A/HRC/45/43 III. Amendments to the accreditation process 25. The Statute of the Global Alliance and the rules of procedures of the Subcommittee were amended in March 2019 to further improve the accreditation procedure. A. Amendments to the Statute of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions 26. Article 14.1 of the Statute was amended to introduce a limit for deferral decisions. The deferral decision or decisions must now be limited to a period of two years, except in exceptional circumstances that may justify a longer period. In any event, the total duration of the deferral must not exceed the cycle set out in article 15, concerning periodic reaccreditation. 27. Article 18.3 was amended to align the deadlines and process for immediate suspension of accreditation in exceptional circumstances with those set out in article 12, relating to accreditation recommendation and challenge. Article 18.3 now provides that a national human rights institution may challenge a recommendation to suspend accreditation by submitting a letter addressed to the Chairperson of the Global Alliance, and copied to its secretariat, within 28 days of the date of communication of the recommendation. Any member of the Bureau of the Global Alliance that supports the challenge of the national human rights institution must, within 20 days, notify the Chairperson and the secretariat; if the challenge does not receive the support of at least one Bureau member within that period, the recommendation to suspend will be deemed accepted by the Bureau. 28. Article 18.3 further provides that if at least one member of the Bureau supports the challenge of the national human rights institution within the 20-day period, the secretariat of the Global Alliance will notify all Bureau members as soon as practicable, and will provide any additional relevant material. Any other member of the Bureau that supports the challenge of the national human rights institution must, within 20 days, notify the Chairperson and the secretariat of this support. If at least two Bureau members coming from no fewer than two regions support the challenge, the recommendation will be referred to the subsequent Bureau meeting for a decision. Otherwise, the recommendation to suspend the accreditation classification will be deemed approved by the Bureau. 29. Article 20 of the Statute was amended to remove the requirement for a national human rights institution to provide sufficient documentation, within 18 months of being placed under review, to establish its compliance with the Paris Principles. The article now provides that an accreditation status may lapse if a national human rights institution fails to submit an application for reaccreditation within one year of being suspended for failure to reapply. B. Amendments to the rules of procedure of the Subcommittee on Accreditation 30. Section 6.5 of the rules of procedure of the Subcommittee was amended to introduce new deadlines regarding submission of documentation. It now indicates the dates by which the secretariat of the Global Alliance will invite national human rights institutions to provide their application and supporting documents to the secretariat of the Global Alliance. National human rights institutions scheduled for review at the Subcommittee’s first session of a given calendar year will be contacted on or before 1 August of the preceding calendar year, and those scheduled for review at the second session of a given calendar year will be contacted on or before 1 April of that calendar year. 31. Section 6.5 further provides the dates by which, at the invitation of the secretariat, applications and supporting documentation must be provided to the secretariat. For national human rights institutions scheduled for review at the Subcommittee’s first session of a given calendar year, documentation must be provided on or before 1 October of the preceding calendar year, and for those scheduled for review at the second session of a given 6