The Commission agreed that the Budgetary Sub-Committee work intersessionally on the activities identified in Document IWC/69/10.2/01/Rev1 and return to IWC70 with recommendations to address these matters.
The Commission agreed that the General Fund reserves should be drawn on to fund two one-off items: ensuring the Commission is compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations and funding the gap in the hosting costs of IWC69, noting the latter has already been covered by the Government of Germany.
The Commission noted the ongoing uncertainties with the sale of the Red House and agreed that the General Fund reserves should be drawn on to cover the income gap if the Red House doesn?t sell before 2025.
The Commission agreed in principle to the provisional budget of 2027/2028, which requires increases of 5% in 2027 and 5% in 2028 (Document IWC/69/10.2/01.Rev1 Annex 4). This will be reviewed and adjusted before being presented to the Commission for agreement at IWC70.
The Commission noted the remaining priority needs and exceptional items that are not included in the core budget proposal (Document IWC/69/10.2/01.Rev1 Annex 3).
The Commission agreed to the proposed budget for 2025/2026 which requires increases in financial contributions from Contracting Governments of 3% in 2025 and a further 3% in 2026 (Document IWC/69/10.2/01.Rev1 Annex 1), and noted that this includes new critical priority items (Document IWC/69/10.2/01.Rev1 Annex 2).
The Commission noted that the proposed budget has been developed following the principles in the Budgetary Reform Strategy agreed at IWC68.
The Commission endorsed the membership of the Science Liaison Group to include Australia (Convenor), Brazil, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and the USA, and continues to seek participation from, at least, a West African party and an Asian party.
The Commission requested the Science Liaison Group to consider ways in which the priorities of the Commission can be absorbed by the Research Fund when the Commission gives instructions to the Scientific Committee.
The Commission endorsed the next steps identified in Document IWC/69/10.1/09 for carrying out work on Resolution 2022-1 towards a global risk assessment on the impacts of marine plastic pollution on cetaceans and requested the Scientific Committee to undertake this work in the next biennium, drawing on the Scientific Committee?s Research Fund to the value of œ15,000 from the lowest prioritised projects.
