At their Meetings of 13 and 14 June 2001, the Finance Committee and the Committee of Council discussed a proposal submitted by the CERN Management entitled the "Extension of the recognition of the International Status of CERN" (CERN/CC/2380). To facilitate discussions with their home Authorities, Delegations requested further explanation concerning the need for this proposal and inquired why it is important for CERN that this matter is addressed now. This document provides further explanation of, first, the general rationale of the recognition of the International status and, second, the specific circumstances at CERN which make it important that such recognition is granted now. The final section of this document describes a procedure for t...