Key Benefits:
464 OF 1998
(August 4)
Official Journal No 43,360 of 11 August 1998
By means of which the " International Convention of the Maderas
is approvedTropical, " made in Geneva on twenty-six (26) January of a thousand
nine hundred and ninety-four (1994).
COLOMBIA CONGRESS
Having regard to the text of the "International Tropical Timber Agreement", made in Geneva on twenty-six (26) January of one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four (1994).
(To be transcribed: photocopies of the full text of the international instrument mentioned, duly authenticated by the Head of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
" INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER CONVENTION 1994
Preamble
The Parties to this Convention,
Remembering the Declaration and the Program of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, the Integrated Program for Basic Products, a New Partnership for Development: The Cartagena Commitment and the Objectives contents in the "Spirit of Cartagena",
Remembering the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1983 and recognizing the work done by the International Tropical Timber Organization and the achievements it has made since its inception, including a strategy to achieve international trade in tropical timber comes from sustainable forest resources,
recalling the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development, the Declaration of Principles, without mandatory legal force, of principles for a global consensus on management, conservation and sustainable development of forests of all kinds and the relevant chapters of Agenda 21, approved by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro; the United Nations Framework Convention on the Environment, Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity,
Recognizing the importance of timber for the economies of countries that have timber-producing forests,
Recognising the need to promote and apply comparable and appropriate principles and criteria for the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of wood-producing forests,
Taking into account the existing relations between tropical timber trade and the international timber market and the need to adopt a global perspective to improve the transparency of the international market for timber timbers,
Taking note of the commitment made by all the members in Bali, Indonesia, in May 1990, to ensure that by the year 2000 the exports of tropical timber and timber products will come from forest-based ecursos. Recognizing Principle 10 of the Declaration entitled, without mandatory legal force, of principles for a global consensus on the management, conservation and sustainable development of forests of all types, principle which states that new and new financial resources should be provided to developing countries; additional to enable them to sustainably order, conserve and develop their forest resources, in particular through afforestation, reforestation and the fight against deforestation and forest and land degradation,
Taking note in addition to the commitment to maintain, or to achieve by the year 2000, the sustainable management of their respective forests, announced by the consumer members that are Parties to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1983 in the fourth session of the United Nations Conference on the Negotiation of a Convention to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1983 in Geneva on January 21, 1994,
Eager to consolidate the framework of international cooperation and policy-making among the members for the search for solutions to the problems with which the tropical timber economy stumbles,
Have agreed to the following:
OBJECTIVES.
ARTICLE 1o. OBJECTIVES. Recognizing the sovereignty of members on their natural resources, as defined in Principle 1 (a) of the Declaration authorized, without mandatory legal force, of principles for a global consensus on the management, conservation and sustainable development of forests of all types, the objectives of the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as "the present Convention"), are as follows:
a) Provide an effective framework for consultation, international cooperation and policy-making among all members in relation to all relevant aspects of the global timber economy;
b) Provide a forum for consultations to promote the use of non-discriminatory practices in timber trade;
c) Contribute to the sustainable development process;
d) Increase the capacity of members to implement a strategy to ensure that by the year 2000, exports of tropical timber and timber products come from sustainable forest resources;
e) To foster the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably ordered forest resources by improving the structural conditions of international markets, taking into account, on the one hand, the long-term increase in consumption and the continuity of supplies, and, on the other, prices which include the costs of sustainable development and which are remunerative and equitable for the members, as well as the improving market access;
f) Promoting and supporting research and development with a view to improving forest management and the efficient use of timber, as well as increasing the capacity to conserve and promote other forest values in forests tropical timber producers;
g) Develop mechanisms to provide the new and additional resources and expertise that are necessary to increase the capacity of producing members to achieve the objectives of this Convention and contribute to these mechanisms;
h) Improving market information with a view to achieving greater transparency of the international timber market, including meeting, classification and dissemination of trade data, including data on species marketed;
i) Promoting greater and more advanced development of tropical timber extracted from sustainable forest resources in producer member countries with a view to promoting their industrialization and increasing their opportunities for employment and its export earnings;
j) Encourage members to support and develop the activities of restocking and management of industrial tropical timber forests, as well as the rehabilitation of degraded forest lands, taking into account the interests of the local communities that rely on forest resources;
k) Improving the marketing and distribution of tropical timber exports extracted from sustainably ordered forest resources;
l) Encourage members to develop national policies aimed at the sustainable use and conservation of timber-producing forests and their genetic resources and to maintain the ecological balance of the regions In the context of the tropical timber trade;
m) Promote access to and transfer of technologies and technical cooperation in order to implement the objectives of this Convention, including on favourable and preferential terms to be determined by common agreement; and
n) Encourage the exchange of information on the international timber market.
DEFINITIONS.
ARTICLE 2o. DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this Convention:
1. Tropical timber means tropical timber for industrial uses of non-coniferous species that grow or occur in the countries between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The expression includes the trunks, the boards, the plates and the plywood. This definition also includes plywood containing in part coniferous wood of tropical origin.
2. "More advanced processing" means the processing of logs into primary wood products, semi-finished products or finished products made entirely or almost entirely of tropical timber.
3. 'member' means any government, or any of the intergovernmental organisations referred to in Article 5, which has consented to be bound by this Convention, whether or not it is in force with provisional character as if it is of a definitive nature.
4. 'producer member' means any country with tropical forest resources and/or net exporter of tropical timber in terms of volume listed in Annex A and which becomes a party to this Convention, or any country with resources tropical forest and/or net exporter of tropical timber in terms of volume not listed in that Annex and which becomes a party to this Convention and which, with its consent, has been declared a producer member by the Tip.
5. 'Consumer member' means any country listed in Annex B which becomes a party to this Convention or any country not listed in that Annex which becomes a party to this Convention and which, with its consent, has been declared Consumer Member for the Council.
6. "Organization" means the International Tropical Timber Organization established in accordance with Article 3or.
7. "Council" means the International Tropical Timber Council established in accordance with Article 6or.
8. 'Special vote' means a vote requiring at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the present and voting members and at least 60% of the votes cast by the present and voting members of the consumer, counted separately, provided that such votes are cast by at least half of the producing members present and voters and at least by half of the consumer members present and voters.
9. "Simple distributed majority voting" means a vote requiring more than half of the votes cast by the present and voting member members and more than half of the votes cast by the present consumer members and voters, counted separately.
10. 'Economic exercise' means the period from 1 to 1. January and December 31, both inclusive.
11. 'freely usable currencies' means the US dollar, the French franc, the British pound, the German mark, the Japanese yen and any other currency which, by designation at any time of an international monetary organization competent, is a currency that is used effectively and widely to make payments for international transactions and is effectively and widely traded in the major currency markets.
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
ARTICLE 3o. HEADQUARTERS AND STRUCTURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION.
1. The International Tropical Timber Organization established under the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1983 shall remain in office to implement the provisions and monitor the functioning of this Convention.
2. The Organization shall operate through the Council established in accordance with Article 6, of the committees and other subsidiary bodies referred to in Article 26 and of the Director Executive and staff.
3. The headquarters of the Organization shall be located in Yokohama, unless the Council, by special vote, decides otherwise.
4. The seat of the Organization shall be at any time situated in the territory of a member.
ARTICLE 4. ORGANIZATION MEMBERS. There will be two categories of members in the Organization:
a) Producers; and
b) Consumers.
ARTICLE 5o. PARTICIPATION OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS.
1. Any reference made in this Convention to 'governments' shall be interpreted as meaning that it includes the European Community and any other intergovernmental organisation which is competent for the negotiation, conclusion and application of international conventions, in particular Conventions of basic products. Consequently, any reference made in this Convention to the signature, ratification, acceptance or approval or to the notification of provisional application or to accession shall be interpreted in the case of such organisations. intergovernmental, in the sense that it includes a reference to signature, ratification, acceptance or approval, or notification of provisional application, or accession by those intergovernmental organizations.
2. In the event of a vote on questions of their competence, such intergovernmental organisations shall have a number of votes equal to the total votes which may be allocated to their Member States in accordance with Article
THE INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER COUNCIL.
ARTICLE 6o. COMPOSITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER COUNCIL.
1. The supreme authority of the Organization shall be the International Tropical Timber Council, which shall be composed of all members of the Organization.
2. Each member shall be represented in the Council by a representative and may appoint alternates and advisers to attend the meetings of the Council.
3. Any alternate shall be entitled to act and vote on behalf of the representative in the absence of such representative or in special circumstances.
ARTICLE 7o. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL.
1. The Council shall exercise all powers and shall, or shall perform, all the functions necessary to comply with the provisions of this Convention.
2. The Council shall, by special vote, approve the statutes and regulations necessary to comply with the provisions of this Convention and compatible with them, such as its own rules of procedure and the Financial Regulation and the staff regulations of the Organization.
The financial regulation will govern, among other things, the revenue and expenditure of funds under the Administrative Account, the Special Account and the Bali Cooperation Fund. The Council may provide in its Rules of Procedure a procedure allowing it to decide on certain matters without meeting.
3. The Council shall carry out the necessary documentation for the performance of the tasks conferred upon it by this Convention.
ARTICLE 8o. PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL.
1. The Council shall elect for each calendar year a President and a Vice-President, whose salaries shall not be paid by the Organization.
2. The President and the Vice-President shall be elected, one of the representatives of the producer members and the other among the representatives of the consumer members. Those charges shall be alternated each year between the two categories of members, which shall not prevent, in exceptional circumstances, one or both of them being re-elected by a special vote of the Council.
3. In the event of temporary absence of the President, the Vice-President shall act in his place. In the event of the simultaneous temporary absence of the President and the Vice-President, or in the absence of one or both of them, for as long as the period for which they were elected, the Council may elect new holders of those posts. between the representatives of the producing members and/or between the representatives of the consumer members, as the case may be, on a temporary basis or for the remainder of the period for which their predecessors were elected.
1. As a general rule, the Council shall hold at least one regular meeting each year.
2. The Council shall hold extraordinary meetings whenever it decides or at the request of:
(a) The Executive Director, in agreement with the President of the Council; or
b) Most of the producing members or most of the consumer members, or
c) Several members who meet at least 500 votes.
3. Meetings of the Council shall be held at the headquarters of the Organization, unless the Council, by special vote, decides otherwise. If, at the invitation of any member, the Council meets outside the seat of the Organization, that member shall pay the additional costs of holding the meeting outside the seat.
4. The convening of all meetings, as well as the programmes of such meetings, shall be notified to the members by the Executive Director at least six weeks in advance, except in cases of urgency, in which the notification shall be made at least seven days in advance.
ARTICLE 10. DISTRIBUTION OF VOTES.
1. The producer members shall have a total of 1,000 votes and the consumer members shall have a total of 1,000 votes.
2. The votes of the producer members shall be distributed as follows:
a) Four hundred votes will be distributed equally among the three producing regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The votes thus assigned to each of these regions will then be distributed equally among the producing members of the region;
(b) Three hundred votes shall be distributed among the producer members according to their respective share in the total tropical forest resources of all producer members, and
(c) Three hundred votes shall be distributed among the producer members in proportion to the average values of their respective net exports of tropical timber during the most recent three-year period for which figures are available definitive.
3. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article, the total of the votes allocated to the producer members of the region of Africa, calculated in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article, shall be distributed equally among all the producers in the region of Africa. If votes are still to be distributed, each of those votes shall be allocated to an African producer member as follows: the first shall be allocated to the producer member to whom the largest number of votes has been allocated on the basis of the paragraph 2 of this article, the second to the producer member to follow as to the number of votes allocated, and so on until all remaining votes have been allocated.
4. For the purposes of calculating the distribution of votes in accordance with paragraph 2 (b) of this Article, "tropical forest resources" means the dense, productive, latifoliated forests as defined by the Organization of The United Nations for Food and Agriculture (FAO).
5. The votes of the consumer members will be distributed as follows: each consumer member will have ten initial votes; the remaining votes will be distributed proportionally to the average volume of their respective net imports of tropical timber. during the three-year period starting four calendar years before the distribution of votes.
6. The Council shall distribute the votes for each financial year at the beginning of its first meeting of that financial year, in accordance with the provisions of this Article. Such distribution shall remain in force for the remainder of the financial year, subject to the provisions of paragraph 7 of this Article.
7. Whenever the composition of the Organization changes or the right to vote of any member is suspended or restored in accordance with any provision of this Convention, the Council shall redistribute the votes within the category or the the categories of members concerned, in accordance with the provisions of this Article. The Council shall decide, in such a case, when such redistribution of votes shall take effect.
8. There will be no fractional votes.
ARTICLE 11. THE COUNCIL ' S VOTING PROCEDURE.
1. Each member shall be entitled to issue the number of votes he holds and no member shall be entitled to divide his votes. However, any member may issue in a different manner to that of his own votes the votes he is authorized to cast in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article.
2. By written notification to the President of the Council, any producer member may, under his own responsibility, authorise any other producer member, and any consumer may, under his own responsibility, authorise the any other consumer, to represent their interests and to cast their votes in any Council session.
3. When a member is abstaining, they shall be deemed not to have cast their votes.
ARTICLE 12. COUNCIL DECISIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
1. The Council will seek to take all its decisions and to make all its recommendations by consensus. If consensus cannot be achieved, the Council will take all its decisions and make all its recommendations by simple-distributed majority voting, unless this Convention provides for a special vote.
2. Where a member is engaged in the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 11 and votes are cast in a Council session, that member shall be considered, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, as present and voter.
ARTICLE 13. QUORUM ON THE BOARD.
1. The presence of the majority of the members of each of the categories referred to in Article 4shall constitute a quorum for any Council session, provided that such members meet at least two thirds of the total votes of their respective categories.
2. If there is no quorum in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article or the day fixed for the sitting or the following day, the presence of the majority of the members of each of the categories to which it is made shall constitute a quorum on the following days of the meeting. reference in Article 4, provided that such members meet the majority of the total votes of their respective categories.
3. Any representation authorised in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 11 shall be deemed to be present.
ARTICLE 14. COOPERATION AND COORDINATION WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS.
1. The Council shall adopt the provisions to be drawn up for consultations or cooperation with the United Nations and its organs, in particular the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Commission on the Sustainable Development (CDS), intergovernmental organizations, in particular the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the non-governmental organizations.
2. The Organization shall use, to the maximum extent possible, the facilities, services and expertise of existing intergovernmental, governmental or non-governmental organizations to avoid duplication of efforts in achieving the objectives of this Convention and to increase the complementarity and efficiency of its activities.
ARTICLE 15. ADMISSION OF OBSERVERS. The Council may invite any government that is a member or any of the organizations mentioned in Article 14, Article 20 and the Article 29, which has an interest in the activities of the Organization, to attend any of the meetings of the Council as an observer.
1. The Council shall appoint by special vote the Executive Director.
2. The Council shall determine the modalities and conditions for the appointment of the Executive Director.
3. The Executive Director shall be the highest administrative officer of the Organization and shall be responsible to the Council for the implementation and operation of this Convention in accordance with Council decisions.
4. The Executive Director shall appoint staff in accordance with the Staff Regulations laid down by the Council. The Council, by special vote, shall decide on the number of officials of the executive and professional category to be appointed by the Executive Director. The Council shall decide by special vote any change in the number of officials of the executive and professional category. The staff shall be accountable to the Executive Director.
5. Neither the Executive Director nor any staff member shall have any financial interest in the timber industry or trade or related business activities.
6. In the performance of their duties, the Executive Director and the staff shall not request or receive instructions from any member or any authority outside the Organization and shall refrain from any action which may discredit their status as a International officials ultimately responsible to the Council. Each member shall respect the exclusively international character of the functions of the Executive Director and staff and shall not seek to influence them in the performance of their duties.
PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.
ARTICLE 17. PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.
1. The Organization shall have legal personality. In particular, it shall be entitled to contract, to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property and to litigate.
2. The legal status and privileges and immunities of the Organization, its Executive Director, its staff and its experts, and the representatives of the members on the territory of Japan, shall continue to be governed by the Agreement of Headquarters signed in Tokyo on 27 February 1988 between the Government of Japan and the International Tropical Timber Organization, with the amendments necessary for the proper functioning of the Agreement.
3. The Organization may agree with one or more countries, agreements to be approved by the Council, on the powers, privileges and immunities that are necessary for the proper functioning of this Convention.
4. If the seat of the Organization is transferred to another country, the member concerned shall, as soon as possible, arrange with the Organization a seat agreement to be approved by the Council. As long as that agreement is reached, the Organization will ask the new host government to exempt, within the limits of its legislation, the remuneration paid by the Organization to its officials and the assets, income and other assets. of the Organization.
5. The Headquarters Agreement shall be independent of this Convention. However, it will end:
a) By agreement between the host government and the Organization;
(b) In the event that the seat of the Organization is transferred from the host government country, or
c) In case the Organization ceases to exist.
FINANCIAL PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 18. FINANCIAL Accounts.
1. The following accounts shall be established:
a) The Administrative Account;
b) The Special Account;
c) The Bali Cooperation Fund, and
d) Any other account that the Council deems appropriate and necessary.
2. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the administration of those accounts and the Council shall include the necessary provisions to that effect in the Financial Regulation of the Organization.
ARTICLE 19. ADMINISTRATIVE ACCOUNT.
1. The expenditure necessary for the implementation of this Convention shall be charged to the Administrative Account and shall be borne by annual contributions from the members paid in accordance with their respective constitutional or institutional procedures. and set out in accordance with paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of this Article.
2. The expenditure of the delegations to the Council, the committees and the other subsidiary bodies of the Council referred to in Article 26 shall be borne by the members concerned. In cases where a member requests special services from the Organization, the Council will require you to pay the cost of those services.
3. Before the end of each financial year, the Council shall approve the administrative budget of the Organization for the following financial year and shall determine the contribution of each member to that budget.
4. The contribution of each member to the administrative budget for each financial year shall be proportional to the ratio which exists, at the time of the adoption of the administrative budget corresponding to that economic year, between the number of their votes and all the votes of all the members. When determining the contributions, the votes of each member shall be calculated without taking into account the suspension of the voting rights of any member or the redistribution of votes resulting from it.
5. The initial contribution of any member entering the Organization after the entry into force of this Convention shall be determined by the Council on the basis of the number of votes assigned to it and in the period of the financial year The current economic situation will not be changed, but the contributions imposed on the other members for this economic exercise will not be modified.
6. Contributions to administrative budgets shall be payable on the first day of each financial year. The contributions of the members corresponding to the economic year in which they enter the Organization shall be payable on the date on which they become members.
7. If a member has not fully paid his or her contribution to the administrative budget within four months from the date on which such a contribution is payable under paragraph 6 of this Article, the Executive Director shall ask for the to make the payment as soon as possible. If that member continues to pay his or her contribution within two months of such a request, he will be asked to indicate the reasons why he has not been able to make the payment. If, at the expiry of a period of seven months from the date on which the contribution is payable by that member, the contribution is still not paid, the voting rights shall be suspended until the time when the contribution has been paid in full, Less than the Council, by special vote, decides otherwise. If, on the other hand, a member has paid his full contribution to the administrative budget within four months from the date on which such a contribution is due in accordance with paragraph 6 of this Article, it shall apply to the the contribution of that member to the discount established by the Council in the Financial Regulation of the Organization.
8. Any member whose rights have been suspended pursuant to paragraph 7 of this Article shall continue to be obliged to pay his or her contribution.
1. Two sub-accounts will be carried within the Special Account:
a) The Sub-Account of Pre-Project Activities, and
b) The Project Sub-Account.
2. The sources of funding for the Special Account may be:
a) The Common Fund for Basic Products;
b) Regional and international financial institutions, and
c) Voluntary contributions.
3. Special Account resources will only be used for pre-project activities or approved projects.
4. All expenditure incurred by the Sub-account of pre-project activities shall be reimbursed to this sub-account under the Project Sub-account if the projects are subsequently approved and financed. If, within six months of the entry into force of this Convention, the Council does not receive any resources for the Sub-account of pre-project activities, it shall examine the situation and take appropriate measures.
5. All proceeds resulting from pre-project activities or projects specifically attributable to the Special Account will be paid to this account. All expenses incurred in connection with such pre-project activities or such projects, including the remuneration and travel expenses of consultants and experts, shall be charged to the same account.
6. The Council, by special vote, shall lay down the conditions under which it may, where it considers it appropriate, sponsor projects for financing by means of loans, where one or more members have voluntarily assumed all the obligations and liabilities related to such loans. The Organization shall not assume any obligation in respect of such loans.
7. The Council may designate and sponsor any entity with the consent of the latter, in particular to one or more members, to receive loans to finance approved projects and to assume all the resulting obligations, with the the proviso that the Organization shall reserve the right to monitor the use of resources and to supervise the implementation of the projects thus financed. However, the Organization shall not be liable for guarantees voluntarily given by any member or by other entities.
8. No member shall be liable, for the fact of being a member of the Organization, for any obligation arising from loans taken or granted by another member or other entity in relation to the projects.
9. In the event that the non-allocated resources are offered on a voluntary basis to the Organisation, the Council may accept them. These resources may be used for pre-project activities and approved projects.
10. The Executive Director shall be responsible for obtaining, under the conditions and arrangements laid down by the Council, sufficient and secure funding for pre-project activities and projects approved by the Council.
11. The contributions allocated to specified approved projects will only be used for the projects to which they were originally allocated, unless the Council decides otherwise according to the taxpayer. Once a project has been completed, the Organization will return to each taxpayer the excess funds in proportion to each taxpayer's participation in the total of the contributions originally provided for the financing of this project, less than the taxpayer agrees on something else.
ARTICLE 21. THE BALI COOPERATION FUND.
1. A fund for the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests is established in order to help the producing members to make the necessary investments to achieve the objective set out in point (d) of the 1or. of this Convention.
2. The Fund shall be equipped with:
a) The contributions that members donate;
(b) 50% of the revenue earned by the Special Account related activities;
c) The resources of other sources, private and public, that the Organization accepts in accordance with its financial regulation.
3. The Council shall allocate the Fund's resources only to pre-project activities and projects which are related to the purpose set out in paragraph 1 of this Article and have been approved in accordance with the provisions of the Article 25.
4. Where appropriate to allocate resources from the Fund, the Council shall take into account:
(a) The special needs of the members in which the contribution of their forestry sector to their economy is impaired by the implementation of the strategy to achieve that in the year 2000 the exports of tropical timber and products from these woods come from sustainably ordered forest resources;
b) The needs of members who have extensive forest areas and implement forest-producing forest conservation programmes.
5. The Council shall examine annually whether the resources made available to the Fund are sufficient and shall endeavour to obtain the additional resources required by the producer members for the purpose of the Fund. The ability of members to implement the strategy referred to in paragraph 4 (a) of this Article will depend on the amount of resources available to the Fund.
6. The Council shall adopt the policies and financial rules governing the operation of the Fund, including the provisions applicable to the clearance of accounts in the event that the present Convention is terminated or reached expiration.
1. Contributions to the Administrative Account shall be paid in freely usable currencies and shall be exempt from any currency restrictions.
2. Financial contributions to the Special Account and the Bali Cooperation Fund shall be paid in freely usable currencies and shall be exempt from any currency restrictions.
3. The Council may also decide to accept other forms of contributions to the Special Account or the Bali Cooperation Fund, including scientific and technical material or personnel, to meet the needs of the approved projects.
ARTICLE 23. AUDITING AND PUBLISHING ACCOUNTS.
1. The Council shall appoint independent auditors to carry out the audit of the accounts of the Organization.
2. The States of the Administrative Account, Special Account and the Bali Cooperation Fund, as verified by independent auditors, shall be communicated to the members as soon as possible after the end of each financial year, but not more Six months after that date, and shall be examined by the Council for approval at its next meeting, as appropriate. A summary of the accounts and the balance sheet checked by the auditors will then be published.
OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES.
ARTICLE 24. POLICY-RELATED ORGANIZATION ACTIVITIES. In order to achieve the objectives set forth in Article 1, the Organization will undertake activities related to policies and projects in the fields of economic information and information on the market, repopulation and forest management and the forestry industry, in a balanced way and integrating, as far as possible, policy-related and related activities with projects.
ARTICLE 25. PROJECT-RELATED ORGANIZATION ACTIVITIES.
1. Taking into account the needs of the developing countries, the members may submit proposals to the Council for pre-project and project activities in the fields of research and development, information on the market, greater and more advanced processing of timber in producer member countries and forest repopulation and management. Pre-project activities and projects shall contribute to the achievement of one or more of the objectives of this Convention.
2. The Council, when approving pre-project or project activities, shall take into account:
a) Its usefulness for the achievement of the objectives of the Convention;
b) Its environmental and social effects;
c) The convenience of maintaining a proper geographical balance;
d) The interests and characteristics of each of the developing producing regions;
e) The desirability of ensuring an equitable distribution of resources between the spheres referred to in paragraph 1 of this article;
f) Their effectiveness in relation to cost; and
g) The need to avoid any duplication of effort.
3. The Council shall establish a timetable and procedures for the presentation, evaluation and establishment of the order of priority of the activities prior to the projects and projects which require funding from the Organization. as for its implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The Council shall decide on the approval of projects and pre-project activities for financing or sponsorship in accordance with Article 20 or Article 21.
4. The Executive Director may suspend the disbursement of the Organization's resources for a project or pre-project activity if they are being used in a manner contrary to the provisions of the project document or in cases of fraud, disposal, negligence or maladministration. At the subsequent meeting the Executive Director shall submit to the Council a report on the measures which it has taken. The Council shall take the appropriate decision.
5. The Council may, by special vote, stop sponsoring any project or pre-project activity.
ARTICLE 26. SETTING UP COMMITTEES.
1. The following are established as committees of the Organization:
a) Economic Information and Market Information Committee;
b) Repopulation and Forest Management Committee;
c) Committee on Forest Industries;
d) Finance and Administration Committee.
2. The Council may, by special vote, establish the other committees and subsidiary bodies it deems appropriate and necessary.
3. Each of the committees shall be open to the participation of all members. The rules of the committees shall be decided by the Council.
4. The subsidiary committees and bodies referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall be accountable to the Council and shall work under its general direction. Meetings of the subsidiary committees and bodies shall be convened by the Council.
ARTICLE 27. FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEES.
1. The Economic Information and Market Information Committee will be responsible for:
a) Regularly examine the availability and quality of statistics and other information needed by the Organization;
b) Analyze the statistical data and the concrete indicators decided by the Council for the surveillance of international timber trade;
(c) Keep the international timber market, its current status and short-term prospects on a permanent basis, on the basis of the data referred to in paragraph (b) and other relevant information, including related data; with the trade not documented;
d) Make recommendations to the Council on the need and nature of appropriate studies on tropical timber, including prices, market elasticity, wood replacements on the market, the marketing of new products, products and long-term prospects for the international tropical timber market and to monitor and examine the studies to be undertaken by the Council;
e) Carry out any other tasks related to the economic, technical and statistical aspects of the timbers entrusted to it by the Council;
f) Participate in the provision of technical cooperation to developing member countries in order to improve their relevant statistical services.
2. The Committee on Repopulation and Forest Management will be responsible for:
a) Encourage cooperation among members as partners for the development of forestry activities in member countries, in particular in the following areas:
i) Forest population;
ii) Rehabilitation of forests;
iii) Forest management;
b) Encouraging increased technical assistance and technology transfer in the areas of repopulation and forest management to developing countries;
c) Follow the ongoing activities in these areas and identify and study existing problems and their possible solutions in collaboration with competent organizations;
d) regularly examine the future needs of international trade in industrial tropical timber and, on that basis, identify and consider appropriate plans and measures in the field of afforestation, rehabilitation of forests and forest management;
e) Facilitating the transfer of knowledge on repopulation and forest management, with the assistance of competent organisations;
(f) Coordinate and harmonise those cooperation activities in the areas of repopulation and forest management with relevant activities to be carried out elsewhere, in particular within the framework of the United Nations for Agriculture and Food, FAO, the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, regional development banks and other organisations competent.
3. The Forestry Industries Committee will be responsible for:
(a) Encourage cooperation among member countries as partners for the development of manufacturing activities in producer member countries, in particular in the following areas:
i) Developing products by transferring technologies;
ii) The development of human resources and training;
iii) Standardisation of tropical timber nomenclature;
iv) Harmonization of the specifications of the processed products;
v) Promoting investments and joint ventures, and
vi) Marketing, including the promotion of lesser-known and lesser used species;
b) Encourage the exchange of information in order to facilitate the structural changes needed to promote greater and more advanced development in the interests of all member countries, in particular developing member countries;
c) Follow ongoing activities in these areas and identify and consider existing problems and their possible solutions in collaboration with competent organizations;
d) Encourage increased technical cooperation for the development of tropical timber for the benefit of producer member countries.
4. To carry out in a balanced way the work of the Organization related to the policies and with the projects, the Economic Information and Information Committee on the Market, the Committee of Repopulation and Forest Management, and the Forest Industries Committee:
(a) They shall be responsible for ensuring the effective examination, assessment and control of projects and pre-project activities;
b) Make recommendations to the Council regarding projects and pre-project activities;
c) They will follow the implementation of projects and pre-project activities and will make arrangements to gather and disseminate their results as widely as possible for the benefit of all members;
d) Develop policy ideas and present them to the Council;
e) Will regularly examine the results of the activities related to the
projects and policies and will make recommendations to the Council on the future of the Organization's program;
(f) regularly examine the strategies, criteria and priorities for the preparation of programmes and the implementation of project-related activities in accordance with the Organization's action plan and recommend to the Council the revisions to be performed by this;
g) Take into account the need to strengthen capacity building and human resources development in member countries;
h) They shall carry out any other tasks assigned to them by the Council in relation to the objectives of this Convention.
5. Research and development shall be a common function of the Committees referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.
6. The Finance and Administration Committee shall be responsible for:
(a) Examine and make recommendations to the Council regarding the approval of proposals for the administrative budget of the Organization and the management operations of the Organization;
(b) Examine the assets of the Organization in order to ensure its prudent management and that the Organization has sufficient reserves for the performance of its work;
c) Examine and make recommendations to the Council on the budgetary implications of the Organization's annual work programme and the measures which could be taken to ensure the resources necessary to carry out such a programme; job;
d) Recommend to the Council the choice of independent auditors and examine the statements of account established by such auditors;
e) Recommend to the Council amendments to the Council regulation or the financial regulation of the organisation it deems necessary;
f) Examine the revenue of the organization and the extent to which they limit the work of the Secretariat.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMMON FUND FOR BASIC PRODUCTS.
ARTICLE 28. RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMMON FUND FOR BASIC PRODUCTS.
The Organization will take full advantage of the facilities offered by the Common Fund for Basic Products.
STATISTICS, STUDIES, AND INFORMATION.
ARTICLE 29. STATISTICS, STUDIES AND INFORMATION.
1. The Council shall establish close relations with relevant intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organisations to contribute to ensuring the availability of recent and reliable data and information on trade in the tropical timber, as well as relevant information on non-tropical timber and on the management of wood-producing forests. To the extent deemed necessary for the implementation of this Convention, the Organization shall, in collaboration with these organizations, assemble, systematize and, where necessary, publish statistical information on production, supply, trade, stocks, consumption and market prices for timber, the amount of timber resources and the management of wood-producing forests.
2. Member States shall provide, within a reasonable period of time and as far as possible compatible with their national legislation, statistics and information on timber, their trade and activities to achieve management. sustainable wood-producing forests and any other relevant information requested by the Council. The Council shall decide on the type of information to be provided, in accordance with this paragraph and the manner in which it shall be submitted.
3. The Council shall take regular measures to carry out the necessary studies of trends and problems in the short and long term of the international timber market and the progress made towards achieving a common market. sustainable management of wood-producing forests.
ARTICLE 30. ANNUAL REPORT AND EXAMINATION.
1. Within six months of the end of each calendar year, the Council shall publish an annual report on its activities with the additional information it deems appropriate.
2. The Council shall review and assess each year:
a) The international situation of the woods;
(b) Other factors, issues and events that you consider to be of interest in achieving the objectives of this Convention.
3. The examination shall be carried out taking into account:
a) The information provided by members on national production, trade, supply, stocks, consumption and prices of timber;
b) Other statistical data and specific indicators provided by the members at the request of the Council, and
c) The information provided by members on the progress made towards sustainable management of their timber-producing forests;
(d) Any other relevant information available to the Council directly or through the organizations of the United Nations system and intergovernmental, governmental or non-governmental organizations.
4. The Council will promote the exchange of views between member countries on:
(a) The situation of sustainable management of timber-producing forests and related aspects in the Member States;
b) The resources and resource needs in relation to the objectives, criteria and guidelines established by the Organization.
5. On request, the Council shall seek to increase the technical capacity of the Member States, in particular the developing Member States, to obtain the data necessary for an appropriate exchange of information, in particular by supplying the members resources for training and services.
6. The results of the examination shall be included in the reports on the deliberations of the Council.
VARIAS PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 31. COMPLAINTS AND DISPUTES. Any complaint against a member for failure to comply with the obligations imposed on him by this Convention and any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention shall be subject to to the decision of the Council. Council decisions on this matter will be final and binding.
