Artikel 19

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 4, 5 and 6 of this article.
2. The Administrative Account shall include:
a) Basic administrative costs such as salaries and benefits, installation costs, and official travel; and
b) Core operational costs such as those related to communication and outreach, expert meetings convened by the Council and preparation and publication of studies and assessments pursuant to articles 24, 27 and 28 of this Agreement.
3. The expenses of delegations to the Council, the committees and any other subsidiary bodies of the Council referred to in article 26 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.
4. Before the end of each financial biennium, the Council shall approve the budget for the Administrative Account of the Organization for the following biennium and shall assess the contribution of each member to that budget.
5. Contributions to the Administrative Account for each financial biennium shall be assessed as follows:
a) The costs referred to in paragraph 2a) of this article shall be shared equally among producer and consumer members and assessed in the proportion the number of each member’s votes bears to the total votes of the member’s group;
b) The costs referred to in paragraph 2b) of this article shall be shared among members in the proportions of 20 per cent for producers and 80 per cent for consumers and assessed in the proportion the number of each member’s votes bears to the total votes of the member’s group;
c) The costs referred to in paragraph 2b) of this article shall not exceed one third of the costs referred to in paragraph 2a) of this article. The Council may, by consensus, decide to vary this limit for a specific financial biennium;
d) The Council may review how the Administrative Account and the voluntary accounts contribute to the efficient and effective operation of the Organization in the context of the evaluation referred to in article 33; and
e) 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.
6. 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 biennium, but the assessment made upon other members from the current financial biennium shall not thereby be altered.
7. Contributions to the Administrative Account shall become due on the first day of each financial year. Contributions of members in respect of the financial biennium in which they join the Organization shall be due on the date on which they become members.
8. If a member has not paid its full contribution to the Administrative Account within four months after such contribution becomes due in accordance with paragraph 7 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 until such time as it has paid in full its contribution, unless the Council, by special vote in accordance with article 12, decides otherwise. If a member has not paid its contribution in full for two consecutive years, taking into account the provisions contained in article 30, that member shall become ineligible to submit project or pre-project proposals for funding consideration under article 25, paragraph 1.
9. If a member has paid its full contribution to the Administrative Account within four months after such contribution becomes due in accordance with paragraph 7 of this article, that member’s contribution shall receive a discount as may be established by the Council in the financial rules of the Organization.
10. A member whose rights have been suspended under paragraph 8 of this article shall remain liable to pay its contribution.