CP/RES. 982 (1797/11)

UPDATE OF COSTS OF CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS
FUNDED BY THE OAS

(Approved at the meeting held on March 30, 2011)

THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES,

HAVING SEEN the document “Updating of Resolution CP/RES. 872 (1459/04)” , 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;
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; and

That resolution AG/RES. 2202 (XXXVI-O/06) established clear guidelines for the use of funds from Subprogram 22I for unprogrammed meetings and conferences;

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. 872 (1459/04), 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 Department of Conferences and Meetings Management to organize and manage their meetings;

RECOGNIZING that resolution AG/RES. 1757 (XXX-O/00), as amended by resolution AG/RES. 2157 (XXXV-O/05), established that only member states that have “Current A” or “Current B” status or are “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 22I (OAS Unprogrammed 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 8 of this resolution; and

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

2. To reaffirm that if a member state offers to host a meeting that initially was to have been held in Washington, D.C., that state must defray the additional cost of holding the meeting in its country.

3. Prior to signature of a meeting agreement between the host country and the General Secretariat, both parties must comply with the following requirements:

a. The General Secretariat must receive an official offer in writing from the host country at least 90 days before the meeting;

b. the General Secretariat must verify compliance with requirements established in this resolution and resolution AG/RES. 2202 (XXXVI-O/06);

c. to specify clearly the financial commitments to be assumed by the Organization or by the host country;

d. to ensure that the agreements are signed by the parties at least 60 days before the beginning of the meeting.

4. To instruct the General Secretariat, when preparing these agreements, to use as a basis 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 8 of this resolution, are used exclusively to cover conference services for the meeting.

5. To establish that all funds for the meetings deposited with the General Secretariat by the host country, 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 so that the latter might decide how to proceed.

6. To establish that for meetings funded by program-budget items 22H (General Assembly), 22B (Office of the Secretariat of the General Assembly, the Meeting of Consultation, the Permanent Council, and Subsidiary Organs), 22C (Department of Conferences and Meetings Management), 72H (Meetings of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development, Ministerial Meetings, and meetings of the inter-American committees), and 22I (OAS Unprogrammed Conferences):

a. The Department of Conferences and Meetings Management shall administer and execute the 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 Department of Conferences and Meetings Management.

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 shall be credited to the original sources of funding. Resources returning to the Regular Fund shall be available for meetings scheduled later in the year, and balances credited to the specific funds of the host country shall 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.

f. The Regular Fund resources approved to finance meetings authorized in the Program-Budget shall not be used to finance preparatory and follow-up meetings, and other related meetings, such as Civil Society meetings, Private Sector or Youth meetings.

7. To confirm that the Department of Conferences and Meetings Management may provide services and support for other meetings of OAS bodies which are not funded under the program-budget items specified in operative paragraph 6 of this resolution, in accordance with the terms and conditions established in the memorandums of understanding between the Department of Conferences and Meetings Management and the requesting department or area, and in accordance with administrative procedures established by the General Secretariat.

8. To instruct the General Secretariat to base the preparation of the proposed budget for any conference or meeting on the guidelines contained in this resolution and in resolution AG/RES. 2202 XXXVI-O/06, using the following maximum figures, in accordance with the cost breakdown appended:

BUDGETARY COSTS FOR MEETINGS

Meetings/Days At headquarters and away from headquarters
One-day meetings US$18,685
Two-day meetings US$ 33,558
Three-day meetings US$ 48,379

These amounts should be used to allocate the funds under subprograms of the Regular Fund budget referred to in operative paragraph 6 of this resolution. The financing of budget differences as a result of costs that exceed the maximum limits shown in the table above may be approved by the CAAP, subject to prior request and due justification by the Department of Conferences and Meetings Management.

9. 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.

10. To instruct the General Secretariat to review the costs outlined in operative paragraph 8 of this resolution every two years, and to report to the Permanent Council, before November 30 of the review 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.

11. 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 Department of Conferences and Meetings Management shall prepare a meeting budget, based on projected costs, for consideration by the CAAP and subsequent approval by the Permanent Council.

12. This resolution shall enter into force on July 1, 2011.

Three tables explaining the detailed costing of options for meeting arrangements


http://scm.oas.org/pdfs/2011/CP25927E.pdf