Financial accounts
1. There shall be established:
(a)
The Administrative Account, which is an assessed contribution account;
(b)
The Special Account and the Bali Partnership Fund, which are voluntary contribution accounts; and
(c)
Other accounts that the Council might consider appropriate and necessary.
2. The Council shall establish, in accordance with Article 7, financial rules that provide transparent management and administration of the accounts, including rules covering the settlement of accounts on termination or expiry of this Agreement.
3. The Executive Director shall be responsible for, and report to the Council on the administration of the financial accounts.
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 4, 5 and 6 of this Article.
2. The Administrative Account shall include:
(a)
basic administrative costs such as salaries and benefits, installation costs, and official travel; and
(b)
core operational costs such as those related to communication and outreach, expert meetings convened by the Council and preparation and publication of studies and assessments pursuant to Articles 24, 27 and 28 of this Agreement.
3. The expenses of delegations to the Council, the committees and any other subsidiary bodies of the Council referred to in Article 26 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.
4. Before the end of each financial biennium, the Council shall approve the budget for the Administrative Account of the Organization for the following biennium and shall assess the contribution of each member to that budget.
5. Contributions to the Administrative Account for each financial biennium shall be assessed as follows:
(a)
the costs referred to in paragraph 2(a) of this Article shall be shared equally among producer and consumer members and assessed in the proportion the number of each member’s votes bears to the total votes of the member’s group;
(b)
the costs referred to in paragraph 2(b) of this Article shall be shared among members in the proportions of 20 % for producers and 80 % for consumers and assessed in the proportion the number of each member’s votes bears to the total votes of the member’s group;
(c)
the costs referred to in paragraph 2(b) of this Article shall not exceed one third of the costs referred to in paragraph 2(a) of this Article. The Council may, by consensus, decide to vary this limit for a specific financial biennium;
(d)
the Council may review how the Administrative Account and the voluntary accounts contribute to the efficient and effective operation of the Organization in the context of the evaluation referred to in Article 33; and
(e)
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.
6. 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 biennium, but the assessment made upon other members from the current financial biennium shall not thereby be altered.
7. Contributions to the Administrative Account shall become due on the first day of each financial year. Contributions of members in respect of the financial biennium in which they join the Organization shall be due on the date on which they become members.
8. If a member has not paid its full contribution to the Administrative Account within four months after such contribution becomes due in accordance with paragraph 7 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 until such time as it has paid in full its contribution, unless the Council, by special vote in accordance with Article 12, decides otherwise. If a member has not paid its contribution in full for two consecutive years, taking into account the provisions contained in Article 30, that member shall become ineligible to submit project or pre-project proposals for funding consideration under Article 25, paragraph 1.
9. If a member has paid its full contribution to the Administrative Account within four months after such contribution becomes due in accordance with paragraph 7 of this Article, that member’s contribution shall receive a discount as may be established by the Council in the financial rules of the Organization.
10. A member whose rights have been suspended under paragraph 8 of this Article shall remain liable to pay its contribution.
Special account
1. The Special Account shall comprise two sub-accounts:
(a)
the Thematic Programmes Sub-Account; and
(b)
the Project Sub-Account.
2. The possible sources of finance for the Special Account shall be:
(a)
the Common Fund for Commodities;
(b)
regional and international financial institutions;
(c)
voluntary contributions from members; and
(d)
other sources.
3. The Council shall establish criteria and procedures for the transparent operation of the Special Account. Such procedures shall take into account the need for balanced representation among members, including contributing members, in the operation of the Thematic Programmes Sub-Account and the Project Sub-Account.
4. The purpose of the Thematic Programmes Sub-Account shall be to facilitate unearmarked contributions for the financing of approved pre-projects, projects and activities consistent with Thematic Programmes established by the Council on the basis of the policy and project priorities identified in accordance with Articles 24 and 25.
5. The donors may allocate their contributions to specific Thematic Programmes or may request the Executive Director to make proposals for allocating their contributions.
6. The Executive Director shall report regularly to the Council on the allocation and expenditure of funds within the Thematic Programmes Sub-Account and on the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of pre-projects, projects and activities and the financial needs for the successful implementation of the Thematic Programmes.
7. The purpose of the Project Sub-Account shall be to facilitate earmarked contributions for the financing of pre-projects, projects and activities approved in accordance with Articles 24 and 25.
8. Earmarked contributions to the Project Sub-Account shall be used only for the pre-projects, projects and activities for which they were designated, unless otherwise decided by the donor in consultation with the Executive Director. After the completion or termination of a pre-project, project or activity, the use of any remaining funds shall be decided by the donor.
9. To ensure the necessary predictability of funds for the Special Account, taking into consideration the voluntary nature of contributions, members shall strive to replenish it to attain an adequate resource level to fully carry out the pre-projects, projects and activities approved by Council.
10. All receipts pertaining to specific pre-projects, projects and activities under the Project Sub-Account or the Thematic Programmes Sub-Account shall be brought into the respective Sub-Account. All expenditures incurred on such pre-projects, projects or activities, including remuneration and travel expenses of consultants and experts, shall be charged to the same Sub-Account.
11. No member shall be responsible by reason of its membership in the Organization for any liability arising from any actions by any other member or entity in connection with pre-projects, projects or activities.
12. The Executive Director shall provide assistance in the development of proposals for pre-projects, projects and activities in accordance with Articles 24 and 25 and endeavour to seek, on such terms and conditions as the Council may decide, adequate and assured finance for approved pre-projects, projects and activities.
The Bali Partnership Fund
1. A Fund for sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests is hereby established to assist producer members to make the investments necessary to achieve the objective of Article 1(d) of this Agreement.
2. The Fund shall be constituted by:
(a)
contributions from donor members;
(b)
50 % of income earned as a result of activities related to the Special Account;
(c)
resources from other private and public sources which the Organization may accept consistent with its financial rules; and
(d)
other sources approved by the Council.
3. Resources of the Fund shall be allocated by the Council only for pre-projects and projects for the purpose set out in paragraph 1 of this Article and that have been approved in accordance with Articles 24 and 25.
4. In allocating resources of the Fund, the Council shall establish criteria and priorities for use of the Fund, taking into account:
(a)
the needs of members for assistance in achieving exports of tropical timber and timber products from sustainably managed sources;
(b)
the needs of members to establish and manage significant conservation programmes in timber producing forests; and
(c)
the needs of members to implement sustainable forest management programmes.
5. The Executive Director shall provide assistance in the development of project proposals in accordance with Article 25 and endeavour to seek, on such terms and conditions as the Council may decide, adequate and assured finance for projects approved by the Council.
6. Members shall strive to replenish the Bali Partnership Fund to an adequate level to further the objectives of the Fund.
7. The Council shall examine at regular intervals the adequacy of the resources available to the Fund and endeavour to obtain additional resources needed by producer members to achieve the purpose of the Fund.
Forms of payment
1. Financial contributions to accounts established under Article 18 shall be payable in freely convertible currencies and shall be exempt from foreign-exchange restrictions.
2. The Council may also decide to accept other forms of contributions to the accounts established under Article 18, other than the administrative account, including scientific and technical equipment or personnel, to meet the requirements of approved projects.
Audit and publication of accounts
1. The Council shall appoint independent auditors for the purpose of auditing the accounts of the Organization.
2. Independently audited statements of the accounts established under Article 18 shall be made available to members as soon as possible after the close of each financial year, but not later than six months after that date, and be considered for approval by the Council at its next session, as appropriate. A summary of the audited accounts and balance sheet shall thereafter be published.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
