RESTRICTED  
  
WT/BFA/W/ 456 
18 July 2018 
(18-4511) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration   
 
  
WTO FINANCIAL REGULA TIONS ON  EXTRA BUDGETARY CONT RIBUTIONS  
1.  The Secretariat administers several trust funds on behalf of Members who make voluntary / 
extra budgetary contributions. As of the end of 2017 , there were 12 trust funds reported in the 
2017 Financial Performance Report (WT/BFA/W/450). The report includes a description of the 
purposes of each trust fund and an overview of the income, expenditu res and activities of the 
trust fund.   
2.  The Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) is by far the largest and most 
active trust fund with expenditures in recent years being around CHF 7 million per year.  Virtually 
all of the other  trust funds a re much smaller , with expenditures normally below CHF 1 million and 
often even below CHF 0.5 million. The exceptions are the STDF and the EIF , neither of which are 
exclusively WTO trust funds . They are , in fact,  secretariats that the WTO hosts and they  have 
their own separate governance structures and memberships that are not controlled by the WTO.   
3.  Of the WTO trust funds, three are full multi -donor funds and five are associated with specific 
Members who have made targeted contributions1.  
4.  It is only in recent years that a trend towards separate single donor trust funds has emerged 
and in the interests of transparency they have been brought to the CBFA .  
5.  Chapter VI, regulation 19 of the WTO Financial Regulations stipulates a process for the 
acceptance of voluntary contributions  by the Director -General. The relevant paragraph is the 
following:  
"Voluntary contributions, gifts or donations from WTO Members and Observers may be 
accepted by the Director -General provided that the purposes for which  the 
contributions are made are consistent with the policies, aims and activities of the WTO, 
and provided that the acceptance of such contributions which directly or indirectly 
involve additional financial liability for the WTO shall require the consent o f the 
Committee. Voluntary contributions, gifts or donations from Non -Governmental Donors 
are subject to the additional guidelines laid out in Annex C ..." 
6.  The above excerpt of the Financial Regulation establishes a two -step approach for voluntary 
contribut ions from WTO members and observers. In the first step, the Director -General is 
expected to determine if the purposes for which the contributions are made are consistent with 
the policies, aims and activities of the WTO. This covers trade -related issues wh ere members 
have expressed interest in further work, particularly those covered by the work of the regular 
bodies of the WTO , or in other settings where members individually or in groups have topics or 
projects for consideration. Individual Members making contributions have the ability to define the 
broad purposes for which a contribution can be used.  
7. In the second step , if an additional financial liability is involved, then the  contribution will 
require the consent of the CBFA.  It is important to note that financial liability is a technical 
accounting term that would imply a change in what would be reported as liabilities2 in the 
Statement of Financial Position of the organizati on. In other words, a deterioration of the 
                                                
1 There are two funds that are reported for accounting purposes as trust funds, but they are really administrative 
accounts rather than trust funds in the same sense as the others plus the two previously mentioned hosted trust funds (STDF 
and EIF) that make up the balance for a total of 12.  
2 A liability  is defined  as a present obligation  of the entity arising from past events, the settlement of which is expected 
to result in an outflow from the entity .  WT/BFA/W/ 456 
 
- 2 - 
 
  organization's net assets/equity position following the acceptance of the anticipated voluntary 
contribution. Most trust funds do not have this impact.  
8. In keeping with established practice, any costs, directly  or indirectly arising in relation to the 
implementation and execution of funds, including staff costs, are compensated for by Programme 
Support Costs . 
 
__________