The Secretariat shall be headed by a Secretary-General and composed of technical and administrative staff.
The Secretary-General shall hold office for a period of three years and may be re-elected for an equal term.
The Secretary-General shall act in such capacity with respect to all the political bodies of the Association.
The Secretariat shall have the following powers and duties:
a) To submit proposals to the corresponding Association bodies, through, the Committee, leading towards a better accomplishment of the objectives and duties of the Association;
b) To carry out the necessary studies to fulfill its technical duties and those entrusted to it by the Council, the Conference and the Committee, and to perform the other activities provided for in the annual work program;
c) To carry out studies and actions leading to proposals to member countries, through their Permanent Representatives, regarding conclusion of the agreements foreseen by the present Treaty, within the guide-lines established by the Council and the Conference;
d) To represent the Association before international economic organization and institutions in order to deal with questions of common interest;
e) To administer the Association assets and represent it for such purposes in public and private law acts and contracts;
f) To request technical advice and cooperation of individuals and national and international organizations;
g) To propose the creation of auxiliary bodies to the Committee;
h) To process and furnish member countries, in a systematic and updated manner, statistical information and data on foreign trade regulation systems of member countries in order to facilitate the preparation and carrying out of negotiations within the various Association mechanisms, as well as the further utilization of the respective concessions;
i) To analyze on its own initiative, for all countries, or at the request of the Committee, compliance of agreed commitments, and evaluate legal provisions of member countries which directly or indirectly alter concessions granted;
j) To call meetings of non-governmental auxiliary bodies and coordinate their operation;
k) To periodically evaluate the progress of the integration process and permanently follow up the activities undertaken by the Association and the commitments resulting from the agreements achieved within in framework of same;
l) To organize and put into operation an Economic Promotion Unit for relatively less developed countries and carry out actions to obtain technical and financial resources, as well as studies and projects to comply with the promotion program. At the same time, to draw up an annual report on the advantages obtained from the system in favour of the relatively less developed countries;
m) To prepare the Association's expenditure budget, for approval by the Committee, as well as such subsequent reforms which might be necessary;
n) To prepare and present to the Committee the draft annual work programs;
ñ) To engage, admit and dismiss technical and administrative staff, in accordance with the regulations ruling its structure;
o) To comply with requests received from any of the political bodies of the Association; and
p) To present an annual report to the Committee on the results of the application of the present Treaty and the legal provisions derived therefrom.
Article 39
The Secretary-General shall be appointed by the Council. Article 40
In the performance of their duties, the head of the technical body, as well as the technical and administrative staff, shall not seed or receive instructions from any Government or national or international organizations.
They shall refrain from any attitude not consistent with their character as international officers. Article 41
Member countries pledge themselves to respect the international nature of the duties of the Secretary-General and Secretariat staff or of its engaged experts and consultants, and to abstain from influencing them in the performance of their duties.