Displaying 1 - 78 of 78

Paragraphs in "International Tropical Timber Agreement" coded as HOBS

Label Provision
Art.3 Article 3
Art.3.1 1. The International Tropical Timber Organization is hereby established to administer the provisions and supervise the operation of this Agreement.
Art.3.2 2. The Organization shall function through the International Tropical Timber Council established under article 6, the committees and other subsidiary bodies referred to in article 24, and the Executive Director and staff.
Art.3.3 3. The Council shall, at its first session, decide on the location of the headquarters of the Organization.
Art.3.4 4. The headquarters of the Organization shall at all times be located in the territory of a member.
Art.4 Article 4
Art.4.1x There shall be two categories of membership in the Organization, namely:
Art.4.1x.a (a) Producing; and
Art.4.1x.b (b) Consuming.
Art.5 Article 5
Art.5.1 1. Any reference in this Agreement to "Governments" shall be construed as including the European Economic Community and any other intergovernmental organization having responsibilities in respect of the negotiation, conclusion and application of international agreements, in particular commodity agreements. Accordingly, any reference in this Agreement to signature, ratification, acceptance or approval, or to notification of provisional application, or to accession shall, in the case of such intergovernmental organizations, be construed as including a reference to signature, ratification, acceptance or approval, or to notification of provisional application, or to accession, by such intergovernmental organizations.
Art.5.2 2. In the case of voting on matters within their competence, such intergovernmental organizations shall vote with a number of votes equal to the total number of votes attributable to their member States in accordance with article 10. In such cases, the member States of such intergovernmental organizations shall not be entitled to exercise their individual voting rights.
Sect.5.2 CHAPTER IV - INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER COUNCIL
Art.6 Article 6
Art.6.1 1. The highest authority of the Organization shall be the International Tropical Timber Council, which shall consist of all the members of the Organization.
Art.6.2 2. Each member shall be represented in the Council by one representative and may designate alternates and advisers to attend sessions of the Council.
Art.6.3 3. An alternate representative shall be empowered to act and vote on behalf of the representative during the latter's absence or in special circumstances.
Art.7 Article 7
Art.7.1 1. The Council shall exercise all such powers and perform or arrange for the performance of all such functions as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Agreement.
Art.7.2 2. The Council shall, by special vote, adopt such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Agreement, including its own rules of procedure and the financial and staff regulations of the Organization. Such financial regulations shall, inter alia, govern the receipt and expenditure of funds under the Administrative and Special Accounts. The Council may, in its rules of procedure, provide for a procedure whereby it may, without meeting, decide specific questions.
Art.7.3 3. The Council shall keep such records as are required for the performance of its functions under this Agreement.
Art.8 Article 8
Art.8.1 1. The Council shall elect for each calendar year a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman, whose salaries shall not be paid by the Organization.
Art.8.2 2. The Chairman and the Vice-Chairman shall be elected, one from among the representatives of producing members and the other from among the representatives of consuming members. These offices shall alternate each year between the two categories of members, provided, however, that this shall not prohibit the re-election of either or both, under exceptional circumstances, by special vote of the Council.
Art.8.3 3. In the temporary absence of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman shall act in his place. In the temporary absence of both the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, or in the absence of one or both of them for the rest of the term for which they were elected, the Council may elect new officers from among the representatives of the producing members and/or from among the representatives of the consuming members, as the case may be, on a temporary basis or for the rest of the term for which the predecessor or predecessors were elected.
Art.9 Article 9
Art.9.1 1. As a general rule, the Council shall hold at least one regular session a year.
Art.9.2 2. The Council shall meet in special session whenever it so decides or at the request of:
Art.9.2.a (a) The Executive Director, in agreement with the Chairman of the Council; or
Art.9.2.b (b) A majority of producing members or a majority of consuming members; or
Art.9.2.c (c) Members holding at least 500 votes.
Art.9.3 3. Sessions of the Council shall be held at the headquarters of the Organization unless the Council, by special vote, decides otherwise. If on the invitation of any member the Council meets elsewhere than at the headquarters of the Organization, that member shall pay the additional cost of holding the meeting away from headquarters.
Art.9.4 4. Notice of any sessions and the agenda for such sessions shall be communicated to members by the Executive Director at least six weeks in advance, except in cases of emergency, when notice shall be communicated at least seven days in advance.
Art.10 Article 10
Art.10.1 1. The producing members shall together hold 1,000 votes and the consuming members shall together hold 1,000 votes.
Art.10.2 2. The votes of the producing members shall be distributed as follows:
Art.10.2.a (a) Four hundred votes shall be distributed equally among the three producing regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The votes thus allocated to each of these regions shall then be distributed equally among the producing members of that region;
Art.10.2.b (b) Three hundred votes shall be distributed among the producing members in accordance with their respective shares of the total tropical forest resources of all producing members; and
Art.10.2.c (c) Three hundred votes shall be distributed among the producing members in proportion to the average of the values of their respective net exports of tropical timber during the most recent three-year period for which definitive figures are available.
Art.10.3 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article, the total votes allocated to the producing members from the African region, calculated in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, shall be distributed equally among all producing members from the African region. If there are any remaining votes, each of these votes shall be allocated to a producing member from the African region: the first to the producing member which is allocated the highest number of votes calculated in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, the second to the producing member which is allocated the second highest number of votes, and so on until all the remaining votes have been distributed.
Art.10.4 4. For purposes of the calculation of the distribution of votes under paragraph 2(b) of this article, "tropical forest resources" means productive closed broadleaved forests as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Art.10.5 5. The votes of the consuming members shall be distributed as follows: each consuming member shall have 10 initial votes; the remaining votes shall be distributed among the consuming members in proportion to the average volume of their respective net imports of tropical timber during the three-year period commencing four calendar years prior to the distribution of votes.
Art.10.6 6. The Council shall distribute the votes for each financial year at the beginning of its first session of that year in accordance with the provisions of this article. Such distribution shall remain in effect for the rest of that year, except as provided for in paragraph 7 of this article.
Art.10.7 7. Whenever the membership of the Organization changes or when any member has its voting rights suspended or restored under any provision of this Agreement, the Council shall redistribute the votes within the affected category or categories of members in accordance with the provisions of this article. The Council shall, in that event, decide when such redistribution shall become effective.
Art.10.8 8. There shall be no fractional votes.
Art.11 Article 11
Art.11.1 1. Each member shall be entitled to cast the number of votes it holds and no member shall be entitled to divide its votes. A member may, however, cast differently from such votes any votes which it is authorized to cast under paragraph 2 of this article.
Art.11.2 2. By written notification to the Chairman of the Council, any producing member may authorize, under its own responsibility, any other producing member, and any consuming member may authorize, under its own responsibility, any other consuming member, to represent its interests and to cast its votes at any meeting of the Council.
Art.11.3 3. When abstaining, a member shall be deemed not to have cast its votes.
Art.12 Article 12
Art.12.1 1. The Council shall endeavour to take all decisions and to make all recommendations by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, the Council shall take all decisions and make all recommendations by a simple distributed majority vote, unless this Agreement provides for a special vote.
Art.12.2 2. Where a member avails itself of the provisions of article 11, paragraph 2, and its votes are cast at a meeting of the Council, such member shall, for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, be considered as present and voting.
Art.13 Article 13
Art.13.1 1. The quorum for any meeting of the Council shall be the presence of a majority of producing members and a majority of consuming members, provided that such members hold at least two thirds of the total votes in their respective categories.
Art.13.2 2. If there is no quorum in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article on the day fixed for the meeting and on the following day, the quorum on the subsequent days of the session shall be the presence of a majority of producing members and a majority of consuming members, provided that such members hold a majority of the total votes in their respective categories.
Art.13.3 3. Representation in accordance with article 11, paragraph 2, shall be considered as presence.
Art.15 Article 15
Art.15.1x The Council may invite any non-member Government or any of the organizations referred to in articles 14, 20 and 27 concerned with tropical timber to attend as observers any of the meetings of the Council.
Art.17 Article 17
Art.17.1 1. The Organization shall have legal personality. It shall in particular have the capacity to contract, to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property, and to institute legal proceedings.
Art.17.2 2. The Organization shall, as soon as possible after the entry into force of this Agreement, seek to conclude with the Government of the country in which the headquarters of the Organization is to be located (hereinafter referred to as the "host Government") an agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "Headquarters Agreement") relating to such status, privileges and immunities of the Organization, of its Executive Director, its staff and experts, and of representatives of members, as are necessary for the purpose of discharging their functions.
Art.17.3 3. Pending the conclusion of the Headquarters Agreement referred to in paragraph 2 of this article, the Organization shall request the host Government to grant, within the limits of its national legislation, exemption from taxation on remuneration paid by the Organization to its employees, and on the assets, income and other property of the Organization.
Art.17.4 4. The Organization may also conclude, with one or more countries, agreements to be approved by the Council relating to such capacity, privileges and immunities as may be necessary for the proper functioning of this Agreement.
Art.17.5 5. If the headquarters of the Organization is moved to another country, the member in question shall, as soon as possible, conclude with the Organization a headquarters agreement to be approved by the Council.
Art.17.6 6. The Headquarters Agreement shall be independent of this Agreement. It shall, however terminate:
Art.17.6.a (a) By agreement between the host Government and the Organization;
Art.17.6.b (b) In the event of the headquarters of the Organization being moved from the country of the host Government; or
Art.17.6.c (c) In the event of the Organization ceasing to exist.
Sect.6 CHAPTER VI - FINANCE
Art.19 Article 19
Art.19.1 1. The expenses necessary for the administration of this Agreement shall be brought into the Administrative Account and shall be met by annual contributions paid by members in accordance with their respective constitutional or institutional procedures and assessed in accordance with paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of this article.
Art.19.2 2. The expenses of delegations to the Council, the committees and any other subsidiary bodies of the Council referred to in article 24 shall be met by the members concerned. In cases where a member requests special services from the Organization, the Council shall require that member to pay the costs of such services.
Art.19.3 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 assess the contribution of each member to that budget.
Art.19.4 4. The contribution of each member to the administrative budget for each financial year shall be in the proportion which the number of its votes at the time the administrative budget for that financial year is approved bears to the total votes of all the members. In assessing contributions, the votes of each member shall be calculated without regard to the suspension of any member's voting rights or any redistribution of votes resulting therefrom.
Art.19.5 5. The initial contribution of any member joining the Organization after the entry into force of this Agreement shall be assessed by the Council on the basis of the number of votes to be held by that member and the period remaining in the current financial year, but the assessment made upon other members from the current financial year shall not thereby be altered.
Art.19.6 6. Contributions to the first administrative budget shall become due on a date to be decided by the Council at its first session. Contributions to subsequent administrative budgets shall become due on the first day of each financial year. Contributions of members in respect of the financial year in which they join the Organization shall be due on the date on which they become members.
Art.19.7 7. If a member has not paid its full contribution to the administrative budget within four months after such contribution becomes due in accordance with paragraph 6 of this article, the Executive Director shall request that member to make payment as quickly as possible. If that member has still not paid its contribution within two months after such request, that member shall be requested to state the reasons for its inability to make payment. If at the expiry of seven months from the due date of contribution, that member has still not paid its contribution, its voting rights shall be suspended and an interest charge shall be levied on its late contribution at the central bank rate of the host country until such time as it has paid in full its contribution, unless the Council, by special vote, decides otherwise.
Art.19.8 8. A member whose rights have been suspended under paragraph 7 of this article shall remain liable to pay its contribution.