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Acceptance of the Autonomous Budget

1. As requested by the Commission, the Secretariat, through direct contacts, circular letters and a note verbale, invited GFCM Members to expedite the procedure for the acceptance of the amendments to the Agreement.

2. At the time of the preparation of the document (July 2001), six GFCM Members (Cyprus, European Community, Italy, Malta, Monaco and Turkey) out of twenty-two had deposited their instrument of acceptance of the amendments to the Agreement of GFCM relative to the autonomous budget. It was hoped that, as a consequence of the agreement reached during the last session on the scale of contribution for an autonomous budget, a quorum of two thirds of the Members would have accepted these amendments. However, this is still not the case as at least nine more acceptances are required for the amended Agreement to enter into force.

Scale of Contribution

3. The scale of contribution agreed at the Twenty-fifth Session of GFCM (paragraph 30 of the report) was based on three components:

Membership: 10 percent
Wealth Component: 35 percent
Catch Component: 55 percent

4. It was however agreed that before the final implementation of the scale of contribution, each Member should validate the catch figures that are considered in the calculation of their contribution. No further data in this regard were received during the intersessional period.

5. An example of the scale of contributions as agreed at the Twenty-fifth Session of GFCM and calculated on the basis of a hypothetical autonomous budget of US$ 750.000 is attached.

Suggested Action by the Commission

6. The Commission is invited to urge its Members to deposit their letter of acceptance of the autonomous budget at the earliest possible date. The Commission may also wish to discuss the level of autonomous budget required for the efficient operation of the Commission. Members of the Commission are urged to indicate their willingness to support those activities for which no offers (financial/hosting) have been received.

 

SCALE OF CONTRIBUTION AS AGREED BY THE 25TH SESSION OF GFCM
(Malta, September 2000)