. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/W/123 
26 October 2004 
 
 (04-4553) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
  
 
MONITORING AND CONTROL OF TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE 
 
 
I. BACKGROUND 
1. The significant increase in the workload of th e WTO in the years since its coming into 
existence has resulted in a situation whereby a numb er of individuals are f unded on a long-term basis 
by Temporary Assistance (TA).  The main reason for th is development is that staff resources have, in 
many instances, not been wholly adequate to fu lfil the Organization's increased responsibilities both 
in terms of breadth and volume of tasks. This reality has been recognized by the Committee on 
Budget, Finance and Administration (BFA) in the last two budget exercises, whereby a number of 
positions, in the same Division filled by the same pe rson for at least four years, funded under TA have 
been consolidated into the regular staffing of  the organization on a cost-neutral basis.   
II. OBJECTIVE 
2. To return to a position where resources for TA  funds are provided and used for the purpose 
for which they are intended, i.e. to provide resources: 
(a) for temporary  peaks in workload, particularly in  such areas as translation, word-
processing, and, to a lesser extent, reproduction of documents; 
(b) for occasional situations which require manual work ers for a short period of time, 
e.g. a large number of office moves which exceed the capacity of regular staff to 
effect in a reasonable period of time; 
(c) for replacement of staff on long medical leave and maternity leave; 
(d) to implement the WTO Internship Prog ramme, normally limited to three months' 
duration per intern; 
(e) for short-term consultants to undertake specifi c tasks, such as in the informatics area; 
and 
(f) for overtime of staff required to work  in excess of the normal work week.  
III. PROPOSED ACTIONS 
3. In order to reduce the number of staff funded from TA on a long-term basis, and to minimize 
the chances that such situation sh ould recur, the following plan of action could be considered: 
 WT/BFA/W/123 
Page 2  
 
(a) the consolidation, on a cost-neutral basis, of five
1 positions, each filled by the same 
person in the same Division, be approv ed by Members of the BFA Committee for 
2005; 
(b) the Human Resources Management Committee (HRMC) would examine those 
remaining long-term TA positions with a view to reassessing their continuing need; 
those positions whose continuing need has been reaffirmed by the HRMC would be 
examined to see whether a reallocation of pos ts, including vacant posts, could be used 
to advertise a post corresponding to the f unctions currently being handled on TA, 
thereby further reducing the number of long-term positions filled by TA; 
(c) any proposal for a new TA contract of more than three month's duration , or any 
extension of a TA contract (other than re placement for staff on special leave without 
pay or on long sick and mate rnity leave, which is limited to  the duration of the leave) 
over three months would have to be approved by the Deputy Director-General in 
charge of finance and administration who would report annually to the BFA Committee on action taken in this regard; 
(d) to reassess the extent to which TA associ ated with implementation of the DDAGTF 
and other trust funds is properly reflected in the staff resources available through 
those funds in order to avoid a situati on whereby implementation of trust fund 
technical assistance activities relies disproportionately on regular budget TA resources. 
IV. OTHER MEASURES WHICH COULD LIMIT EXPENDITURES ON TA: 
4. The following measures could also be pursued in the context of limiting the use of TA: 
(a) institute greater control on utilization of  overtime and apply a mandatory policy for 
taking a certain amount of overtime as compensatory time-off; 
(b) investigate creative solutions for situatio ns when TA is used or proposed; and 
(c) investigate other avenues for possible outsourcing which could impact on both 
regular positions and TA. 
5. The Committee may wish to take note of the measures outlined in this paper. 
 
__________ 
 
 
                                                     
 
1 Four in the WTO Secretariat and one in the Appellate Body Secretariat.