Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

Article 16

(1) (a) The Union shall have a budget.

(b) The budget of the Union shall include the income and expenses proper to
the Union, its contribution to the budget of expenses common to the Unions,
and, where applicable, the sum made available to the budget of the
Conference of the Organization.

(c) Expenses not attributable exclusively to the Union but also to one or
more other Unions administered by the Organization shall be considered as
expenses common to the Unions. The share of the Union in such common
expenses shall be in proportion to the interest the Union has in them.

(2) The budget of the Union shall be established with due regard to the
requirements of coordination with the budgets of the other Unions
administered by the Organization.

(3) The budget of the Union shall be financed from the following sources:

(i) contributions of the countries of the Union;

(ii) fees and charges due for services rendered by the International
Bureau in relation to the Union;

(iii)sale of, or royalties on, the publications of the International
Bureau concerning the Union;

(iv) gifts, bequests, and subventions;

(v) rents, interests, and other miscellaneous income.

(4) (a) For the purpose of establishing its contribution towards the
budget, each country of the Union shall belong to a class, and shall pay
its annual contributions on the basis of a number of units fixed as
follows:

Class I 25
Class II 20
Class III 15
Class IV 10
Class V 5
Class VI 3
Class VII 1

(b) Unless it has already done so, each country shall indicate,
concurrently with depositing its instrument of ratification or accession,
the class to which it wishes to belong. Any country may change class. If it
chooses a lower class, the country must announce such change to the
Assembly at one of its ordinary sessions. Any such change shall take effect
at the beginning of the calendar year following the said session.

(c) The annual contribution of each country shall be an amount in the same
proportion to the total sum to be contributed to the budget of the Union by
all countries as the number of its units is to the total of the units of
all contributing countries.

(d) Contributions shall become due on the first of January of each year.

(e) A country which is in arrears in the payment of its contributions may
not exercise its right to vote in any of the organs of the Union of which
it is a member if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of
the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years. However,
any organ of the Union may allow such a country to continue to exercise its
right to vote in that organ if, and as long as, it is satisfied that the
delay in payment is due to exceptional and unavoidable circumstances.

(f) If the budget is not adopted before the beginning of a new financial
period, it shall be at the same level as the budget of the previous year,
as provided in the financial regulations.

(5) The amount of the fees and charges due for services rendered by the
International Bureau in relation to the Union shall be established, and
shall be reported to the Assembly and the Executive Committee, by the
Director General.

(6) (a) The Union shall have a working capital fund which shall be
constituted by a single payment made by each country of the Union. If the
fund becomes insufficient, the Assembly shall decide to increase it.

(b) The amount of the initial payment of each country to the said fund or
of its participation in the increase thereof shall be a proportion of the
contribution of that country for the year in which the fund is established
or the decision to increase it is made.

(c) The proportion and the terms of payment shall be fixed by the Assembly
on the proposal of the Director General and after it has heard the advice
of the Coordination Committee of the Organization.

(7) (a) In the headquarters agreement concluded with the country on the
territory of which the Organization has its headquarters, it shall be
provided that, whenever the working capital fund is insufficient, such
country shall grant advances. The amount of these advances and the
conditions on which they are granted shall be the subject of separate
agreements, in each case, between such country and the Organization. As
long as it remains under the obligation to grant advances, such country
shall have an ex officio seat on the Executive Committee.

(b) The country referred to in subparagraph (a) and the Organization shall
each have the right to denounce the obligation to grant advances, by
written notification. Denunciation shall take effect three years after the
end of the year in which it has been notified.

(8) The auditing of the accounts shall be effected by one or more of the
countries of the Union or by external auditors, as provided in the
financial regulations. They shall be designated, with their agreement, by
the Assembly.

Article 17

(1) Proposals for the amendment of Articles 13, 14, 15, 16, and the present
Article, may be initiated by any country member of the Assembly, by the
Executive Committee, or by the Director General. Such proposals shall be
communicated by the Director General to the member countries of the
Assembly at least six months in advance of their consideration by the
Assembly.

(2) Amendments to the Articles referred to in paragraph (1) shall be
adopted by the Assembly. Adoption shall require three fourths of the votes
cast, provided that any amendment to Article 13, and to the present
paragraph, shall require four fifths of the votes cast.

(3) Any amendment to the Articles referred to in paragraph (1) shall enter
into force one month after written notifications of acceptance, effected in
accordance with their respective constitutional processes, have been
received by the Director General from three fourths of the countries
members of the Assembly at the time it adopted the amendment. Any amendment
to the said Articles thus accepted shall bind all the countries which are
members of the Assembly at the time the amendment enters into force, or
which become members thereof at a subsequent date, provided that any
amendment increasing the financial obligations of countries of the Union
shall bind only those countries which have notified their acceptance of
such amendment.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, country.