Article VI

Bureau

1. The Meeting of the Parties shall elect a Bureau consisting of the Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons of the Meeting of the Parties, and shall adopt rules of procedure for the Bureau, as proposed by the Agreement secretariat. The Chairperson of the Scientific Committee shall be invited to participate as an observer in the meetings of the Bureau. Whenever necessary, the Agreement secretariat shall provide secretariat services.

2. The Bureau shall:

a) provide general policy guidance and operational and financial direction to the Agreement secretariat and the Co-ordination units concerning the implementation and promotion of the Agreement;

b) carry out, between sessions of the Meeting of the Parties, such interim activities on its behalf as may be necessary or assigned to it by the Meeting of the Parties; and

c) represent the Parties vis-à-vis the Government(s) of the host country (or countries) of the Agreement secretariat and the Meeting of the Parties, the Depositary and other international organizations on matters relating to this Agreement and its secretariat.

3. At the request of its Chairperson, the Bureau shall normally meet once per annum at the invitation of the Agreement secretariat, which shall inform all Parties of the date, venue and agenda of such meetings.

4. The Bureau shall provide a report on its activities for each session of the Meeting of the Parties which will be circulated to all Parties in advance of the session by the Agreement secretariat.

Article VII

Scientific Committee

1. A Scientific Committee, comprising persons qualified as experts in cetacean conservation science, shall be established as an advisory body to the Meeting of the Parties. The Meeting of the Parties will entrust the functions of the Scientific Committee to an existing organization in the Agreement area that assures geographically-balanced representation.

2. Meetings of the Scientific Committee shall be convened by the Agreement secretariat at the request of the Meeting of the Parties.

3. The Scientific Committee shall:

a) provide advice to the Meeting of the Parties on scientific and technical matters having a bearing on the implementation of the Agreement, and to individual Parties between sessions, as appropriate, through the Co-ordination unit of the subregion concerned;

b) advise on the guidelines as provided for in Article IV, paragraph 3, assess the reviews prepared in accordance with Annex 2 to this Agreement and formulate recommendations to the Meeting of the Parties relating to their development, contents and implementation;

c) conduct scientific assessments of the conservation status of cetacean populations;

d) advise on the development and co-ordination of international research and monitoring programmes, and make recommendations to the Meeting of the Parties concerning further research to be carried out;

e) facilitate the exchange of scientific information and of conservation techniques;

f) prepare for each session of the Meeting of the Parties a report of its activities which shall be submitted to the Agreement secretariat not less than one hundred and twenty days before the session of the Meeting of the Parties and circulated forthwith by the Agreement secretariat to all Parties;

g) render timely advice on the exceptions of which it has been informed pursuant to Article II, paragraph 2; and

h) carry out, as may be necessary, other tasks referred to it by the Meeting of the Parties.

4. The Scientific Committee, in consultation with the Bureau and the respective Co-ordination units, may establish working groups as may be necessary to deal with specific tasks. The Meeting of the Parties shall agree a fixed budget allocation for this purpose.

Article VIII

Communication and Reporting

Each Party shall:

a) designate a focal point for this Agreement, and shall communicate without delay the focal point's name, address and telecommunication numbers to the Agreement secretariat, for prompt circulation to the other Parties and to the Co-ordination units; and

b) prepare for each ordinary session of the Meeting of the Parties, beginning with the second session, a report on its implementation of the Agreement with particular reference to the conservation measures and scientific research and monitoring it has undertaken. The format of such reports shall be determined by the first session of the Meeting of the Parties and reviewed as may be necessary at any subsequent session. Each report shall be submitted to the Agreement secretariat not less than one hundred and twenty days before the opening of the session of the Meeting of the Parties for which it has been prepared, and copies shall be circulated forthwith to the other Parties by the Agreement secretariat.

Article IX

Financial Arrangements

1. The scale of contributions to the budget of this Agreement shall be determined by the Meeting of the Parties at its first session. No regional economic integration organization shall be required to contribute more than 2.5 per cent of the administrative costs.

2. Decisions relating to the budget and any changes to the scale of contributions that may be found necessary shall be adopted by the Meeting of the Parties by consensus.

3. The Meeting of the Parties may establish a supplementary conservation fund from voluntary contributions of Parties or from any other source in order to increase the funds available for monitoring, research, training and projects relating to the conservation of cetaceans.

4. Parties are also encouraged to provide technical and financial support on a bilateral or multilateral basis to assist Range States which are developing countries or countries with economies in transition to implement the provisions of this Agreement.

5. The Agreement secretariat shall undertake periodically a review of potential mechanisms for providing additional resources, including funds and technical assistance, for the implementation of this Agreement, and shall report its findings to the Meeting of the Parties.