Distr.

LIMITED

FCCC/CP/1998/L.13

10 November 1998

Original: ENGLISH

CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES

Fourth session

Buenos Aires, 2-13 November 1998

Agenda item 6

At its ninth session, the Subsidiary Body for Implementation decided to recommend the following draft decision for adoption by the Conference of the Parties at its fourth session:

The Conference of the Parties,

Recalling its decision 16/CP.3, paragraph 4, and decision 17/CP.3, paragraph 2,

Bearing in mind General Assembly resolution 52/215 of 22 December 1997 revising the United Nations scale of assessments, and considering the recommendation of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) to revise the indicative scale of contributions to the core budget on the basis of the revised United Nations scale of assessments,

Having considered the information contained in documents FCCC/CP/1998/8 and Add.1, FCCC/CP/1998/9, FCCC/CP/1998/10, FCCC/CP/1998/INF.1 and FCCC/CP/1998/INF.6,

1. Takes note of the audited financial statements for the biennium 1996-1997, and the audit reports by the Office of Internal Oversight Services and by the Board of Auditors of the United Nations;

EZE.98-

2. Expresses appreciation to the United Nations for arranging the audits of the operations of the Convention secretariat, and for the valuable audit observations and recommendations, and takes note of those recommendations;

3. Takes note also of the actions already taken by the Executive Secretary to implement the recommendations made by both the internal and external auditors, and urges that the implementation be completed as soon as possible;

4. Takes note of the initial report on financial performance in 1998, including the status of contributions to all the trust funds of the Convention;

5. Expresses appreciation to Parties that have paid their contributions to the core budget and to Parties which have made additional voluntary contributions towards the Trust Fund for Supplementary Activities;

6. Reiterates its appreciation for the contributions received from Parties to assist the participation of developing country Parties, particularly the least developed and small island developing countries, and invites Parties to continue contributing generously towards this end;

7. Reiterates its appreciation to the Government of Germany for its annual contribution of DM 3.5 million and its special contribution to the core budget of DM 1.5 million, as host Government to the secretariat in Bonn;

8. Urges Parties which have not paid their contributions to the core budget for 1996, 1997 or 1998, to do so without further delay and recalls that contributions for 1999 are due on 1 January 1999;

9. Notes with concern the significant carry-over from one biennium to the next, arising inter alia from late payment of contributions, and requests the Executive Secretary to present options on how to deal with this issue for consideration and recommendation by the SBI at its tenth session, with a view to taking a decision on this matter, if needed, at a future Conference of the Parties;

10. Takes note of the developments reported by the Executive Secretary in his discussions with the United Nations regarding administrative arrangements for the Convention;

11. Endorses the efforts of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary to achieve a more rational and efficient approach to the administrative arrangements between the secretariat and the United Nations;

12. Requests the Executive Secretary to report to the SBI at its tenth session on progress made in implementing the new administrative arrangements;

13. Takes note of the cooperation between the secretariats of UNFCCC, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and invites the Executive Secretary to consult with the heads of the secretariats of those Conventions and report back to the SBI, at its eleventh session;

14. Adopts the indicative scale of contributions to the core budget contained in the annex to this decision, which is based on the revised United Nations scale of assessments and which follows the principle that all Parties should contribute to the Convention budget;

15. Adopts the new indicative scale for the biennium 1998-1999 adjusted so as to ensure that no Party contributes less than 0.001 per cent of the total; that no one contribution exceeds 25 per cent of the total; and that no contribution from a least developed country Party exceeds 0.01 per cent;

16. Amends paragraph 7 (a) of the financial procedures (as contained in decision 15/CP.1, annex I) to read as follows: "Contributions made each year by Parties on the basis of the indicative scale adopted by consensus by the Conference of the Parties, and based on such a scale of assessments of the United Nations as may be adopted from time to time by the General Assembly";

17. Requests the Executive Secretary to submit for consideration by the SBI at its tenth session a proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001, including a contingency for conference services should this prove necessary in the light of decisions to be taken by the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session;

18. Requests the SBI at its tenth session to recommend a programme budget for adoption by the Conference of the Parties at its subsequent session.

Party	Indicative scale			Party	Indicative scale
	1998	1999			1998	1999
Albania	0.003	0.003		Denmark	0.662	0.664
Algeria	0.112	0.09		Djibouti	0.001	0.001
Antigua and Barbuda	0.002	0.002		Dominica	0.001	0.001
Argentina	0.74	0.984		Ecuador	0.021	0.019
Armenia	0.026	0.011		Egypt	0.066	0.062
Australia	1.417	1.424		El Salvador	0.012	0.012
Austria	0.901	0.904		Eritrea	0.001	0.001
Azerbaijan	0.058	0.021		Estonia	0.022	0.014
Bahamas	0.014	0.014		Ethiopia	0.007	0.006
Bahrain	0.017	0.016		European Community	2.5	2.5
Bangladesh	0.01	0.01		Fiji	0.004	0.004
Barbados	0.008	0.008		Finland	0.518	0.521
Belgium	1.056	1.06		France	6.256	6.285
Belize	0.001	0.001		Gabon	(new Party)	0.014
Benin	0.002	0.002		Gambia	0.001	0.001
Bhutan	0.001	0.001		Georgia	0.056	0.018
Bolivia	0.008	0.007		Germany	9.277	9.425
Botswana	0.01	0.01		Ghana	0.01	0.007
Brazil	1.459	1.413		Greece	0.355	0.337
Bulgaria	0.043	0.018		Grenada	0.001	0.001
Burkina Faso	0.002	0.002		Guatemala	0.018	0.017
Burundi	0.001	0.001		Guinea	0.003	0.003
Cambodia	0.001	0.001		Guinea-Bissau	0.001	0.001
Cameroon	0.013	0.012		Guyana	0.001	0.001
Canada	2.722	2.646		Haiti	0.002	0.002
Cape Verde	0.001	0.002		Honduras	0.004	0.003
Central African Republic	0.002	0.001		Hungary	0.115	0.115
Chad	0.001	0.001		Iceland	0.031	0.031
Chile	0.109	0.126		India	0.294	0.287
China	0.868	0.935		Indonesia	0.167	0.177
Colombia	0.104	0.105		Iran (Islamic Republic of )	0.292	0.185
Comoros	0.001	0.001		Ireland	0.215	0.215
Congo	0.003	0.003		Israel	0.317	0.332
Cook Islands	0.001	0.001		Italy	5.196	5.22
Costa Rica	0.016	0.015		Jamaica	0.006	0.006
Côte d'Ivoire	0.012	0.009		Japan	17.322	19.203
Croatia	0.054	0.035		Jordan	0.008	0.006
Cuba	0.038	0.025		Kazakhstan	0.119	0.063
Cyprus	0.033	0.033		Kenya	0.007	0.007
Czech Republic	0.163	0.116		Kiribati	0.001	0.001
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	0.03	0.018		Kuwait	0.148	0.129
Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.008	0.007		Lao People's Democratic Republic	0.001	0.001
Party	Indicative scale			Party	Indicative scale
		1998	1999
Latvia	0.044	0.023		Saint Lucia	0.001	0.001
Lebanon	0.015	0.015		Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0.001	0.001
Lesotho	0.002	0.002		Samoa	0.001	0.001
Liechtenstein	0.005	0.006		San Marino	0.002	0.002
Lithuania	0.043	0.021		Saudi Arabia	0.572	0.547
Luxembourg	0.064	0.065		Senegal	0.006	0.006
Malawi	0.002	0.002		Seychelles	0.002	0.002
Malaysia	0.162	0.173		Sierra Leone	0.001	0.001
Maldives	0.001	0.001		Singapore	0.161	0.169
Mali	0.003	0.002		Slovakia	0.051	0.037
Malta	0.013	0.013		Slovenia	0.058	0.059
Marshall Islands	0.001	0.001		Solomon Islands	0.001	0.001
Mauritania	0.001	0.001		South Africa	0.352	0.352
Mauritius	0.009	0.009		Spain	2.477	2.488
Mexico	0.907	0.942		Sri Lanka	0.013	0.012
Micronesia (Federated States of)	0.001	0.001		Sudan	0.009	0.007
Monaco	0.003	0.004		Suriname	0.004	0.004
Mongolia	0.002	0.002		Swaziland	0.002	0.002
Morocco	0.039	0.039		Sweden	1.059	1.042
Mozambique	0.002	0.001		Switzerland	1.17	1.168
Myanmar	0.009	0.008		Syrian Arab Republic	0.06	0.061
Namibia	0.007	0.007		Tajikistan	(new Party)	0.005
Nauru	0.001	0.001		Thailand	0.152	0.16
Nepal	0.004	0.004		The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	(new Party)	0.004
Netherlands	1.56	1.567		Togo	0.002	0.001
New Zealand	0.213	0.212		Trinidad and Tobago	0.017	0.016
Nicaragua	0.002	0.001		Tunisia	0.027	0.027
Niger	0.002	0.002		Turkmenistan	0.014	0.008
Nigeria	0.067	0.038		Tuvalu	0.001	0.001
Niue	0.001	0.001		Uganda	0.004	0.004
Norway	0.583	0.586		Ukraine	0.653	0.29
Oman	0.048	0.049		United Arab Emirates	0.171	0.171
Pakistan	0.058	0.057		United Kingdom	4.89	4.891
Panama	0.015	0.012		United Republic of Tanzania	0.004	0.003
Papua New Guinea	0.007	0.007		United States of America	25	25
Paraguay	0.013	0.013		Uruguay	0.047	0.046
Peru	0.082	0.091		Uzbekistan	0.074	0.036
Philippines	0.074	0.077		Vanuatu	0.001	0.001
Poland	0.242	0.199		Venezuela	0.226	0.169
Portugal	0.355	0.401		Viet Nam	0.01	0.007
Qatar	0.032	0.032		Yemen	0.01	0.01
Republic of Korea	0.92	0.955		Yugoslavia	0.058	0.033
Republic of Moldova	0.041	0.017		Zambia	0.003	0.002
Romania	0.098	0.064		Zimbabwe	0.009	0.009
Russian Federation	2.768	1.429
Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.001	0.001		TOTAL	100	100