular Sector or of the General Secretariat and
on external relations and public information.
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