WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY FIRST SPECIAL SESSION Provisional agenda item 2.2
SSA1/2 9 November 2006
Director-General Approval of contract 1. The attached text of the draft contract establishing the terms and conditions of appointment, salary1 and other emoluments for the post of Director-General has been submitted to the Health Assembly by the Executive Board in resolution EB119.R2. 2. Pursuant to consideration by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and the United Nations General Assembly at its forty-seventh session (1992) of the pension arrangements for elected ungraded officials, the Executive Board at its 119th session authorized the Secretariat to consult the nominee for the post of Director-General on this issue immediately after the Board session, and to forward to the Health Assembly, as appropriate, an amendment to the contract after that consultation. It requested the Secretariat to ascertain whether the nominee wished to join or remain in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund or to make his or her own arrangements in line with a specific option identified by ICSC and considered appropriate by the United Nations General Assembly, namely, that the Director-General would be paid the equivalent of the monthly pension contribution that would otherwise have been paid by the Organization to the Pension Fund (the Organization would incur no additional cost). The nominee decided to remain in the Pension Fund, therefore no amendment to the draft contract is needed. 3. The main difference between the draft contract recommended by the Board on this occasion and the contracts of previous Directors-General relates to its beginning and end, and consequently to its duration.2 Although Rule 108 of the Rules of Procedure of the World Health Assembly establishes that the term of office of the Director-General shall be five years, application of this provision would lead to an impractical result under the exceptional circumstances of the process of nomination and appointment of the next Director-General, since her term of office would expire halfway between two Health Assemblies. Consequently the Executive Board, by resolution EB118.R2, has recommended that the Health Assembly should suspend Rule 108 so that the term of office of the next DirectorGeneral may be set in such a way as to terminate shortly after closure of a Health Assembly. Moreover, whereas the contracts of previous Directors-General always started on 21 July, this could not be the case for the next Director-General. The Executive Board considered these issues at its 119th session and recommended in resolution EB119.R2 that the contract of the next Director-General should start on 4 January 2007 and end on 30 June 2012. If the Health Assembly concurs with these
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Subject to amendment in accordance with resolution EB117.R11. See also document SSA1/INF.DOC./1.
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recommendations, the draft contract will be completed accordingly and the duration of the contract of the next Director-General will thus be of five years, five months and 27 days. 4. Unlike draft contracts of previous Directors-General which left blank the date of signature, the draft contract annexed hereto is dated 9 November 2006 because it is expected that the contract will be signed at the end of the special session of the Health Assembly, which is convened for that day only.
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ANNEX DRAFT CONTRACT OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL
THIS CONTRACT is made this ninth day of November two thousand and six between the World Health Organization (hereinafter called the Organization) of the one part and (hereinafter called the Director-General) of the other part. WHEREAS (1) It is provided by Article 31 of the Constitution of the Organization that the DirectorGeneral of the Organization shall be appointed by the World Health Assembly (hereinafter called the Health Assembly) on the nomination of the Executive Board (hereinafter called the Board) on such terms as the Health Assembly may decide; and (2) The Director-General has been duly nominated by the Board and appointed by the Health Assembly at its meeting held on the ninth day of November two thousand and six for a period of………. NOW THIS CONTRACT WITNESSETH and it is hereby agreed as follows, I. (1) until the terminate. The Director-General shall serve from the . on which date the appointment and this Contract shall
(2) Subject to the authority of the Board, the Director-General shall exercise the functions of chief technical and administrative officer of the Organization and shall perform such duties as may be specified in the Constitution and in the rules of the Organization and/or as may be assigned to him or her by the Health Assembly or the Board. (3) The Director-General shall be subject to the Staff Regulations of the Organization in so far as they may be applicable to him or her. In particular he or she shall not hold any other administrative post, and shall not receive emoluments from any outside sources in respect of activities relating to the Organization. He or she shall not engage in business or in any employment or activity which would interfere with his or her duties in the Organization. (4) The Director-General, during the term of this appointment, shall enjoy all the privileges and immunities in keeping with the office by virtue of the Constitution of the Organization and any relevant arrangements already in force or to be concluded in the future. (5) The Director-General may at any time give six months’ notice of resignation in writing to the Board, which is authorized to accept such resignation on behalf of the Health Assembly; in which case, upon the expiration of the said period of notice, the Director-General shall cease to hold the appointment and this Contract shall terminate. (6) The Health Assembly shall have the right, on the proposal of the Board and after hearing the Director-General and subject to at least six months’ notice in writing, to terminate this Contract for reasons of exceptional gravity likely to prejudice the interests of the Organization.
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Annex
II. (1) As from the the Director-General shall receive from the Organization an annual salary of two hundred and seventeen thousand, nine hundred and forty-five United States dollars before staff assessment, resulting in a net salary (to be paid monthly) of one hundred and fifty-four thousand, six hundred and sixty-four United States dollars per annum at the dependency rate (one hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred and forty-three United States dollars at the single rate) or its equivalent in such other currency as may be mutually agreed between the parties to this Contract. (2) In addition to the normal adjustments and allowances authorized to staff members under the Staff Rules, the Director-General shall receive an annual representation allowance of twenty thousand United States dollars or its equivalent in such other currency as may be mutually agreed between the parties to this Contract, to be paid monthly commencing on the . The representation allowance shall be used at his or her discretion entirely in respect of representation in connection with his or her official duties. He or she shall be entitled to such reimbursable allowances as travel allowances and removal costs on appointment, on subsequent change of official station, on termination of appointment, or on official travel and home-leave travel. III. The terms of the present Contract relating to rates of salary and representation allowance are subject to review and adjustment by the Health Assembly on the proposal of the Board, and after consultation with the Director-General, to bring them into conformity with any provision regarding the conditions of employment of staff members which the Health Assembly may decide to apply to staff members already in the service. IV. If any question of interpretation or any dispute arises concerning this Contract, which is not settled by negotiation or agreement, the matter shall be referred for final decision to the competent tribunal provided for in the Staff Rules. WHEREUNTO we have set our hands the day and year first above written.
........................... Director-General
........................... President of the World Health Assembly
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