UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD. Hundred and fifty-seventh Session

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1 UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION 157 EX/INF.7 PARIS, 1 October 1999 English & French only EXECUTIVE BOARD Hundred and fifty-seventh Session Item 8.10 of the provisional agenda CONSEQUENCES OF THE SWITCH TO THE EURO INFORMATION CONCERNING THE USE OF CURRENCIES BY THE ORGANIZATION SUMMARY Further to the explanatory note in document 157 EX/41 submitted by Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and United Kingdom, this document provides available information concerning the use of currencies by the Organization. 1. Further to the letter addressed to the Director-General by the Permanent Delegate of Finland on behalf of the States of the European Union members of UNESCO dated 30 August 1999 (Annex 1), the Director-General submits the following Annexes related to the specific requests for information as follows: (a) Annex 2 gives the details of regular programme expenditure by country with a breakdown between staff costs and other expenditure for the period January 1998 to August In this Annex, staff costs have been analysed by duty station, as they are for budget purposes, and not by currency of payment. It can be seen that French francs and Swiss francs represent per cent of staff costs and per cent of total expenditure of the regular programme. (b) Annex 3 gives information available on the currency of payment for August 1999 payroll, including pension and medical benefit contributions. It shows that payments in euro currencies represent per cent of the total payroll of that month.

2 157 EX/INF.7 - page 2 (c) (d) (e) Annex 4 reproduces Staff Rule as updated in Administrative Circular No that codifies the rules concerning the currency of payments of staff emoluments. Annex 5 gives the details of staff by duty station and other costs by currency of payment. Annex 6 gives the details of funds sent to field offices for 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 to 31 August by currency of replenishment. These figures include the activities of field offices for all programmes: regular and extrabudgetary, but exclude any cash received locally by such offices. 2. The Director-General notes with interest the proposal made by the European Union in document 157 EX/41, paragraph 2, that a process of reflection be embarked upon so as to consider whether the adoption of the euro as the single accounting currency would be appropriate for UNESCO. In view of the complexities involved and the enormity of the task, not to mention the cost, he concurs that a detailed study would indeed be required if the Executive Board wishes this proposal to be further explored. In addition to the matters already identified by the Permanent Delegate of Finland on behalf of the European Union, which to the extent possible within the time frame available have been covered in the Annexes to this document, consideration would also have to be given to non-regular programme activities (some 35 per cent of the total), the administrative ability to deliver (computer systems, etc.) and the necessary changes to the legislative authority and procedures to be followed. No doubt many other matters would be identified during the course of the study. 3. The Director-General wishes to underline that information concerning the euro with regards payments of contributions can be found in document 30 C/ If the Executive Board wishes that further consideration be given to this matter, the Director-General suggests that he presents a detailed technical study, with options where appropriate, to the Executive Board at its 160th session, to enable the Executive Board to embark upon a process of reflection.

3 157 EX/INF.7 Annex 1 ANNEX 1 PERMANENT DELEGATION OF Paris, 30 August 1999 FINLAND TO UNESCO No. U 90 Mr Director-General, As you are aware, the Delegation of Finland, on behalf of the States of the European Union members of UNESCO, wished to place a new item on the agenda of the 157th session of the Executive Board and on that of the 30th session of the General Conference. It concerns the consequences of the switch to the euro at UNESCO. It is for this reason that I venture to write to you, for we would wish the document (157 EX/41) that is currently submitted under the item Consequences of the switch to the euro at UNESCO to be accompanied by a supplementary information document that would provide details as contained in the document annexed hereto. Please accept, Mr Director-General, the expression of my highest consideration. Taina Kiekko Permanent Delegate Presidency of the European Union Mr Federico Mayor Director-General UNESCO - PARIS Enclosure: cc.: Mr Stany Kol, Secretary of the General Conference Mr Mohamed Al Shaabi, Secretary of the Executive Board 1, rue Miollis, F Paris Tel.: Fax:

4 157 EX/INF.7 Annex 1- page 2 DETAILS FOR INCLUSION IN THE DOCUMENT TO ASSIST THE DISCUSSION ON THE AGENDA ITEM ON THE EURO 1. The first part of the document should be focused on the utilization of currencies in the Organization According to the information provided by the Secretariat the aggregate of expenditures by the Organization amounted to 61 per cent in French francs and 39 per cent in US dollars. To enable the discussions to proceed smoothly, it is essential to know more precisely the breakdown of these expenditures in each of the currencies used. These details should be provided expenditure by expenditure and currency by currency. Emphasis should also be placed on singling out the budgetary and the accounting aspects (a comparative table could be included in the document). Thus, for example, it would be interesting to know the percentage of salaries paid in each currency used by the Organization, and the percentage obtained by grouping together the currencies which are now in the euro zone. 2. The second part should address questions linked to decentralization It is important to know whether field offices have a budget in dollars or another currency or whether they have a portion of their budget in dollars and in francs, like Headquarters. In short, what is required is a geographical distribution of budgets for the field, office by office. In these budgets, it would be interesting to know the share that is earmarked for the operating budget and the share for operational expenditures. Lastly, it would be interesting to know whether operating expenditures include salaries paid in local currency or whether people recruited on a local contract can also choose to be paid in dollars and/or French francs. 3. The third part should deal with questions linked to salaries and pensions All details on salaries should also appear in the document, i.e. all the currencies used and the proportion thereof in the Organization s budget. Legal information linked to the currency of salaries should also be provided. Details should also be available on pension funds and health insurance (the conventions concerned, the amounts at issue, the share of the budget that they represent and also the degree of obligation involved in the use of any specific currency). At UNIDO, for instance, it proved possible to amend the convention to permit the utilization of the euro. Lastly, it would be worthwhile knowing what salary deductions represent, as a percentage and the total amount, in terms of staff costs as a whole.

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6 ANNEX EX/INF.7 Annex 3 DETAILS OF REGULAR PROGRAMME EXPENDITURE The table on the previous page shows staff costs analysed by duty station and not by currency of payment. In August 1999, staff related payments were made in the following currencies: Currency Code Currency Countries Payments $ Percentage 047 ATS Austria 7, BEF Belgium 2, DEM Germany 19, ESP Spain 4, FRF France 6,911, ITL Italy 27, NLG Netherlands EUR European Union 1, Subtotal 6,975, USD United States 4,314, CHF Switzerland 20, AUD Australia 12, CAD Canada 10, DKK Denmark 2, GBP United Kingdom 98, JPY Japan 9, NOK Norway 1, NZD New Zealand 9, Subtotal 4,480, TOTAL HQ 11,456, ARS Argentina 5, BDT Bangladesh BYB Belarus 8, BOB Bolivia 6, BRL Brazil 17, BIF Burundi 5, XAF Cameroon 7, XAF Central African Rep. 1, CLP Chile 50, CNY China 15, CUP Cuba 5, XOF Benin 2, XCD Dominica 1, DOP Dominican Rep. 2, ECS Ecuador 1, SVC El Salvador 1, ETB Ethiopia 11,

7 157 EX/INF.7 Annex 3 - page 2 Currency Code Currency Countries Payments $ Percentage 276 XAF Gabon 1, GHC Ghana 1, GTQ Guatemala 1, HTG Haiti 1, INR India 13, IDR Indonesia 5, XOF Côte d Ivoire 4, JMD Jamaica 11, JOD Jordan 24, KZT Kazakhstan KES Kenya 31, LBP Lebanon 32, MYR Malaysia 4, XOF Mali MXN Mexico 8, MAD Morocco 7, MZM Mozambique NAD Namibia 8, NPR Nepal XOF Niger NGN Nigeria 5, PKR Pakistan 3, PYG Panama 2, PEN Peru 1, PHP Philippines QAR Qatar 8, RWF Rwanda 5, XOF Senegal 61, ZAR South Africa 20, ZWD Zimbabwe 13, THB Thailand 72, TTD Trinidad & Tobago 5, TND Tunisia 5, RUR Russian Federation EGP Egypt 23, TZS Tanzania 17, USD United States 70, XOF Burkina Faso 6, UYU Uruguay 29, VEB Venezuela 14, WST Samoa 9, ZMK Zambia Subtotal field 685, Total 12,141,

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