The 172nd session of the CERN Council, held on 18-19 September 2014 in Geneva, unanimously passed a Resolution on Observer Status for JINR and CERN. “The Council … unanimously decided to approve the Resolution on the reciprocal granting of Observer Status by CERN and JINR”. Observer Status allows non-member states to attend Council meetings and to receive Council documents, without taking part in the decision-making procedures of the organization. For today, Observer states and organizations at CERN are: the European Commission, India, Japan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, UNESCO and the USA.