SEABED COUNCIL TAKES UP STAFF REGULATIONS
Press Release
SEA/1688
SEABED COUNCIL TAKES UP STAFF REGULATIONS
20000713(Received from International Seabed Authority.)
KINGSTON, 11 July -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority, meeting in Kingston this morning, began discussing draft Staff Regulations governing the rights, duties and obligations of persons employed by the Authority, and the principles of its personnel policy.
Much of the discussion turned on two matters: how the regulations should deal with situations in which a non-governmental source offered a favour, gift or remuneration to a staff member; and whether senior staff members should be required to file financial disclosure statements covering their assets.
The Council will resume discussion of this item at 3:30 p.m. today.
Introducing the text this morning, Michael Lodge, Chief of the Authoritys Office of Legal Affairs and Secretary of the Council, explained that the regulations largely followed those of the United Nations, with additions required by the special nature of the Authority and by provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea pertaining to the secretariat.
For example, in their written declaration when joining the staff, staff members would promise to have no financial interest in any activity relating to exploration for and exploitation of the resources of the international seabed area. In addition, they would promise not to disclose, even after leaving the Authority, any industrial secret, proprietary data which are transferred to the Authority or any other confidential information coming to their knowledge by reason of their service.
A regulation on conflict of interest requires that a staff member not be actively associated with the management of, or hold a financial interest in, any profit-making business or other concern if either side could benefit by reason of the staff members position with the Authority. Further, the Secretary-General and the staff shall have no financial interest in any activity relating to exploration for and exploitation of the resources of the international seabed area.
Mr. Lodge also explained that the Finance Committee, when examining and approving the draft regulations last August, had introduced a provision for an ad hoc tribunal to judge alleged violations of confidentiality obligations. Research had shown, he added, that neither the United Nations Administrative Tribunal nor the Seabed Disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea had jurisdiction over such matters.
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He added that submission of the draft to the Finance Committee and the Council had been delayed so that the text could incorporate extensive changes in the United Nations regulations adopted by the General Assembly in 1998.
This mornings discussion centred on two regulations in article I, defining the duties, obligations and privileges of staff members: 1.3, on honours, gifts or remuneration, and 1.4, on conflict of interest.
No speaker questioned the first paragraph of regulation 1.3, which provides that no staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any Government. Rather, the discussion revolved around a paragraph stating: No staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any non-governmental source without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary-General.
Mexico argued this morning that staff members should be categorically prohibited from accepting gifts or remuneration from a non-governmental source; acceptance should not be left to the approval or authorization of the Secretary- General. There should be no possibility, for example, for a retired employee of an enterprise involved in seabed activities to become a staff member of the Authority. As the Authoritys situation was different from that of the United Nations, regulations had to be drafted with its particular needs in mind. Accordingly, Mexico proposed deletion of the reference to favour, gift or remuneration from the clause covering non-governmental sources.
Chile supported this view, and called for a re-drafting of the regulation, to cover the various hypothetical situations mentioned by Mexico. It recalled the concern it had previously expressed about this issue with regard to the members of the Legal and Technical Commission.
On the other hand, New Zealand expressed satisfaction with the regulation as drafted, on the ground that it was practical for the Secretary-General to decide whether any gift or remuneration was inappropriate. It cited the case of seminars to which staff members might be invited to make presentations because of their role in the work of the Authority. In such a situation, paid airfare could not reasonably be categorized as inappropriate remuneration. Papua New Guinea endorsed this position, adding that to omit the text allowing approval by the Secretary-General seemed to challenge his integrity. Japan also supported the authority of the Secretary-General to take decisions in this regard.
Other delegations supporting the regulations in their current form, with only simple drafting amendments, argued that the text was based on the Staff Regulations of the United Nations, which had been applying their terms successfully for over 50 years. In addition, some delegates mentioned that the draft had been extensively reviewed by the Finance Committee, which had ensured that the regulations were consistent with the Law of the Sea Convention.
France, supported by China, Japan and the Russian Federation, urged caution in revising the regulations, which had stood the test of time. China added that the regulations had built-in mechanisms for future adjustments. Japan observed that
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any addition to the text would make the terms and conditions for staff of the Authority different from those applied by other United Nations organizations.
The United Kingdom, while agreeing that no member of the staff should receive favours, gifts or remuneration from any organization doing business with the Authority, said the Secretary-General should be allowed the flexibility to examine the merit of individual cases.
Trinidad and Tobago proposed to add a paragraph requiring the Secretary- General to give full disclosure to the Council of all gifts or donations received by staff members within a fixed period.
Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan, in response to the proposals by Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago, said it would be cumbersome to report details of gifts received by staff members, such as who had taken them to lunch. He noted that the Staff Regulations would be supplemented by rules that would be applied in day-to- day operations to safeguard the integrity of the Authority. Noting that the Secretary-General was already entrusted with vast responsibility, he said Council members should guard against the inclusion of regulations that would straight- jacket his office.
As a compromise, he suggested that the regulation remain as it stood with the addition of the following sentence: The Secretary-General shall not grant such approval if it is likely to reflect on the integrity of the staff member as an international civil servant responsible to the Authority.
Council President Sakiusa A. Rabuka (Fiji) asked whether the Secretary- Generals proposal was acceptable to the Council. After Chile requested that the Council await the circulation of the Mexican proposal in writing, the Council adjourned until this afternoon.
Commenting on regulation 1.4, entitled Conflict of interest, the United States suggested but did not press for the addition of a provision requiring staff members to submit a financial declaration. Jamaica took up this point, saying that the principle of transparency would have a sanitizing effect on all persons employed by the Authority. It added that the Authority, as an international organization with commercial operations, should require a declaration of assets by persons in its hierarchy who made strategic decisions. This position received support from Ghana and Nigeria.
Secretary-General Nandan questioned the need for such a provision, noting that the United Nations Staff Regulations required financial declarations only from staff members at the level of Assistant Secretary-General and above -- levels that did not exist in the Authority.
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