SEABED COUNCIL PROVISIONALLY ADOPTS STAFF REGULATIONS
Press Release
SEA/1689
SEABED COUNCIL PROVISIONALLY ADOPTS STAFF REGULATIONS
20000713(Received from International Seabed Authority.)
(KINGSTON, 11 July) -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority provisionally adopted this afternoon the Staff Regulations of the Authority. It acted without objection after resolving issues relating to the acceptance by staff members of gifts or remuneration from non- governmental sources and provisions to avoid conflict of interest.
Council President Sakiusa A. Rabuka (Fiji) announced that the Council would take final action once a text including all drafting and other changes has been circulated in writing.
On the contentious issues discussed today at the Councils two meetings on this topic, the Council agreed to three substantive changes in the draft regulations submitted to the Council last August by the Finance Committee (document ISBA/6/C/L.2).
First, it added a sentence to regulation 1.3 (c), which in the original text prohibits staff members from accepting any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any non-governmental source without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary-General. The added sentence, proposed this morning by Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan, reads: 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.
Second, the Council removed the word actively from regulation 1.4 (a), on conflict of interest, which had stated: Staff members shall not be actively associated with the management of, or hold a financial interest in, any profit- making business or other concern if it were possible for the staff member or the profit-making business or other concern to benefit from such association or financial interest by reason of his or her position with the Authority. This deletion was proposed by Mexico after its proposal to define financial interest and to extend the prohibition to past association with an outside concern did not garner sufficient support in the Council.
Third, the Council agreed to apply to Authority staff members a United Nations regulation requiring specified high-level officials to file financial disclosure statements relating to their assets. This addition of a regulation 1.4 (c), proposed by Jamaica, requires all staff members at the Assistant Secretary-General level and above to produce such statements on appointment and at intervals thereafter. Such officials would also have to provide certification
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that there is no conflict of interest with regard to the economic activities of spouses and dependent children, and to assist the Secretary-General in verifying the certification on his special request. Disclosure statements would remain confidential.
The Council will meet again tomorrow, 12 July, to consider the main item on its agenda, draft regulations on prospecting and exploration for polymetallic nodules in the international seabed area.
Summary of Staff Regulations
The Staff Regulations of the Authority, approved provisionally by the Council today, embody the fundamental conditions of service and the basic rights, duties and obligations of its staff, and represent the broad principles of personnel policy for the staffing and administration of the Secretariat.
Setting out the duties, obligations and privileges of the staff, the regulations define their status as international civil servants; outline their basic rights and obligations; prohibit them from accepting honours, gifts or remuneration from any government; prohibit their association with or financial interest in any concern where a conflict of interest might arise, including seabed exploration or exploitation; require them to obtain the Secretary-Generals approval for any outside employment and activities; bind them to use the property and assets of the Authority for official purposes only, and make them accountable for their performance.
The Secretary-General is authorized to classify posts and staff consistent with the common system of salaries, allowances and other conditions of service of the United Nations and the specialized agencies. Salary scales are to follow those of the United Nations, while the Secretary-General has the authority to establish related allowances.
The paramount consideration in recruitment shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to recruitment on as wide a geographical basis as possible.
Staff members are entitled to annual leave and once every two years to home leave. The Secretary-General is to establish a social security system for them, and they may participate in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund. The Authority is obligated to pay their travel and removal expenses. Staff relations machinery is to include their effective participation in regard to matters affecting their welfare. Separation from service is to follow prescribed rules, including a termination indemnity and repatriation grant governed by annexed schedules.
In addition to the standard clause empowering the Secretary-General to discipline staff members whose conduct is unsatisfactory, the regulations provide for the creation of an ad hoc tribunal of three members appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to hear charges that a staff member has violated the obligation not to disclose confidential information obtained by reason of
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employment with the Authority. Staff members may appeal against administrative decisions, including appeals to the United Nations Administrative Tribunal.
The Staff Regulations may be supplemented by staff rules issued by the Secretary-General, to take effect after they are reported to the Assembly of the Authority. Once approved by the Council, the Regulations themselves take effect provisionally pending approval by the Assembly.
Discussion on Staff Regulations
Most of the discussion this afternoon concerned regulations 1.3 (c) dealing with gifts or remuneration offered to staff members from non-governmental sources, and 1.4 (b), which states that 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.
A number of delegations endorsed the Secretary-Generals proposal to add a sentence prohibiting the Secretary-General from approving gifts and remuneration from non-governmental sources if they are likely to reflect on the integrity of the staff member.
Delegations including Chile, India, Ireland and Portugal supported the addition in preference to Mexicos proposal this morning that such gifts and remuneration be prohibited altogether, leaving no room for approval by the Secretary-General. Australia, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Russian Federation, while not seeing the need for the amendment, agreed to go along with it in a spirit of compromise.
Mexico, in a proposal circulated in writing this afternoon, suggested the following addition to regulation 1.4 (b) on conflict of interest: It is understood that a person has financial interest when he or she is an investor or when that person has or has had temporary or permanent work related to the exploration or exploitation of the resources of the Area with an enterprise having interest in that field.
This proposal drew support from Chile but provoked objections from other delegations. France objected to the reference made to temporary work, which it feared could encompass trainees. It pointed out that one purpose of requiring contractors to conduct training programmes was to produce a cadre of technical personnel who could contribute to the future work of the Authority. Mexicos proposal would seem to systematically exclude such potential experts. Ghana, India and Papua New Guinea expressed the same concern.
In addition, several members, including Australia and the Russian Federation, opposed the idea that all past associations with seabed mining enterprises would disqualify likely applicants from working with the Authority. The ban should be restricted to present interest or connections with exploration activities; moreover, a clearer definition of what constituted interest in or work related to exploration or exploitation was required. The Netherlands observed that even minor shareholders could be seen to have an interest in a
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company, and Namibia made the point that persons could unknowingly have connections with subsidiaries of mining enterprises.
In response to these comments, Mexico agreed to modify and finally to withdraw its proposal in order to permit a consensus.
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