RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/100 
7 December 2007 
 (07-5445) 
  
  
 
ANNUAL REPORT 2007 OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, 
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION 
 
 
1. In accordance with the proce dures for an annual overview of WTO activities and for reporting 
under the WTO, adopted by the General Council on 15 November 1995 (WT/GC/M/8, item 11), a 
report on the activities of the WTO Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration in 2007 is hereby submitted.  2. It will be recalled that the Committee met fo rmally and informally on a number of occasions 
and has presented reports to the General Council on a regular basis
1. 
 
I. ON-GOING RESPONSIBILITIES 
II. The Committee monitored on a re gular basis the fina ncial and budgetary situation of the 
Organization, the receipt of contributions includ ing the implementation of the related schemes and 
measures pertaining to the receipt of  contributions.  It considered el ements related to human resources 
management and heard progress repo rts on the WTO Pension Plan, on th e future building needs of the 
WTO and the Security Enhancement Programme.  It also examined:  (i) the Director-General’s Budgetary and Financial Report for 2006 and Report of the External Aud itors thereon;  (ii) the Report 
on Extra-Budgetary Funds for 2006;  and (iii) the Budget Proposals for the Biennium 2008-2009.  At the 
time of finalizing this report, th e General Council is scheduled to ac t on the recommendations contained 
in the report of the meetings of the Committee on 6, 13,22 and 28 November and 4 December 2007 
(WT/BFA/101).  
III. MAJOR AREAS OF ACTIVITIES 
A. 
REVISION OF FINANCIAL RULES AND REGULATIONS  
3. The Committee noted that there had been certain inconsistencies in the Financial Rules and 
Regulations of the WTO concerning (i) the threshold amount of an intended purchase which called for 
competitive bidding and (ii) the audit of the WTO acc ounts in the context of th e biennial system and 
forwarded a revision to these documents  to the General Council(WT/BFA/95). 
 B. 
HUMAN RESOURCES MATTERS  
4. The Committee was informed th at the WTO Dependency Allo wances had been recalculated 
according to the methodology for adjusting depend ency allowances (WT/GC/M/90) following the 
2007 adjustment to the WTO salary scale. The revise d allowances had been applied provisionally as 
                                                      
1 Reports: WT/BFA/95 covering the meeting held on 28 March 2007; WT/BFA/96 covering the 
meeting held on 3 May 2007, WT/BFA/97 and WT/BFA/99 covering the recommendations and the report of the 
meeting on 12 July 2007 and WT/BFA/98 covering the report of the meeting on 29 June 2007. 
Document WT/BFA/101 covering the meetings of 6, 13, 28 November and 4 December 2007 will be 
submitted to the General Council on 19-20 December 2007. WT/BFA/100 
Page 2  
 
  of 1 January 2007 pending the approval of the Ge neral Council in accordance with Staff Regulation 
13.2. (WT/BFA/95).  C. 
ACCESSION OF NEW MEMBERS  
5. The Committee noted the accession of two new Members: (i) the accession of the Socialist 
Republic of Vietnam on 11 January 2007 (WT/BFA/ 95) and (ii) the acce ssion of the Kingdom of 
Tonga on 27 July 2007 (WT/BFA/101).  
D. 
SELECTION OF THE WTO EXTERNAL AUDITOR  
6. As the mandate of the current WTO External A uditor (the Austrian Court of Audit) will end 
with the audit of the 2007 accounts, the Committ ee set up a working group for the selection of the 
new External Auditor. The report of the Work ing Group proposed that the Committee consider 
recommending to the General Council that the French Cour des Comptes  be nominated as External 
Auditor of the WTO accounts and the WTO Pension Pl an accounts effective as from the audit of the 
2008 accounts for a period of six years (WT/BFA/97). 
 
E. FUTURE BUILDING NEEDS OF THE WTO  
7. Representatives of Switzerland as host country addressed the Committee on several occasions 
and outlined in the November-meeting, that due to in herent difficulties, the densification approach for 
the CWR presented in July had been amended and, as a consequence, the Swiss authorities would rather prefer to construct a new building on the south ca r park.  The financial e nvelope presented to the 
Committee included the CHF 60 million loan, originally  foreseen for the Avenue-de-France project, for 
the construction of the new building and CHF 70 milli on granted by the Swiss Government to cover the 
cost of the renovation of the Centre William Rappard,  the rental of the former Serono building and other 
related works.  Both Members and the Swiss authorities  agreed to the necessity of having a master plan 
for the overall project. 
8. In December, the Committee recommended to the General Council that the Director-General be 
authorized to undertake negotiations with the host coun try authorities with a view  of reaching a mutually 
agreed solution to meet the long-term housing needs of the Organization (WT/BFA/ 101). 
 F. 
DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA GLOBAL TRUST FUND (DDAGTF)   
9. The Committee recommended that the ta rget amount for the DDAGTF be set at 
CHF 24 million for each year of the biennium 2008-2009 (WT/BFA/101). 
 G. 
PROPOSED BUDGETS FOR THE BIENNIUM 2008-2009 
10. The Committee recommended that the General C ouncil approve the budgets for the biennium 
2008-2009 in the amounts of CHF 185 million a nd CHF 191 million respectively (WT/BFA/101). 
 
H. USE OF 2006  SURPLUS  
11. The Committee recommended that the 2006 overa ll surplus be utilized as follows: (i) 
CHF 1,500,000 to finance the restructuring plan in 2008 and (ii) CHF 5,496,223 to be used in accordance with Financial Regulation 26, paragraph 3,  in application as income against the budget for 
2008, thereby reducing Members' contributions (WT/BFA/101). 
 WT/BFA/100 
Page 3 
 
  
  I. CONDITIONS OF SERVICE FOR APPELLATE BODY MEMBERS  
12. The Committee note that the current remunera tion for Appellate Body Members had only 
been adjusted once in 11 years.  It was therefore recommended to th e General Council  to increase the 
remuneration (retainer and daily fee) by 10 pe r cent in 2008 and by 5 per cent in 2009 and 
furthermore, to adjust these elements annually acco rding to the Geneva Consumer Price Index for the 
previous twelve months, as from January 2010 (WT/BFA/101). 
 J. 
OTHER ITEMS  
13. The Committee also discussed and/or was informed  about the following points in the various 
meetings:  (i) the 2008-2009 budget estimates of the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, 
(ii) the situation of contributions for the D oha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) 
and (iii) the question of WTO Members with arrears.  
__________