636-(18)

II SÉRIE-A — NÚMERO 35

Article 36 Voting

1) Unanimity of the Contracting Parties present and voting at the meeting of the Charter Conference where such matters fall to be decided shall be required for decisions by the Charter Conference to:

a) Adopt amendments to this Treaty other than amendaments to articles 34 and 35 and annex T;

b) Approve accessions to this Treaty under article 41 by states or regional economic integration organizations which were not signatories to the Charter as of 16 June 1995;

c) Authorize the negotiation of and approve or adopt the text of association agreements;

d) Approve modifications to annexes EM, NI, G and B;

e) Approve technical changes to the annexes to this Treaty; and

f) Approve the Secretary-General's nominations of panelists under annex D, paragraph 7).

The Contracting Parties shall make every effort to reach agreement by consensus on any other matter requiring their decision under this Treaty. If agreement cannot be reached by consensus, paragraphs 2) to 5) shall apply.

2) Decisions on budgetary matters referred to in article 34, 3), e), shall be taken by a qualified majority of Contracting Parties whose assessed contributions as specified in annex B represent, in combination, at least three-fourths of the total assessed contributions specified therein.

3) Decisions on matters referred to in article 34, 7), shall be taken by a three-fourths majority of the Contracting Parties.

4) Except in cases specified in subparagraphs 1), a) to /), paragraphs 2) and 3), and subject to paragraph 6), decisions provided for in this Treaty shall be taken by a three-fourths majority of the Contracting Parties present and voting at the meeting of the Charter Conference at which such matters fall to be decided.

5) For purposes of this article, «Contracting Parties present and voting» means Contracting Parties present and casting affirmative or negative votes, provided that the Charter Conference may decide upon rules of procedure to enable such decisions to be taken by Contracting Parties by correspondence.

6) Except as provided in paragraph 2), no decision referred to in this article shall be valid unless it has the support of a simple majority of the Contracting Parties.

7) A regional economic integration organization shall, when voting, have a number of votes equal to the number of its member states which are Contracting Parties to this Treaty; provided that such an organization shall not exercise its right to vote if its member states exercise theirs, and vice versa.

8) In the event of persistent arrears in a Contracting Party's discharge of financial obligations under this Treaty, the Charter Conference may suspend that Contracting Party's voting rights in whole or in part.

Article 37

Funding principles

l)Each Contracting Party shall bear its own costs of representation at meetings of the Charter Conference and any subsidiary bodies.

2) The cost of meetings of the Charter Conference and any subsidiary bodies shall be regarded as a cost of the Secretariat.

3) The costs of the Secretariat shall be met by the Contracting Parties assessed according to their capacity to pay, determined as specified in annex B, the provisions of which may be modified in accordance with article 36, 1), d).

4) A Protocol shall contain provisions to assure that any costs of the Secretariat arising from that Protocol are borne by the parties thereto.

5) The Charter Conference may in addition accept voluntary contributions from one or more Contracting Parties or from other sources. Costs met from such contributions shall not be considered costs of the Secretariat for the purposes of paragraph 3).

PART vm

Final provisions

Article 38 Signature

This Treaty shall be open for signature at Lisbon from 17 December 1994 to 16 June 1995 by the states and regional economic integration organizations which have signed the Charter.

Article 39

Ratification, acceptance or approval

This Treaty shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by signatories. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the depositary.

Article 40

Application to territories

1) Any state or regional economic integration organization may at the time of signature, ratificauc^, acceptance, approval or accession, by a declaration deposited with the depositary, declare that the Treaty shall be binding upon it with respect to all the territories for the international relations of which it is responsible, or to one or more of them. Such declaration shall take effect av the time the Treaty enters into force for that Contracting Party.

2) Any Contracting Party may at a later date, by a declaration deposited with the depositary, bind itself under this Treaty with respect to other territory specified in the declaration. In respect of such territory the Treaty shall enter into force on the ninetieth day following the receipt by the depositary of such declaration.

3) Any declaration made under the two preceding paragraphs may, in respect of any territory specified in such declaration, be withdrawn by a notification to the depositary. The withdrawal shall, subject to the applicability of article 47, 3), become effective upon the expiry of one year after the date of receipt of such notification by the depositary.

4) The definition of «area» in article 1, 10), shall be construed having regard to any declaration deposited under this article.