The Contracting Parties shall be members of the same Special Union as the States party to the Lisbon Agreement or the 1967 Act, whether or not they are party to the Lisbon Agreement or the 1967 Act.
(1), due account being taken of any comments made by those members of the Special Union which have not ratified or acceded to this Act;
iii)
amend the Regulations;
iv)
review and approve the reports and activities of the Director General concerning the Special Union, and give him or her all necessary instructions concerning matters within the competence of the Special Union;
v)
determine the program and adopt the biennial budget of the Special Union, and approve its final accounts;
vi)
adopt the financial Regulations of the Special Union;
vii)
establish such committees and working groups as it deems appropriate to achieve the objectives of the Special Union;
viii)
determine which States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations shall be admitted to its meetings as observers;
ix)
adopt amendments to ;
x)
take any other appropriate action to further the objectives of the Special Union and perform any other functions as are appropriate under this Act.
b)
With respect to matters which are of interest also to other Unions administered by the Organization, the Assembly shall make its decisions after having heard the advice of the Coordination Committee of the Organization.
(3)
[Quorum] a) One-half of the members of the Assembly which have the right to vote on a given matter shall constitute a quorum for the purposes of the vote on that matter.
b)
Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (a), if, in any session, the number of the members of the Assembly which are States, have the right to vote on a given matter and are represented is less than one-half but equal to or more than one-third of the members of the Assembly which are States and have the right to vote on that matter, the Assembly may make decisions but, with the exception of decisions concerning its own procedure, all such decisions shall take effect only if the conditions set forth hereinafter are fulfilled. The International Bureau shall communicate the said decisions to the members of the Assembly which are States, have the right to vote on the said matter and were not represented and shall invite them to express in writing their vote or abstention within a period of three months from the date of the communication. If, at the expiration of this period, the number of such members having thus expressed their vote or abstention attains the number of the members which was lacking for attaining the quorum in the session itself, such decisions shall take effect provided that at the same time the required majority still obtains.
(4)
[Taking Decisions in the Assembly] a) The Assembly shall endeavor to take its decisions by consensus.
b)
Where a decision cannot be arrived at by consensus, the matter at issue shall be decided by voting. In such a case,
i)
each Contracting Party that is a State shall have one vote and shall vote only in its own name; and
ii)
any Contracting Party that is an intergovernmental organization may vote, in place of its member States, with a number of votes equal to the number of its member States which are party to this Act. No such intergovernmental organization shall participate in the vote if any one of its member States exercises its right to vote, and vice versa.
c)
On matters concerning only States that are bound by the 1967 Act, Contracting Parties that are not bound by the 1967 Act shall not have the right to vote, whereas, on matters concerning only Contracting Parties, only the latter shall have the right to vote.
(2) and 27(2), the decisions of the Assembly shall require two-thirds of the votes cast.
b)
Abstentions shall not be considered as votes.
(6)
[Sessions] a) The Assembly shall meet upon convocation by the Director General and, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, during the same period and at the same place as the General Assembly of the Organization.
b)
The Assembly shall meet in extraordinary session upon convocation by the Director General, either at the request of one-fourth of the members of the Assembly or on the Director General’s own initiative.
c)
The agenda of each session shall be prepared by the Director General.
(7)
[Rules of Procedure] The Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedure.
[Administrative Tasks] a) International registration and related duties, as well as all other administrative tasks concerning the Special Union, shall be performed by the International Bureau.
b)
In particular, the International Bureau shall prepare the meetings and provide the Secretariat of the Assembly and of such committees and working groups as may have been established by the Assembly.
c)
The Director General shall be the Chief Executive of the Special Union and shall represent the Special Union.
(2)
[Role of the International Bureau in the Assembly and Other Meetings] The Director General and any staff member designated by him shall participate, without the right to vote, in all meetings of the Assembly, the committees and working groups established by the Assembly. The Director General, or a staff member designated by him, shall be ex officio Secretary of such a body.
(3)
[Conferences] a) The International Bureau shall, in accordance with the directions of the Assembly, make the preparations for any revision conferences.
b)
The International Bureau may consult with intergovernmental and international and national non-governmental organizations concerning the said preparations.
c)
The Director General and persons designated by him shall take part, without the right to vote, in the discussions at revision conferences.
(4)
[Other Tasks] The International Bureau shall carry out any other tasks assigned to it in relation to this Act.
proceeds from the sale of, or royalties on, the publications of the International Bureau;
iii)
gifts, bequests, and subventions;
iv)
rent, investment revenue, and other, including miscellaneous, income;
v)
special contributions of the Contracting Parties or any alternative source derived from the Contracting Parties or beneficiaries, or both, if and to the extent to which receipts from the sources indicated in items (i) to (iv) do not suffice to cover the expenses, as decided by the Assembly.
(3)
[Fixing of Fees; Level of the Budget] a) The amounts of the fees referred to in paragraph (2) shall be fixed by the Assembly on the proposal of the Director General and shall be so fixed that, together with the income derived from other sources under paragraph (2), the revenue of the Special Union should, under normal circumstances, be sufficient to cover the expenses of the International Bureau for maintaining the international registration service.
b)
If the Program and Budget of the Organization is not adopted before the beginning of a new financial period, the authorization to the Director General to incur obligations and make payments shall be at the same level as it was in the previous financial period.
(4)
[Establishing the Special Contributions Referred to in Paragraph (2)(v)] For the purpose of establishing its contribution, each Contracting Party shall belong to the same class as it belongs to in the context of the Paris Convention or, if it is not a Contracting Party of the Paris Convention, as it would belong to if it were a Contracting Party of the Paris Convention. Intergovernmental organizations shall be considered to belong to contribution class I (one), unless otherwise unanimously decided by the Assembly. The contribution shall be partially weighted according to the number of registrations originating in the Contracting Party, as decided by the Assembly.
(5)
[Working Capital Fund] The Special Union shall have a working capital fund, which shall be constituted by payments made by way of advance by each member of the Special Union when the Special Union so decides. If the fund becomes insufficient, the Assembly may decide to increase it. The proportion and the terms of payment shall be fixed by the Assembly on the proposal of the Director General. Should the Special Union record a surplus of income over expenditure in any financial period, the Working Capital Fund advances may be repaid to each member proportionate to their initial payments upon proposal by the Director General and decision by the Assembly.
(6)
[Advances by Host State] a) In the headquarters agreement concluded with the State on the territory of which the Organization has its headquarters, it shall be provided that, whenever the working capital fund is insufficient, such State shall grant advances. The amount of those advances and the conditions on which they are granted shall be the subject of separate agreements, in each case, between such State and the Organization.
b)
The State referred to in subparagraph (a) and the Organization shall each have the right to denounce the obligation to grant advances, by written notification. Denunciation shall take effect three years after the end of the year in which it has been notified.
(7)
[Auditing of Accounts] The auditing of the accounts shall be effected by one or more of the States members of the Special Union or by external auditors, as provided in the Financial Regulations of the Organization. They shall be designated, with their agreement, by the Assembly.
[Subject-Matter] The details for carrying out this Act shall be established in the Regulations.
(2)
[Amendment of Certain Provisions of the Regulations]
a)
The Assembly may decide that certain provisions of the Regulations may be amended only by unanimity or only by a three-fourths majority.
b)
In order for the requirement of unanimity or a three-fourths majority no longer to apply in the future to the amendment of a provision of the Regulations, unanimity shall be required.
c)
In order for the requirement of unanimity or a three-fourths majority to apply in the future to the amendment of a provision of the Regulations, a three-fourths majority shall be required.
(3)
[Conflict Between This Act and the Regulations] In the case of conflict between the provisions of this Act and those of the Regulations, the former shall prevail.