428

II SÉRIE-A — NÚMERO 28

The coefficient of a Participating State is limited to 30 %, even if the percentage of its financial contribution is higher;

c) Any amendment of the programme declaration or any decision on accession requires unanimity of all Participating States.

4 — Each Member State shall have one vote in the Council. However, a Member State shall have no vote in the Council if the amount of its arrears of contributions exceeds the assessed amount of its contributions for the current financial year. In such cases the Member State concerned may nevertheless be authorised to vote if a two-thirds majority of all the Member States entitled to vote considers that the nonpayment is due to circumstances beyond its control. For the purpose of determining unanimity of the majorities provided for in the Convention, no account shall be taken of a Member State that is not entitled to vote. The above rules shall apply mutatis mutandis to optional programmes.

The expression «Member State present and vo-ting» shall mean the Member States voting for or against. Member States that abstain shall be considered as not voting.

5 — The presence of representatives of a majority of all the Member States entitled to vote shall be necessary to constitute a quorum. This rule shall be applied mutatis mutandis to optional programmes. Council decisions in respect of urgent matters may be secured by means of a written procedure in die interval between Council meetings.

Article 6

Article 6 of the Convention is amended as follows:

The word «Director» is replaced by «Director-Gene-ral» in the title of the article and in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3;

In paragraph 2, a new sub-paragraph d) is inserted. Consequently, sub-paragraphs d) to i) become e) to j). Sub-paragraph g) is amended to read «budgets» instead of «budget».

Article 6

Director-General

1 — The Director-General [...] 2—The Director-General [...]

d) Implement decisions of the Council regarding the financing of EUMETSAT;

h) Prepare and implement the budgets of EUMETSAT [...] implementation of the budgets [...]

3—The Director-General [...] Article 7

Article 7 of the Convention is amended as follows:

In paragraph 1, die word «clause» is replaced by the word «article»;

In paragraph 4, the reference to article 5.2, b), is replaced by a reference to article 5.2, e); in addition, in paragraphs 4 and 5, the word «Directop> is replaced by «Director-General».

Article 8

A new article 8 is inserted. Consequently, all the following articles are shifted accordingly.

Article 8

Ownership and distribution of satellite data

1 — EUMETSAT shall have worldwide exclusive ownership of all data generated by EUMETSAT's satellites or instruments.

2 — EUMETSAT shall make available sets of data agreed by the Council to the national meteorological services of Member States of the World Meteorological Organization.

3 — The distribution policy regarding satellite data shall be decided in accordance with the rules laid down in article 5.2, b), for mandatory programmes, and 5.3, b), for optional programmes. EUMETSAT, through the Secretariat, and the Member States shall be responsible for the implementation of this policy.

Article 9

Article 8 of the Convention becomes article 9 and it is amended as follows:

In paragraph 2, the reference to annex i to this Convention is deleted. Consequently, paragraph 2 ends after «the services provided».

Article 10

Article 9 of the Convention becomes article 10 and it is amended as follows:

Paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 are deleted; Paragraph 2 becomes paragraph 1; New paragraphs 2 to 7 are inserted; Paragraphs 5 and 6 become paragraphs 8 and 9.

2 — Each Member State shall pay to EUMETSXT an annual contribution to the General Budget and to the mandatory programmes (except for MOP) on the basis of the average gross national product (GNP) of each Member State for the three latest years for which statistics are available.

The update of the statistics shall be made every three years.

For MOP, each Member State shall pay to EUMETSAT an annual contribution on the basis of the scale contained in annex n.

3 — Member States are bound to pay their contributions to mandatory programmes (except MOP) up to a maximum of 110 % if a decision is taken according to article 5.2, c), ii).

4 — For optional programmes, each participating Member State shall pay to EUMETSAT an annual contribution on the basis of the scale agreed for the programme.