18 December 1981

Scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses of the United Nations A

The General Assembly,

Having examined the report of the Committee on Contributions,

Recalling its resolutions 14 (I) of 13 February 1946, 1927 (XVIII) of 11 December 1963, 2118 (XX) of 21 December 1965, 2961 C and D (XXVII) of 13 December 1972, 31/95 A and B of 14 December 1976 and 34/6 B of 25 October 1979,

Bearing in mind that real capacity to pay of Member States is the fundamental criterion on which the scales of assessments are based,

Taking into account the difficult and even critical economic and financial situation of developing countries,

Mindful of the obligations of each Member State towards the Organization, Recognizing once again the need for an improved methodology to assess the real capacity to pay of Member States, in order to increase the fairness and equity of the scale of assessments,

Considering the need to prevent extreme and excessive variations of individual rates of assessments between two successive scales,

Noting the views expressed in the Fifth Committee during the debate on the report of the Committee on Contributions,

1. Reaffirms its previous decisions that, in the measurement of capacity to pay of Member States, the following elements should be taken into account, in order to prevent anomalous assessments resulting from the sole use of estimates of national income:

(a) Due consideration to developing countries, in general, and to the countries with the lowest per capita income, including the least developed countries, in particular, in view of their special economic and financial problems;

(b) The continuing disparities between the economies of developed and developing countries;

(c) Conditions or circumstances which adversely affect the capacity to pay of Member States;

(d) The particular situation of Member States whose earnings depend heavily on one or few products;

(e) The ability of Member States to secure foreign currency;

(f) The concept of accumulated national wealth;

(g) The existence of different methods of national accounting of Member States, including the level of different inflation rates and their effects on the comparability of national income statistics;

2. Requests the Committee on Contributions to prepare a set of guidelines for the collection of data and its presentation by Member States, in order to ensure that adequate data and statistical information are submitted to the Committee on a uniform and comparable basis;

3. Requests the Committee on Contributions to submit to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session a thorough study on alternative methods to assess the real capacity to pay of Member States that takes fully into account Assembly resolution 34/6 B, all the elements listed in paragraph 1 above, including a new statistical base period, a revised upper limit of the low per capita income allowance formula and a limit for increases between two successive scales;

4. Decides that, pending fulfilment by the Committee on Contributions of the directives set out in paragraph 3 above, the following criteria will be observed in the subsequent reviewing of the scale:

(a) The statistical base period should be 10 years;

(b) The upper limit of the low per capita income allowance formula will be raised from $US 1,800 to $US 2,100 and the gradient of the relief granted will be raised from 75 per cent to 85 per cent, so as to compensate at least partially for the effects of world inflation since the last revision of the values of the formula;

(c) Efforts should be made to limit the increase of individual rates of assessments to a reasonable level, and, in this context, special measures should be taken in favour of countries whose rates of assessments have already been increased at the previous review of the scale of assessments;

(d) In view of the extremely serious economic situation of the least developed countries, their individual rates of assessment should not in any way exceed the present level.

B The General Assembly Resolves that:

1. The rates of assessment for the following States, admitted to membership in the United Nations on 25 August and 16 September 1980, respectively, shall be as follows:

Member States Per cent Zimbabwe 0.02 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 0.01 For 1982, these rates shall be added to the scale of assessments established under General Assembly resolution 34/6 A of 25 October 1979;

2. For the year 1980, Zimbabwe and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines shall contribute at the rate of one ninth of 0.02 and 0.01 per cent, respectively, such contributions to be taken into account as miscellaneous income under regulation 5.2 (c) of the Financial Regulations of the United Nations;

3. For the year 1981, Zimbabwe and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines shall contribute at the rate of 0.02 and 0.01 per cent, respectively, such contributions also to be taken into account as miscellaneous income under regulation 5.2 (c) of the Financial Regulations of the United Nations;

4. The contributions of these new Member States for 1980 and 1981 shall be applied to the same basis of assessment as for other Member States, except that in the case of appropriations or apportionments approved under General Assembly resolution 34/7 C of 3 December 1979 and 35/45 A of 1 December 1980 for the financing of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, and resolution 35/115 A of 10 December 1980 for the financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the contributions of those States, as determined by the group of contributors to which they may be assigned by the Assembly, shall be calculated in proportion to the calendar year;

5. The advances to the Working Capital Fund of Zimbabwe and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines under regulation 5.8 of the Financial Regulations of the United Nations shall be calculated by the application of the rates of assessment of 0.02 and 0.01 per cent, respectively, to the authorized level of the Fund, such advances to be added to the Fund pending the incorporation of the new Members' rates of assessment in a 100 per cent scale.