CP/RES. 872 (1459/04)

UPDATE OF COSTS OF CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS FUNDED BY THE OAS

(Adopted at its session held on December 15, 2004)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

HAVING SEEN the document "Updating of resolution CP/RES. 807 (1307/02)" (CP/doc.3909/04), prepared by the General Secretariat, which reports on the average cost of the services needed for one-, two-, and three-day meetings;

CONSIDERING:

That in resolution AG/RES. 457 (IX-O/79) the General Assembly instructed the General Secretariat to base its calculation of the costs of conferences on the cost of holding them at headquarters;

That in resolution AG/RES. 1230 (XXIII-O/93) the General Assembly instructed the General Secretariat to pay travel expenses for government officials of member states only when such representatives travel on behalf of, and at the request of, the Organization;

That the minutes contained in document CP/ACTA 962/93 reflect the decision by the Permanent Council that under this policy the definition of "government representatives" applies not only to elected and appointed government officials but also to any person chosen by a government to represent his or her country in any forum of the OAS; and

That resolutions AG/RES. 1277 (XXIV-O/94), AG/RES. 1317 (XXV-O/95), AG/RES. 1381 (XXVI-O/96), and AG/RES. 1531 (XXVII-O/97) all reiterated that no funds entrusted to the Organization shall be used to pay travel costs other than those incurred on behalf of the Organization;

BEARING IN MIND:

That the General Assembly instructed the Committee on Meetings and Organizations, in resolution AG/RES. 1531 (XXVII-O/97), to study the costs of meetings, and, in resolution AG/RES. 1446 (XXVII-O/97), to seek ways to streamline the efforts of the Organization’s councils and make them more efficient;

That in resolution CP/RES. 807 (1307/02), and in previous resolutions on the same topic, the Permanent Council instructed the General Secretariat to review annually the estimated cost of meetings held at headquarters and away from headquarters and to report to the Permanent Council, by February 28 of each year, on whether these amounts should be revised; and

That, for statutory, regulatory, and administrative reasons, some organs and entities funded by the program-budget, such as the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN), the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), the Administrative Tribunal, the Board of External Auditors, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), do not rely entirely on the Office of Conferences and Meetings to organize and manage their meetings;

RECOGNIZING that resolution AG/RES. 1757 (XXX-O/00) established that only member states that are “current” or “considered current” are eligible to host meetings of the Organization (including, but not limited to, conferences, meetings of ministers, workshops, and seminars) directly funded, in whole or in part, by the Regular Fund; and

That in resolution AG/RES. 2059 (XXXIV-O/04) the General Assembly encouraged the member states to continue to pay their quotas in a timely manner; and

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the budgetary situation of the Organization and the need to make more efficient use of the limited resources with which it must execute its mandates,

RESOLVES:

1. To reiterate that:

a. The Regular Fund shall only be used to defray the costs of conferences and meetings already included in the program-budget of the Organization, provided that they meet the criteria approved by the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) for financing subprogram 10W (OAS Conferences), regardless of whether the allocation refers to a meeting at headquarters or away from headquarters, and provided that the amounts do not exceed those outlined in operative paragraph 9 of this resolution; and

b. Any additional cost, or cost not covered by the Regular Fund, must be paid either by the host country or from specific funds.

2. To reaffirm that if a member state offers to host a meeting that initially was to have been held in Washington, D.C., either that state must defray the additional cost of the meeting or such cost must be defrayed by specific funds.

3. To establish that the official offer to host an OAS meeting should be issued formally by the host country and received in the General Secretariat prior to signature of the agreement between the host country and the General Secretariat, in accordance with operative paragraph 4 of this resolution.

4. To instruct the General Secretariat, when preparing agreements for the hosting of OAS meetings away from headquarters: (a) to verify compliance with requirements established in resolutions AG/RES. 457 (IX-O/79), AG/RES. 1531 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES. 1757 (XXX-O/00), AG/RES. 1974 (XXXIII-O/03), and AG/RES. 2059 (XXXIV-O/04); (b) to specify clearly the financial commitments to be assumed by the Organization or by the host country and/or, when applicable, those which will be covered by specific funds; (c) to ensure that the agreements are signed by the parties at least 60 days before the beginning of the meeting.

5. To instruct the General Secretariat, when preparing these agreements, to use as a basis the rates set forth in the documents “Conference and Meetings Costs: Updating of resolution CP/RES. 807 (1307/02)” (CP/doc.3909/04) and “Supporting Documents for CP/doc.3909/04 and CP/RES. 807” (CP/CAAP-2713/04), as well as in the meeting budget models attached to this resolution; and to ensure that those resources approved by the General Assembly or the Permanent Council, in accordance with operative paragraph 9 of this resolution, shall be used exclusively to cover conference services for the meeting and travel costs of personnel of the Offices of Conferences and Meetings and Public Relations assigned to the meeting, up to a maximum of three people paid by the Regular Fund.

6. To establish that all funds for the meetings deposited with the General Secretariat by the host country and, when applicable, by other donors, in keeping with the agreement, shall be administered by the General Secretariat and must be deposited with the General Secretariat at least 60 days before the beginning of the meeting; and that, should such resources not be deposited with the General Secretariat by the deadline established in the agreement, the General Secretariat will automatically inform the Permanent Council to instead schedule the meeting at headquarters.

7. To establish that for meetings funded by program-budget items 10A (General Assembly), 10E (Office of the Secretariat of the General Assembly, the Meeting of Consultation, the Permanent Council, and Subsidiary Organs), 10G (Office of Conferences and Meetings), 10K (Meetings of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development, Ministerial Meetings, and meetings of the inter-American committees), and 10W (OAS Conferences):

a. The Office of Conferences and Meetings shall administer all funds allotted for holding meetings both at headquarters and away from headquarters, including all additional amounts and funds deposited with the General Secretariat that come from the host country or from other specific sources to cover additional expenses.

b. The General Secretariat shall administer each meeting as a specific project of the Office of Conferences and Meetings.

c. Regular Fund resources, resources contributed by the host country, and other specific resources deposited with the General Secretariat shall be used in accordance with the approved budget and in accordance with the agreement.

d. Unspent balances will be credited to the original sources of funding. Resources returning to the Regular Fund will be available for meetings scheduled later in the year, and balances credited to the specific funds of the host country or other donor countries or institutions will be reported in accordance with the deadline established in the corresponding agreement.

e. The General Secretariat shall neither transfer nor assign the execution of funds to officials or institutions in the host country.

8. To confirm that the Office of Conferences and Meetings may provide services and support for other meetings of OAS bodies which are not funded under the program-budget items specified in operative paragraph 7 of this resolution, in accordance with the terms and conditions established in the memorandums of understanding between the Office of Conferences and Meetings and the requesting department, office, or area, and in accordance with administrative procedures established by the General Secretariat.

9. To instruct the General Secretariat to base the preparation of the proposed budget for any conference or meeting on the guidelines contained in CP/doc.3909/04 and in AG/RES. 1531 (XXVII-O/97), using the following maximum figures:

At headquarters Away from headquarters
One-day meetings US$18,478 US$23,434
Two-day meetings US$31,191 US$36,683
Three-day meetings US$43,905 US$49,932

These amounts should be used to allocate the funds under subprograms of the Regular Fund budget referred to in operative paragraph 7 of this resolution.

10. To reiterate that, as a general rule, Regular Fund appropriations shall be used to cover the travel expenses of member state representatives only when they have been appointed on a case-by-case basis by a competent authority, to perform duties on behalf of, and at the request of, the Organization. In those instances, travel funding sources should come from budgetary allocations for services to the Permanent Council or for the Office of the Secretary General.

11. To instruct the General Secretariat to review annually the costs outlined in operative paragraph 9 of this resolution and to report to the Permanent Council, before November 30 of each year, on whether they should be updated. Updated figures shall then be incorporated into the budgeting system and the various areas, entities, and organs of the Organization shall take them into account when estimating the costs of their meetings and conferences.

12. To reiterate that meetings of the Organization funded by the Regular Fund should last no more than three days. When an exception is requested, the Office of Conferences and Meetings shall prepare a meeting budget, based on projected costs, for consideration by the CAAP and subsequent approval by the Permanent Council.

http://scm.oas.org/pdfs/2004/CP13713.pdf