Meeting of States Parties

to Law of Sea Convention

88^th & 89^th Meetings (AM & PM)

MEETING OF STATES PARTIES TO LAW OF SEA CONVENTION APPOINTS EXTERNAL AUDITOR

FOR INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL, ELECTS THREE VICE-PRESIDENTS

 

States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea today appointed BDO Deutsche Warentreuhand, Aktiengesellschaft -- the lowest bidder of several internationally recognized firms -- as an external auditor for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for financial years 2005-2008.

Established to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the Convention, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is one of the Convention’s three main bodies, which also include the Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf and the International Seabed Authority.  The Tribunal holds its meetings and hears cases at its seat in Hamburg, Germany. It is composed of 21 judges elected for nine-year terms.

In the second day of the Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties today, the participants also took note of the report on common staff costs (document SPLOS/127) and on budget performance for 2004 (document SPLOS/128).

In other action, the Meeting elected, by acclamation, Ali Hafrad (Algeria), Gaile Ann Ramoutar (Trinidad and Tobago) and Isabelle F. Picco (Monaco) as its Vice-Presidents.

Participating in the discussion today were representatives of Jamaica, Cyprus, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Netherlands (on behalf of the European Union), United States, Chile, France, Guatemala and Senegal.  Reports on the outcome of consultations in the open-ended working group of the Meeting were presented by its President, Andreas D. Mavroyiannis (Cyprus).  The Tribunal’s Registrar, Philippe Gautier, responded to comments and questions from the floor.

The Meeting will continue its work at 10 a.m. Monday, 20 June.

Background

The Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea met today to elect its Vice-Presidents, appoint its Credentials Committee, and to consider budgetary matters of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.  It was also expected to consider a draft decision on the appointment of the auditor for the Tribunal for the financial periods 2005/2006 and 2007/2008 (document SPLOS/123).  For more background information on the Convention and summary of reports before the meeting, see Press Release SEA/1822 of 14 June.

Appointment of Auditor for Financial Years 2005-2008

Reporting on the outcome of yesterday’s consultations in an open-ended working group, the Meeting’s President, ANDREAS D. MAVROYIANNIS (Cyprus), commented on financial regulation 12.1 of the Tribunal, which stipulates that “the Meeting shall appoint an Auditor, which may be an internationally recognized firm of auditors or an Auditor General or an official of a State Party with an equivalent title”.  He said that the practice of the Tribunal since its inception had been to have recourse to international firms, and there was no reason to abandon that practice.  Also, there were no established rules for proceeding in selecting an auditor from a State Party.  Even more importantly, it appeared that such a solution would not be cost-effective.  Thus, it had been proposed that the Meeting should choose among three internationally recognized firms of auditors with offices in Germany.

[According to the Tribunal’s report to the Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties (document SPLOS/123), the Tribunal’s Registry had selected the quotations from BDO Deutsche Warentreuhand (€7,000 for 2005-2006 and 2007-2008, respectively); Deloitte & Touche (€13,100 for 2005-2006 and €13,800 for 2007-2008); and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (€23,120 for 2005-2006 and €23,900 for 2007-2008), which “may be considered as meeting the requirements of the Tribunal”.]

In response to a suggestion by Jamaica that the Tribunal should be allowed to select a particular firm, the Tribunal’s Registrar, PHILIPPE GAUTIER, said that it was not really a matter of preference.  The Meeting could probably decide to delegate the matter to the Tribunal, but according to the existing rules and regulations, the decision was to be taken by the States Parties’ Meeting.

The representative of Cyprus agreed that since the document before the Meeting offered no description on how to go about appointing an official of a State Party and did not provide procedure or the compensation package for that, her delegation was against such an option.  She had no strong feelings about any of the firms that had submitted quotes, but believed that an internationally recognized firm would be able to provide good services.

The representative of China supported the proposal that an internationally recognized firm should be appointed as an auditor.  In making a decision on the matter, it was important to take into account both the efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of services.

The representative of Japan said that he did not have any specific position on a candidate, but attached great importance to the efficient use of the Tribunal’s budget.  Thus, he preferred the firm that had submitted the lowest quote.

The representative of the United Kingdom said that he would join the consensus in favour of the least costly auditor.

The Meeting then decided to appoint BDO Deutsche Warentreuhand, Aktiengesellschaft, as the Tribunal’s Auditor for 2005-2008.

Budgetary Matters of International Tribunal for Law of Sea

Answering a question asked by the representative of Cyprus, the Tribunal’s REGISTRAR said that the adjustment of the remuneration of members of the Tribunal by 6.3 per cent would take effect on 1 January 2005, following General Assembly’s resolution of 13 April, in line with the remuneration of judges of the International Court of Justice.  Other budgetary implications concerned differences in the exchange rates and an increase in the daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for Hamburg, Germany, established by the United Nations.  The implications could be covered partly from savings in 2002 and 2004, and would require an additional amount of €351,889 in the budget for the biennium 2005-2006.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, the representative of the Netherlands said that consideration of the budgetary issues should be based on the principle of zero growth, existing arrangements within the United Nations system, and the ability of the Tribunal to expediently and efficiently dispatch justice.  She also drew attention to the non-payment of contributions, some of which had been overdue for eight years, and urged States Parties to pay outstanding contributions in full.

The observer of the United States, noting that differences in exchange rates tended to even out in the long term, asked what the impact would be in the future, when there would be no surplus to draw on.

At the opening of the States Parties’ afternoon session, the PRESIDENT informed the participants that following morning consultations in an open-ended working group, two draft decisions related to the remuneration of the members of the Tribunal and an appropriate mechanism for addressing the effects of exchange rate fluctuations had been recommended for adoption by the Meeting.

The representative of France said he had no difficulty with the essence of the drafts, but the texts had not been distributed in all official languages of the United Nations, including French.  If the French document would not be ready by the end of the day, he would like the action to be postponed until Monday.

Responding to a suggestion by the representative of Jamaica that an “ad ref” decision be taken today, with a formal decision to be taken when the documents were ready in all official languages, he said that the States Parties had time and could afford to postpone a decision till Monday.  He did not understand how a provisional decision today would benefit the work of the Meeting.  It was in the interest of all delegations to show respect for all official languages of the Organization.

The representative of Guatemala supported the position of France on the official languages and added that the language of the draft on the remuneration of the members of the Tribunal should be brought in line with the wording of General Assembly resolution 59/282, by the terms of which the remuneration of the judges of the International Court of Justice had been adjusted, pending a decision based on a forthcoming report of the Secretary-General.  That statement was supported by the representative of Chile.

Senegal’s representative said that considering the complexity of the proposals, he supported the position of France.  Action on the text should be deferred until translated documents became available.

Based on the recommendations of the open-ended working group, the Meeting then took note of the Report on common staff costs (document SPLOS/127) and on the budget performance for 2004 (document SPLOS/128).

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