All States that have ratified or acceded to the Covenant undertake to report to the Committee on the measures they have taken to give effect to the rights recognized in the Covenant and on the progress made in the enjoyment of these rights. This obligation is provided for in article 40 of the Covenant.
The initial report of the State party shall be submitted within one year from the date of entry into force of the Covenant for the country concerned. Subsequent reports, called "periodic reports", are submitted within the time limits set by the Committee for each State party. In 1997, the Committee changed the previous rule for subsequent periodic reports, according to which States parties were generally required to submit reports every five years. In addition, in some cases, the Committee suggests that reports be submitted more often than once every five years in cases where States are experiencing acute human rights crises, such as the States of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, during civil wars. Due to the increasing number of States parties to the Covenant and the limited time available for Committee meetings, the established reporting schedule for all States parties became increasingly unrealistic. Currently, in the last paragraph of its concluding observations on a specific report (this issue will be discussed below) The Committee sets a deadline for the submission of the next periodic report. As a rule, these time
frames range from 4 to 5 years, although in some cases shorter deadlines are set. Nevertheless, the Committee reserves the right, if emergency circumstances so require, to request the submission of an additional report before the official deadline for the submission of the next report.