GFCM/XXVII/2002/3

1. In order to reinforce its work, the Commission, at its Twenty-second Session (Rome, Italy, 13-16 October 1997) decided to amend the GFCM agreement and relevant provisions of its internal rules and regulations. Among the amendments adopted was the establishment of an autonomous budget.

Scale of contribution

2. The modalities for the determination of the budget ceiling, particularly the scale of contribution for Members, were adopted at the Twenty-fifth Session of the Commission (Sliema, Malta, 12-15 September 2000).

3. The financial implications of the scale of contribution was illustrated using a hypothetical autonomous budget of US$ 750 000 as an example. It was split as follows.

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

4. The result of this exercise was published in a table that was attached to the report of the Twenty-fifth Session of GFCM (See Appendix A of this document). It was agreed that, before the final implementation of the scale of contribution, each Member should validate the catch figures, including aquaculture production, that are used in the calculation of their respective contribution. No such information was reported back to the Commission in 2002.

Status of Acceptance of the Autonomous Budget

5. The matter of the autonomous budget was not discussed at the Twenty-sixth session of the Commission¹ as the amended Agreement had still not entered into force. At the time of the preparation of this document (September 2002), eight GFCM Members (Cyprus, European Community, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Spain and Turkey) out of twenty-three had deposited instruments of acceptance of the amendments to the Agreement of GFCM relative to the autonomous budget. As requested by the Commission, during the intersessional period, the Secretariat had continued to invite the GFCM Members to expedite the procedure for the ratification of the amendments to the Agreement. It is indeed hoped that the number of instruments of acceptance will have increased at the time of the Twenty-seventh session.

6. It should be noted that, if the quorum of two thirds of acceptance by the Members, required for the amended Agreement to enter into force is not attained, GFCM will continue operating in a transitional way.

Suggested Action by the Commission

7. The Commission is invited to urge those Members who have not yet done so to: (i) ratify the amendments to the GFCM Agreement and/or deposit their instrument of acceptance at the earliest possible date; (ii) provide catch data, including aquaculture production, to the Secretariat; and (iii) 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)

¹ Paragraph 48, Report of the Twenty-sixth Session of GFCM.