RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/BFA/5
L/7631
30June1995
ORGANIZATION Limited Distribution
(95-1849)
JOINT WTO/GATT COMMITTEE ONBUDGET,
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
TheJoint WTO/GATT Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration meton
29June1995 andhavethefollowing recommendations tomake totheGeneral Council forapproval.
1. Additional Posts for1996
Having examined theSecretariat 'sproposals forrecruitment for1996 andhaving heard the
Directors oftheDivisions concerned, theCommittee recommends thattheGeneral Council
a. stress that, while account should betaken ofthenewsubjects arising from the
Uruguay Round negotiations, theareas oftheWTO 'sactivities tobegiven priority
intherecruiting ofstafffor1996, asdecided bythemembers, are:
- theOrganization 'slegalactivities
- accessions
- technical assistance
- translation, document processing, andstatistics andtheinformation system
b. request theSecretariat consistently toobserve thefollowing guidelines inrecruiting
staff:
- toidentify those appointments which correspond toafixed-term task;
- tomake useoftheentire salary scale, inparticular byhiring young graduates
atthelower levels oftheProfessional category;
- toimprove thecurrent General Service/Professional ratio, particularly as
regards secretarial staff;
- toseekageneral balance inthecomposition oftheSecretariat; and
- torationalize thestructure oftheSecretariat inorder toeliminate overlapping
orduplication oftasks between Divisions.WT/BFA/5
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c. authorize recruitment ofstafffor1996 within thelimitofabudgetary appropriation
of500,000 Swiss francs for1995(pre-recruitment costs) and7,800,000 Swiss francs
for1996; within these limits, theSecretariat willdefine howitsneeds willbemet
inthelightbothofthepriorities andguidelines setbytheGeneral Council andofits
proposal (CRP/95/19 andCorr.1) which constitutes theupper limit withregard to
posts anddistribution between Divisions andstaffcategories. Thefunds needed for
1995 willcome from:
i. first, anybalance from thecredit of300,0001Swiss francs earmarked inthe
1995 budget forunforeseen expenditure;
ii. secondly, anyoverall budgetary savings from theregular budget of1995;
iii. thirdly, anyexcess ofmiscellaneous income over revised estimates of
miscellaneous income for1995;
iv. bywithdrawal from theWorking Capital Fund, inaccordance with
paragraph (iii)(b) oftheFund'srules, inorder tocover thebalance ofthese
additional costs.
Thefunds required for1996 willbeplaced ontheregular budget forthisyear.
d. request theSecretariat toreport ontheimplementation ofthisdecision tothe
Committee onBudget andtheGeneral Council, andparticularly oncompliance with
thepriorities andguidelines, atthelatest when the1996 budget isestablished, inter
aliabysubmitting atableofstaffbygrade indicating newappointees andidentifying,
forallstaff, temporary tasks, theirduration andthedates oftheappointments made
tocarry them out.
e. consider thattheappointments proposed for1996 constitute thethird stage ofthe
adjustment oftheWTO Secretariat totakeaccount oftheresults oftheUruguay
Round andthecreation oftheneworganization, thefirsttwostages having ledtothe
consolidation of45temporary posts andthecreation of21newposts, that,
consequently, oncethenewappointments for1996 havebeenmade there should be
apause inrecruitment, andthatthesituation willnotbereviewed untilafter the
Singapore Ministerial Conference dueinDecember 1996.
1Credit forunforeseen expenditure hasalready been partly usedforthesalary andadditional costs ofthe
newpostofDeputy Director-General andtheadditional temporary assistance requirements fortranslation and
word-processing (WT/BFA/4 -L/7629, paragraphs 9and13).WT/BFA/5
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2. Procedure fordecisions having financial implications which may betaken byWTO
Bodies
TheCommittee recommends that,when considering anydecision which mayhavefinancial
implications fortheWTO, WTO Bodies shall, before adecision istaken, soinform the
Chairman oftheCommittee onBudget, Finance andAdministration, identifying, insofaras
possible, areas intheirsphere ofcompetence where compensatory savings could beachieved.
TheCommittee willthenexamine thefinancial implications andproposed funding, including
theidentification ofexisting WTO activities where savings could beachieved forthefirst
start-up yearandforthefollowing on-going year(s), andforward suchinformation tothe
General Council. Withfullknowledge ofthefinancial implications andproposed funding, the
General Council willthentakeafinaldecision.
TheCommittee further recommends thattheChairman oftheGeneral Council soinform the
chairpersons ofallWTO Bodies.
3. Director-General 'sFinancial Report onthe1994 Accounts oftheGeneral Agreement on
Tariffs andTrade andReport oftheExternal Auditors Thereon
TheCommittee recommends thattheGeneral Council approve theaudited accounts for1994
andconvey totheExternal Auditor theirthanks forthevaluable assistance provided inthe
audit ofthese accounts.
4. Newbasis fortheassessment ofcontributions tothebudget oftheGATT/WTO
TheCommittee recommends that,asfrom thebudget for1996,
a. theshare tobecontributed byeachcontracting party/member totheannual operating
budget oftheGATT/WTO shall beestablished onthebasis ofthatcountry 's(or
separate customs territory 's)international trade (imports plusexports) inrelation to
thetotalinternational trade ofallGATT contracting parties/WTO members;
b. thefigures usedshallbethose forthelastthree years forwhich dataareavailable;
c. thestatistics usedshall relate totrade ingoods,2services andintellectual property
rights asreported inBalance ofPayments statistics from theInternational Monetary
Fund (IMF); withregard toservices, thestatistics shall relate tothedefinition of
commercial services asapplied intheWTO;
2excluding goldheldasastore ofvalue (deposit money banks)WT/BFA/5
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d. where IMFdatadeviate fromIMFguidelines3andinclude transactions notrelated to
goods, services orintellectual property rights, adjustments provided totheWTO by
theCentral Bank ortheNational Statistical Office ofacontracting party/member shall
betaken intoaccount bytheSecretariat when adequately documented andjustified;
e. ifIMFdataarenotavailable, theWTO Secretariat willuseestimates based onthe
bestother available sources;
f. aminimum contribution of0.03 percentwillbeapplied tothose contracting
parties/members whose share inthetotalinternational trade ofallGATT contracting
parties/WTO members islessthan0.03percent.
TheCommittee further recommends thatafullreview ofthefunctioning ofthenewsystem
shallbeundertaken bytheWTO Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration three
years afteritsintroduction.
3Balance ofPayments Manual, Fifth Edition, International Monetary Fund