Artikel 8

1. The Assembly shall establish the Financial Committee as a subsidiary organ of the Assembly. The Financial Committee shall:
a) determine the annual assessed contributions of Members in accordance with Article 23(3) of this Convention;
b) provide advice to the Secretariat in the preparation of the budget of the Commission;
c) review the draft budget of the Commission for the following year, as prepared by the Secretariat, and report to the Assembly;
d) review and authorise the acceptance of contributions from entities other than Members and Observers in accordance with Article 23(4) of this Convention;
e) provide recommendations to the Assembly relating to other relevant financial matters; and
f) perform any other tasks related to financial matters assigned to it by the Assembly.
2. The Financial Committee shall be comprised of representatives of:
a) all Members that are the Major Contributors to the budget of the Commission;
b) other Members and Observers that contribute to the budget of the Commission an amount at least equal to the obligatory contributions of the Major Contributors during the financial year for which they made such a contribution;
c) other Members elected by the Assembly.
3. The Assembly shall determine the number of Members and of Observers under subparagraphs 2(b) and 2(c) above. The Assembly shall review such numbers annually. The number of Observers shall not be higher than the number of Members.
4. In the event that the Commission receives sufficient funds wholly from sources other than assessed contributions to meet its budgetary needs, the Financial Committee shall only be comprised of representatives of Members elected by the Assembly.
5. The Financial Committee shall endeavour to adopt its decisions by consensus. Unless otherwise provided in this Convention, where efforts to achieve consensus have been exhausted, the Financial Committee shall adopt decisions by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, with each member of the Financial Committee having one vote. The presence of a majority of members of the Financial Committee is required for any decision-making of the Financial Committee.
6. Decisions on procedural matters shall be adopted by a majority of the votes cast. If there is a doubt or uncertainty as to whether the matter is procedural, the decision shall be adopted in accordance with paragraph 5 above.
7. The Financial Committee shall meet as necessary and report to the Assembly. The Financial Committee may invite Members, Observers, and other States and entities that have supported the Commission financially over the relevant reporting period to be present during the meetings of the Financial Committee.
8. The Secretariat shall provide the necessary administrative support to the Financial Committee.