A/HRC/10/55 page 3 III. IMPROVEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE ACCREDITATION PROCESS 5. At its seventeenth session, held on 12 April 2006, the International Coordinating Committee established a working group to examine the process used to accredit national human rights institutions and to develop a discussion paper for the Committee on the matter. The working group, whose members were also the members of the Subcommittee on Accreditation at the time, developed a discussion paper examining three areas: (a) the composition of the Subcommittee and its role and responsibilities; (b) the accreditation process; and (c) the substance of criteria or minimum standards set for accreditation. The paper was presented to the Committee at its eighteenth and nineteenth sessions. In addition, members were asked to provide further comments in writing with a view to developing a final paper, which was presented to and adopted by the Committee at its twentieth session in April 2008. 6. The paper, as adopted by the Committee in April 2008, includes a number of measures to improve its accreditation procedure, including: (a) An appeal process to ensure greater transparency and due process for national human rights institutions that are deemed not to comply with the Paris Principles; (b) A more rigorous review of each application for accreditation, including of the full documentation and statement of compliance submitted in advance of the session by human rights institutions, with a detailed summary prepared by the secretariat; (c) More focused recommendations provided to each institution (A or B status) to ensure full compliance with the Paris Principles, even before the prescribed five-year time frame for review of accreditations; (d) Wider distribution and greater knowledge of Subcommittee recommendations by human rights institutions and other stakeholders, so that they can play a proactive role in the context of follow-up action by the United Nations or institution regional coordinating bodies in the concerned country. The Subcommittee reports are also posted on the Internet (www.nhri.net). 7. In 2008, the International Coordinating Committee developed a new statute for its incorporation as an association under Swiss law. The statute, which is based on the Committee’s existing rules of procedure, was adopted at the ninth International Conference of National Human Rights Institutions, held in Nairobi from 21 to 24 October 2008. The accreditation procedure, as defined in the statute, stipulates in article 12 that, where the Subcommittee on Accreditation comes to an accreditation decision, that decision shall be considered an accreditation status recommendation, with the final decision being taken by the Committee Bureau after the following process has occurred: (a) The recommendation of the Subcommittee shall first be forwarded to the applicant; (b) An applicant can challenge a recommendation by submitting a written challenge to the Committee Chairperson, through the Committee secretariat, within 28 days of receipt;