ratify, accept, approve or accede to it. When a State makes a reservation upon signing, it must confirm the reservation upon ratification, acceptance or approval. Reservations are governed by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and cannot be contrary to the object and purpose of the treaty. Consequently, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, States may make a reservation unless (a) the reservation is prohibited by the treaty; or (b) the treaty provides that only certain reservations may be made and these do not include the reservation in question. Other State parties may lodge objections to a State party’s reservations. Reservations may be withdrawn completely or partially by the State party at any time. Review procedure A procedure by which a treaty body will consider the situation in a country in the absence of a report from the State party. The procedure is used if a report is long overdue and the State party has not responded to the treaty body’s reminders. In many cases, State parties submit their reports to avoid the review procedure; in others, they send a delegation to the treaty body’s session and answer questions from the treaty body even though they have not been able to submit a report. The review procedure was first adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1991. Other committees use the expression “consideration of country situation in the absence of a State report”. Some committees forward a list of issues to the State party, even though there is no report. Most committees produce concluding observations at the end of the process, although these may be kept confidential temporarily should the State party wish to submit its report. Rules of procedure The formal rules adopted by a treaty body to govern the way in which it undertakes its business. With the exception of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, committees are empowered by their respective treaties to adopt their own rules of procedure. These usually cover such matters as the election of officers and the procedures for adopting decisions especially if no consensus can be reached. Rules of procedure are related to, but distinct from, working methods. Secretary/secretariat Each treaty requires the Secretary-General of the United Nations to provide secretariat support to its treaty body. Every treaty body has a secretariat, consisting of a secretary and other international civil servants, based within 55