A/66/44 II. Submission of reports by States parties under article 19 of the Convention 25. During the period covered by the present report, 14 reports from States parties under article 19 of the Convention were submitted to the Secretary-General. Initial reports were submitted by Djibouti, Madagascar and Rwanda. Second periodic reports were submitted by Qatar, Tajikistan and Togo. Third periodic reports were submitted by Mauritius and Senegal. A fifth periodic report was submitted by the Russian Federation. A combined fourth to sixth periodic report was submitted by Paraguay. Combined fifth and sixth periodic reports were submitted by Finland, Greece and Mexico. A sixth periodic report was submitted by Canada. 26. As at 3 June 2011, the Committee had received a total of 317 reports and had examined 295; there were 300 overdue reports, including 30 initial reports (see annex X to the present report). A. Invitation to submit periodic reports 27. Further to its decision taken at its forty-first session, the Committee continued, at its forty-fifth and forty-sixth sessions, to invite States parties, in the last paragraph of the concluding observations, to submit their next periodic reports within a four-year period from the adoption of the concluding observations, and to indicate the due date of the next report in the same paragraph. B. Optional reporting procedure 28. At its thirty-eighth session, in May 2007,1 the Committee adopted a new optional reporting procedure on a trial basis 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 – LOIPR); the State party’s replies to this list of issues would constitute the State party’s report under article 19 of the Convention. The Committee was of the view that this procedure would assist States parties in preparing focused reports, would guide the preparation and content of the reports, would facilitate reporting by States parties and would strengthen their capacity to fulfil their reporting obligations in a timely and effective manner. However, this new procedure requires that these reports are considered within the shortest possible period of time after being received by the Committee, otherwise the added value of the procedure will be defeated as new lists of issues would have to be adopted and transmitted by the Committee to States parties to update the information they provided. 29. At its forty-second session, in May 2009,2 the Committee decided to continue, on a regular basis, with this procedure. Since its establishment, information relating to the procedure has been available from a dedicated webpage (http://www2.ohchr.org/english/ bodies/cat/reporting-procedure.htm). 30. As at 3 June 2011 and since the adoption of this reporting procedure, the Committee has adopted and transmitted to States parties lists of issues prior to reporting for reports due 1 2 GE.11-45568 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-second Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/62/44), para. 23. Ibid., Sixty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/64/44), para. 27. 5