24 DE OUTUBRO DE 1997

116-(5)

Article 4 Organ of the ETO

The ETO shall consist of a council and a director, assisted by a staff.

Article 5 The council

1 — The Council shall consist of representatives of the respective telecommunications regulatory administrations of all the Contracting Parties. It shall be the supreme decision-making body of the ETO.

2 — Representatives of members of ECTRA that do •not belong to a Contracting Party to this Convention may attend the meetings of the Council as observers and may speak upon invitation of the chairman, but may not vote.

3 — Representatives of the European Commission and of the EFTA secretariate may attend the meetings of the Council as observers, with the right to speak but not to vote.

4 — The chairman of ECTRA shall be the chairman of the Council. If the chairman of ECTRA is, however, from a country that is not a Contracting Party to this Convention, the Council shall elect a chairman from amongst its own members. In this eventuality, the chairman of ECTRA shall attend the Council as an observer. The elected chairman's mandate shall expire at the same time as the mandate of the chairman of ECTRA.

5 — The chairman shall have authority to act on . behalf of the Council within the limits of his mandate.

6-—The Council shall establish all necessary rules for the proper functioning of the ETO and its organs.

7 — The Council shall be convened by its chairman at least twice each year. It shall have in particular the following tasks:

1) To appoint the director of the ETO and to determine his or her duties;

2) To determine the numbers of staff and their terms of employment;

3) To supervise the appointment of staff by the director of the ETO;

4) To adopt the annual budget for the ETO and to inform ECTRA;

5) To approve annual accounts of the ETO and to inform ECTRA;

6) To agree the work programme in accordance with article 8 procedure;

7) To set priorities after discussion with ECTRA in respect of tasks agreed in the work programme;

8) To consider possible co-operation between ETO and other international organizations such as the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO).

8 — The Council shall report annually on its activities to an ECTRA plenary and shall provide additional reports on request of ECTRA.

Article 6

Voting procedures

1 — Members of the Council shall endeavour to reach consensus on decisions as far as possible. If consensus

cannot be reached, a decision will be taken by a two thirds majority of the weighted votes cast. The votes will be weighted in accordance with the scale of contributory units as specified in article 10.

2 — For all decisions of the Council a quorum, present or represented by proxy, must exist at the time at which the decision is made which is equivalent to at least one half of the total weighted votes of all the Contracting Parties.

Article 7

Director and staff

1 — The director shall act as the legal representative of the ETO and shall have the authority, within limits agreed by the Council, to enter into contracts on behalf of the ETO. The director may delegate this authority, in whole or in part, to the deputy director.

2 — The director shall be responsible for the proper execution of all internal and external activities of the ETO in accordance with this Convention, the headquarters agreement, the work programme, the budget and directives and guidelines given by the Council.

3 — A set of staff rules shall be established by the Council.

Article 8

Work programme

A work programme for the ETO covering a three year period shall each year be established by the Council on the basis of a proposal from the director of the ETO having previously consulted ECTRA. The first year of this programme shall contain sufficient detail to enable the annual budget of the ETO to be established.

Article 9 Budgeting and accounting

1 — The financial year of the ETO shall run from the 1st of January to the 31st of December following.

2 — The director shall be responsible for preparing the annual budget and the annual accounts for the ETO and submitting them for consideration and approval as appropriate by the Council.

3 — The budget shall be prepared taking into account the requirements of the work programme established in accordance with article 8. The timetable for submitting and approving the budget, in advance of the year to which it applies, shall be determined by the Council.

4 — A set of detailed financial regulations shall be established by the Council. They shall, inter alia, contain provisions about the timetable for the submission and approval of the annual accounts of the ETO and provisions concerning the audit of the accounts.

Article 10 Financial contributions

1— The capital expediture and the current operating expenses of the ETO, excluding costs related to Council meetings, shall be borne by the Contracting Parties. Costs shall be shared on the basis of the contributory units in accordance with the contribution of their Administrations to the CEPT at the date of the opening for signature of this Convention or, for countries joining .