Report from the working group on procedures for payment of Member States' contributions

At its Two-hundred-and-forty-second meeting in June 2000*, the Committee of Council decided to set up a Working Group to review the procedures on the payment of contributions of the Member States for the purposes of improving the cash-flow of the Organization. On the basis of its analysis of the different aspects of the problem and of possible solutions and their anticipated impact, the Working Group submits the following recommendations which it considers to be in the best interests of the Organization: - to adopt a revised payment schedule, i.e. payment of 50% not later than 10 February and the remaining 50% not later than 10 June; - to request the Director-General, in addition to the usual reminders sent by the Finance Division, to write to the relevant Minister in the Member State concerned or to take other equivalent action when contributions are outstanding, i.e. payment of over 20% of the total annual contribution is one month late with respect to the adopted payment schedule; - to request the Management to inform the Finance Committee in September and in December each year of the interest gained or lost for each Member State during the period concerned and of the appropriate follow-up actions. At this stage, the document is presented to the Finance Committee and the Committee of Council for information. In March 2001, the Finance Committee and the Committee of Council will be invited to recommend the Council to approve in June 2001, in the framework of a Resolution, the above recommendations with a view to their coming into force with effect from 1st January 2002.