The most remarkable event during the 59th session of the International Labour Conference in 1974 was undoubtedly the refusal to adopt the Report of the Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. This is all the more noteworthy when one realizes that this has never before happened in the history of the International Labour Organisation.
As a rule the Application Committee Report is adopted without taking a vote, despite the divergent views often expressed when the Report is discussed in the plenary session of the Conference. Only on very rare occasions has a vote been necessary (always resulting in adoption of the Report), while speakers sometimes simply indicated in the plenary discussion that they would abstain. Since the adoption of the Report of the Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations is the yearly culmination in the regular supervision of on the implementation of ILO standards, the non-adoption of the Report in 1974 could have serious repercussions in the future for the whole regular supervisory system of the ILO and consequently for the development of international law.