The Committee of Senior Officials was established in fall 1969 with the initial mandat to work out the procedures and the text of a Convention for a single European space organisation. The Committee collapsed in 1970 having carried out the second charge attributed to it by the Ministerial Conference, namely the preparation of a report studying a basic European space programme recognised by all the member states of the ESRO containing within it a minimum programme in which all member states would be required to participate effectively.