VII. FUTURE MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE 80. In accordance with rule 2 of its rules of procedure, the Committee holds two regular sessions each year. In consultation with the Secretary-General, the Committee took decisions on the dates of its regular session for the biennium 2006-2007. Those dates are: Fortieth Forty-first Forty-second Forty-third 5-23 May 2008 10-28 November 2008 4-22 May 2009 9-27 November 2009 81. The Committee has requested additional meeting time, as per paragraph 14 of A/59/44. Programme budget implications of this decision are contained in annex VII to the present report. 82. Since 1995 the Committee has received 173 reports, an average of 16 reports per year. In this same period the Committee has considered an average of 13 reports per year, a total of 149 reports. This means that at 19 May 2006, the last day of the thirty-sixth session, there were 30 reports awaiting consideration. In 1995, 88 countries were party to the Convention against Torture. In 2006 there are 141 States parties thus constituting a 62 per cent increase. During this time there has been no increase in the plenary meeting time allocated to the Committee. 83. There are two interlinked issues that need to be considered. One is the importance of providing the Committee with sufficient meeting time for it to undertake its work in an efficient manner, and the second is to facilitate the consideration of the backlog of 30 reports awaiting review. 84. Insofar as the first issue is concerned dealing with the incoming workload can be resolved by allowing the Committee to meet for two three-week sessions per year, thereby enabling the Committee to deal with 16 reports per year approximately the number received each year, thus keeping up with the workload it receives (see annex VII). 85. The second issue raises the important requirement of addressing the current backlog of 30 reports pending before the Committee. This represents a backlog of two years, meaning that a report submitted to the Committee in June 2006 would not be considered before May 2009. The Committee considers that it could deal with the backlog were it authorized to meet on an exceptional basis for three sessions per year during the biennium 2008-2009. The third (exceptional) session in each of the years 2008 and 2009 would be dedicated exclusively to the consideration of States parties’ reports. The Committee would be able to consider 10 reports per exceptional session. 124