Artikel 10

1. The producer members shall together hold 1,000 votes and the consumer members shall together hold 1,000 votes.
2. The votes of the producer members shall be distributed as follows:
a) Four hundred votes shall be distributed equally among the three producing regions of Africa, Asia -Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean. The votes thus allocated to each of these regions shall then be distributed equally among the producer members of that region;
b) Three hundred votes shall be distributed among the producer members in accordance with their respective shares of the total tropical forest resources of all producer members; and
c) Three hundred votes shall be distributed among the producer 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.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article, the total votes allocated to the producer members from the African region, calculated in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, shall be distributed equally among all producer members from the African region. If there are any remaining votes, each of these votes shall be allocated to a producer member from the African region: the first to the producer member which is allocated the highest number of votes calculated in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, the second to the producer member which is allocated the second highest number of votes, and so on until all the remaining votes have been distributed.
4. Subject to paragraph 5 of this article, the votes of the consumer members shall be distributed as follows: each consumer member shall have 10 initial votes; the remaining votes shall be distributed among the consumer members in proportion to the average volume of their respective net imports of tropical timber during the five-year period commencing six calendar years prior to the distribution of votes.
5. The votes distributed to a consumer member for a given biennium shall not exceed 5 per cent over and above the votes distributed to that member for the previous biennium. Excess votes shall be redistributed among the consumer members in proportion to the average volume of their respective net imports of tropical timber during the five-year period commencing six calendar years prior to the distribution of votes.
6. The Council may, by special vote in accordance with article 12, adjust the minimum percentage required for a special vote by consumer members if it deems it necessary.
7. The Council shall distribute the votes for each financial biennium at the beginning of its first session of that biennium in accordance with the provisions of this article. Such distribution shall remain in effect for the rest of that biennium, except as provided for in paragraph 8 of this article.
8. 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.
9. There shall be no fractional votes.