DECISION

PROGRAMME AND BUDGET FOR 1998

AND WORKING CAPITAL FUND

The Conference

Recalling that Article VIII, subparagraph 21(a) of the Convention provides that the Conference shall consider and adopt at its regular sessions the programme and budget of the OPCW, submitted by the Executive Council in accordance with Article VIII, paragraph 32 of the Convention;

Noting that, in accordance with OPCW Financial Regulation 6.4, a Working Capital Fund shall be established in an amount and for purposes to be determined from time to time by the Conference;

Being aware that Article VIII, paragraph 7 of the Convention provides that financial contributions of States Parties to the Preparatory Commission shall be deducted in an appropriate way from their contributions to the regular budget of the OPCW;

Considering the draft OPCW programme and budget for 1998 submitted to the Conference by the Executive Council, as contained in document C-II/DEC/CRP.1/Rev.2 and Corr.1/2 and 3;

Hereby:

1. Adopts the OPCW programme and budget for 1998 as contained in document C-II/6, dated 5 December 1997, and

(a) appropriates, in Dutch guilders, a total amount of NLG 140,797 million, of which NLG 57,468.3 million are for the chapter relating to administrative and other costs, and NLG 83,328.7 million are for the chapter relating to verification costs, and authorises the Director-General to incur expenditures for 1998 not exceeding the total amount voted for each chapter;

(b) decides that the appropriations specified in subparagraph 1(a) above shall be financed from contributions by all States Parties in the total amount of NLG 122,444.5 million in accordance with the scale of assessments for 1998 approved by the Conference and from miscellaneous income in the total amount of NLG 18,352.5 million, which includes reimbursements under Articles IV and V of the Convention;

(c) requests States Parties to pay their contributions to the OPCW's 1998 budget in full within thirty days of the receipt of the communication from the Director- General requesting the contribution; and

(d) requests States Parties that have not done so to pay immediately their advances to the OPCW Working Capital Fund.

2. As regards the Article IV and V reimbursement criteria, in the absence of a finally agreed solution, the Conference agrees, for the 1998 budget:

(a) that, as recommended by the Executive Council at its Seventh Session in subparagraph 3.3 of EC-VII/2, Member States should apply the Article IV and V reimbursement criteria contained in C-I/DEC.74*, dated 23 May 1997, except as provided for in subparagraphs 2(b) and 2(c) below;

(b) that the issues with respect to "salary" and "the attribution of costs related to inspections of old and abandoned chemical weapons" be further addressed and resolved, after appropriate preparation in the first six months of 1998, at the Executive Council's session in June 1998, and that the solution reached be applied to the 1998 OPCW budget, on the basis of more definitive details gathered by the Technical Secretariat;

(c) that interpretation services shall be reimbursed in respect of such services between a language which is not one of the six languages of the Convention and a language which is one of the six languages of the Convention;

(d) that the Technical Secretariat should provide to Member States before the Executive Council's session in June 1998 details on actual experience gained with regard to the overall costs of verification and individual cost items;

(e) that negotiations by delegations should continue throughout 1998 as the Technical Secretariat gathers more definitive details on the overall costs of verification related to the provisions of Article IV and Article V;

(f) that the criteria for reimbursement by possessor States be finally elaborated in time for application in the 1999 OPCW budget; and

(g) with reference to the costs of verification under Articles IV and V of the Convention, the Director-General should make every effort to conduct inspections in the most cost-efficient manner in order to reduce the financial burden of the inspected States Parties where possible.

3. The Conference decides to defer a decision on the deduction of financial contributions of States Parties to the Preparatory Commission in accordance with Article VIII, paragraph 7 of the Convention until after the final audited financial statements of the Preparatory Commission are presented to the Conference.

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