A/76/44 II. Submission of reports by States parties under article 19 of the Convention 20. Between 16 May 2020 and 28 April 2021, 15 reports from States parties under article 19 of the Convention were submitted to the Secretary-General.5 Second periodic reports were submitted by Brazil, Thailand and Uganda. Third periodic reports were submitted by Burundi, Honduras and Turkmenistan. Fourth periodic reports were submitted by Jordan, Kuwait and North Macedonia. Fifth periodic reports were submitted by Armenia and Turkey. A sixth periodic report was submitted by Israel. A seventh periodic report was submitted by Monaco. Eighth periodic reports were submitted by Ecuador and Finland. 21. As at 28 April 2021, the Committee had received a total of 483 reports and had examined 436; there were 28 States parties with overdue initial reports and 40 States parties with overdue periodic reports. A. Simplified reporting procedure 22. The Committee welcomes the fact that a high number of States parties have accepted the simplified reporting procedure, which consists of the preparation and adoption of a list of issues to be transmitted to States parties prior to the submission of a State party’s periodic report (known as the list of issues prior to reporting). The procedure is aimed at assisting States parties to fulfil their reporting obligations, as it strengthens the cooperation between the Committee and States parties (A/66/44, paras. 28–35). While the Committee understands that, since 2007, the adoption of lists of issues prior to reporting has facilitated the States parties’ reporting obligations, it nonetheless wishes to emphasize that the procedure of drafting lists of issues prior to reporting has increased its workload substantially, as their preparation requires more work than the lists of issues following the submission of a State party’s report. That is particularly significant in a Committee with such a small membership. 23. Although the November 2020 session was postponed, the Committee adopted, intersessionally, lists of issues prior to reporting with regard to the States parties that had accepted the invitation to submit their next report, due in 2021, under that procedure: Bosnia and Herzegovina (CAT/C/BIH/QPR/7), Bulgaria (CAT/C/BGR/QPR/7), Cameroon (CAT/C/CMR/QPR/6), Italy (CAT/C/ITA/QPR/7), Mauritius (CAT/C/MUS/QPR/5) and the Republic of Moldova (CAT/C/MDA/QPR/4). Those lists of issues prior to reporting were transmitted to the respective States parties. It also adopted a list of issues prior to reporting with regard to one State party, Botswana (CAT/C/BWA/QPR/1), that had accepted the simplified reporting procedure for overdue initial reports. 24. At its seventieth session, the Committee adopted lists of issues prior to reporting with regard to the States parties that had accepted the invitation to submit their next report, due in 2022, under that procedure: Belarus (CAT/C/BLR/QPR/6), Chile (CAT/C/CHL/QPR/7), Czechia (CAT/C/CZE/QPR/7), Norway (CAT/C/NOR/QPR/9), Qatar (CAT/C/QAT/QPR/4), the Russian Federation (CAT/C/RUS/QPR/7) and Senegal (CAT/C/SEN/QPR/5). 25. In the Committee’s view, the fact that only 4 of the 137 States parties that are at the periodic reporting stage have declined to report under the simplified reporting procedure indicates the success of the procedure. Of the other 133 States parties, 100 have expressly accepted to report under it and the remaining 33 have not yet answered or have not yet been invited to report under it. In addition, the fact that other treaty bodies have also adopted that procedure indicates its clear added value for the reporting system. Since 2016, a number of States with long-overdue initial reports have been offered the simplified reporting procedure. 26. 5 6 Updated information relating to the procedure is available from a dedicated web page.6 The eighth periodic report of France (CAT/C/FRA/8), submitted on 15 May 2020, was not reflected in the previous report. See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CAT/Pages/ReportingProcedures.aspx. 5