(3)

Article 25 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 25 Adoption of the administrative budget and contributions of Members 1. For the purpose of this article Members shall hold 2 000 votes. 2. (a) Each Member shall hold a number of votes, which shall be determined in accordance with paragraph 3 below. (b) No Member shall hold fewer than 6 votes. (c) There shall be no fractional votes. Rounding shall be permitted in the process of calculation and to ensure that the full number of votes is allocated. 3. Votes shall be determined on an annual basis according to the following procedure: each year from 2023, at the time of the publication of the Sugar Year Book by the International Sugar Organization, the number of votes for each Member shall be calculated on the basis of the following indicators and their relative weighing: — 20 per cent of votes based on that Member’s pro-rata share of Total Members exports, plus — 20 per cent of votes based on that Member’s pro-rata share of Total Members imports, plus — 20 per cent of votes based on that Member’s pro-rata share of Total Members production, plus — 20 per cent of votes based on that Member’s pro-rata share of Total Members consumption, plus — 20 per cent of votes based on that Member’s pro-rata share of Total Members Ability to Pay Factor (APF). The APF equals the latest published assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations. The number of votes of each Member shall be calculated, for each of the indicators above, using the average of that indicator for the 5 last years published in the most recent edition of the Organization’s Sugar Year Book. The share of each Member in the total of all Members’ for the indicators mentioned above shall be calculated by the Executive Director. All the above data will be distributed to Members at the time that the calculations are made. 4. In the event of the accession of a Member or Members after the entry into force of this Agreement, their votes shall be determined according to the calculation key under paragraphs 2 and 3 above. The votes of existing Members shall be re-calculated accordingly so that the total of votes remains at 2 000. 5. In the event of the withdrawal of a Member or Members, the votes of the withdrawing Member or Members shall be redistributed to the remaining Members based on the recalculated shares of the 5 indicators of the Members so that the total of the votes of all Members remains at 2 000. 6. Transitional arrangement: (a) For the purpose of establishing a starting point for calculating adjustments, the Membership and voting situation in the year 2022 will be taken as a base. (b) During the first 5 years of the transition period the number of votes of each Member cannot be more than 15 % higher or lower than those agreed for the previous year, and, in the second 5 years of the transition period the number of votes of each Member cannot be more than 20 % higher or lower than those agreed for the previous year. Except if, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2(c), rounding means that the number of votes allocated to a Member exceed the agreed percentages, this shall be permitted. (c) For the purpose of establishing the contribution per vote, votes not taken up due to the application of paragraph 6(b) above shall not be redistributed to other Members. Hence, the contribution per vote will be determined on the basis of the re-calculated number of overall votes, provided that these will not exceed 2 000 votes. (d) The transitional arrangement will be completed within 10 years. 7. The provisions of Article 26, paragraph 2, relating to the suspension of voting rights for non-fulfilment of obligations, shall not apply to this article. 8. During the second half of each year, the Council shall adopt the administrative budget of the Organization for the following year and shall determine the per vote contribution of Members required to meet that budget, after taking into account the provisions of paragraph 6 of this article. 9. The contribution of each Member to the administrative budget shall be calculated by multiplying the per vote contribution by the number of votes held by it under this article, as follows: (a) For those which are Members at the time of the final adoption of the administrative budget, the number of votes which they then hold; and (b) For those which become Members after the adoption of the administrative budget, the number of votes which they receive at the time of taking up membership, adjusted in proportion to the remainder of the period covered by the budget or budgets; assessments made upon other Members shall not be altered. 10. The Council may, by special vote, take such measure as it might deem appropriate in order to mitigate the effects on Members’ contributions resulting from a possibly limited membership at the time of the adoption of the administrative budget for 2024 or from any major decrease of membership thereafter.’;