International Tropical Timber Agreement

 

Article 12
Decisions and Recommendations of The Council

1. The Council shall endeavour to take all decisions and to make all
recommendations by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, the Council
shall take all decisions and make all recommendations by a simple
distributed majority vote, unless this Agreement provides for a special
vote.

2. Where a member avails itself of the provisions of article 11,
paragraph 2, and its votes are cast at a meeting of the Council, such
member shall, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, be
considered as present and voting.

Article 13
Quorum for The Council

1. The quorum for any meeting of the Council shall be the presence of a
majority of producing members and a majority of consuming members,
provided that such members hold at least two thirds of the total votes in
their respective categories.

2. If there is no quorum in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article
on the day fixed for the meeting and on the following day, the quorum on
the subsequent days of the session shall be the presence of a majority of
producing members and a majority of consuming members, provided that such
members hold a majority of the total votes in their respective
categories.

3. Representation in accordance with article 11, paragraph 2, shall be
considered as presence.

Article 14
Co-Operation And Co-Ordination With Other Organizations

1. The Council shall make whatever arrangements are appropriate for
consultation or co-operation with the United Nations and its organs, such
as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/GATT (ITC),
and with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and such other specialized agencies of the United Nations and
intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organizations as may
be appropriate.

2. The Organization shall, to the maximum extent possible, utilize the
facilities, services and expertise of existing intergovernmental,
governmental or nongovernmental organizations, in order to avoid
duplication of efforts in achieving the objectives of this Agreement and
to enhance the complementarity and the efficiency of their activities.

Article 15
Admission of Observers

The Council may invite any non-member Government or any of the
organizations referred to in articles 14, 20 and 27 concerned with
tropical timber to attend as observers any of the meetings of the
Council.

 

Article 16
Executive Director and Staff

1. The Council shall, by special vote, appoint the Executive Director.

2. The terms and conditions of appointment of the Executive Director
shall be determined by the Council.

3. The Executive Director shall be the chief administrative officer of
the Organization and shall be responsible to the Council for the
administration and operation of this Agreement in accordance with
decisions of the Council.

4. The Executive Director shall appoint the staff in accordance with
regulations to be established by the Council. At its first session, the
Council shall, by special vote, decide the number of executive and
professional staff the Executive Director may appoint. Any changes in the
number of executive and professional staff shall be decided by the
Council by special vote. The staff shall be responsible to the Executive
Director.

5. Neither the Executive Director nor any member of the staff shall have
any financial interest in the tropical timber industry or trade, or
associated commercial activities.

6. In the performance of their duties, the Executive Director and staff
shall not seek or receive instructions from any member or from any
authority external to the Organization. They shall refrain from any
action which might reflect on their positions as international officials
ultimately responsible to the Council. Each member shall respect the
exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the
Executive Director and staff and shall not seek to influence them in the
discharge of their responsibilities.

Chapter V
Privileges and Immunities

Article 17
Privileges and Immunities

1. The Organization shall have legal personality. It shall in particular
have the Capacity to Contract , to acquire and dispose of movable and
immovable property, and to institute legal proceedings.

2. The Organization shall, as soon as possible after the entry into force
of this Agreement, seek to conclude with the Government of the country in
which the headquarters of the Organization is to be located (hereinafter
referred to as the “host Government”) an agreement (hereinafter referred
to as the “Headquarters Agreement”) relating to such status, privileges
and immunities of the Organization, of its Executive Director, its staff
and experts, and of representatives of members, as are necessary for the
purpose of discharging their functions.

3. Pending the conclusion of the Headquarters Agreement referred to in
paragraph 2 of this article, the Organization shall request the host
Government to grant, within the limits of its national legislation,
exemption from taxation on remuneration paid by the Organization to its
employees, and on the assets income and other property of the
Organization.

4. The Organization may also conclude, with one or more countries,
agreements to be approved by the Council relating to such capacity,
privileges and immunities as may be necessary for the proper functioning
of this Agreement.

5. If the headquarters of the Organization is moved to another country ,
the member in question shall, as soon as possible, conclude with the
Organization a headquarters agreement to be approved by the Council.

6. The Headquarters Agreement shall be independent of this Agreement. It
shall, however, terminate:

(a) By agreement between the host Government and the Organization;

(b) In the event of the headquarters of the Organization being moved
from the country of the host Government; or

(c) In the event of the Organization ceasing to exist.

Chapter VI
Finance

Article 18
Financial Accounts

1. There shall be established two accounts:

(a) The Administrative Account; and

(b) The Special Account.

2. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the administration of
these accounts and the Council shall make provision in its rules of
procedure therefor.

Article 19
Administrative Account

1. The expenses necessary for the administration of this Agreement shall
be brought into the Administrative Account and shall be met by annual
contributions paid by members in accordance with their respective
constitutional or institutional procedures and assessed in accordance
with paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of this article.

2. The expenses of delegations to the Council, the committees and any
other subsidiary bodies of the Council referred to in article 24 shall be
met by the members concerned. In cases where a member requests special
services from the Organization, the Council shall require that member to
pay the costs of such services.

3. Before the end of each financial year, the Council shall approve the
administrative budget of the Organization for the following financial
year and shall assess the contribution of each member to that budget.

4. The contribution of each member to the administrative budget for each
financial year shall be in the proportion which the number of its votes
at the time the administrative budget for that financial year is approved
bears to the total votes of all the members. In assessing contributions,
the votes of each member shall be calculated without regard to the
suspension of any member’s voting rights or any redistribution of votes
resulting therefrom.

5. The initial contribution of any member joining the Organization after
the entry into force of this Agreement shall be assessed by the Council
on the basis of the number of votes to be held by that member and the
period remaining in the current financial year, but the assessment made
upon other members from the current financial year shall not thereby be
altered.

6. Contributions to the first administrative budget shall become due on a
date to be decided by the Council at its first session. Contributions to
subsequent administrative budgets shall become due on the first day of
each financial year. Contributions of members in respect of the financial
year in which they join the Organization shall be due on the date on
which they become members.

7. If a member has not paid its full contribution to the administrative
budget within four months after such contribution becomes due in
accordance with paragraph 6 of this article, the Executive Director shall
request that member to make payment as quickly as possible. If that
member has still not paid its contribution within two months after such
request, that member shall be requested to state the reasons for its
inability to make payment. If at the expiry of seven months from the due
date of contribution, that member has still not paid its contribution,
its voting rights shall be suspended and an interest charge shall be
levied on its late contribution at the central bank rate of the host
country until such time as it has paid in full its contribution, unless
the Council, by special vote, decides otherwise.

8. A member whose rights have been suspended under paragraph 7 of this
article shall remain liable to pay its contribution.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Capacity to Contract, International Tropical Timber Agreement, country.