The International Committee of the Red Cross was very pleased when the management and administration of the International Tracing Service (ITS) were transferred to it on 6 June 1955. In his address during the signing ceremony, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Konrad Adenauer, congratulated the ICRC on its willingness “to take over this task in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions”. In reply the President of the ICRC, Mr. Paul Ruegger, thanked the Federal German Chancellor and representatives of the member States of the International Commission for the ITS for the reliance placed in his institution.