Article 6

EXPENSES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONTROL ORGANS

1. Article 6 establishes as rules of treaty law what has in any case been the practice of the United Nations General Assembly. The Second Geneva opium Conference of 1924/1925 concluded the 1925 Convention, under whose chapter VI the Permanent Central Board, I one of the two predecessor bodies 2 of the present International Narcotics Control Board, was established. It adopted a resolution requesting the Council of the League of Nations to include in the expenses of the League Secretariat the costs of the Central Board and its administrative services. This resolution also stated that it was understood that those Parties to the 1925 Convention which were not Members of the League would bear their share of the expenses in accordance with a scale to be drawn Up by agreement with the Council . 3 In fact, the League bore the costs of the Central Board, in addition to the other expenses of international narcotics control, and some States, non-members of the League, which participated in the narcotics treaties, paid their share of costs not only of the Board, but also of the other activities of the League in the field of narcotics control. 4

2. The United Nations has followed the example of the League. It provides in its budget for the costs of international narcotics control, no matter whether the work is done under the narcotics treaties or under the United Nations Charter, with the exception only of those expenses which are borne by the World Health Organization in discharging its functions in the field. Since 1950 the General Assembly has been assessing Parties to narcotics treaties which are not Members of the United Nations for their shares of the costs of the United Nations in connexion with the international narcotics regime 4 The procedure which is followed in this assessment was first employed in assessing Switzerland for the share of its costs of the International Court of Justice under the resolution 91 (1) of the General Assembly, which determined the conditions of Swiss adherence to the Statute of the International Court as required under the terms of article 93, paragraph 2 of the United Nations Charter. It is in fact this procedure which has been incorporated in the second sentence of article 6 of the Single Convention. The text of this sentence follows closely the wording of the corresponding paragraph of the General Assembly resolution concerning Swiss adherence to the Statute of the Court. 11 The General Assembly has since 1950 extended the scope of its assessment of non-Member States. It assesses them not only for the costs of the Court and narcotics control, but also for several other United Nations activities in which they respectively participate . 7

3. There are other costs than those of the Commission and Board and their secretariat services 8 which the United Nations incurs in the field of drugs. The General Assembly itself has dealt with the drug problem from time to time, the Economic and Social Council at least once a year, and even the Trusteeship Council several times, but these other costs are comparatively very small, and form only a minute fraction of the total United Nations costs in connexion with problems of narcotics drugs.

4. In view of the authority granted to the Commission by the Single Convention 9 "to consider all matters pertaining to the aims of this Convention", practically all of its work must be considered to be carried out under the terms of this treaty; 10 but even expenses incurred in work not carried out under the Single Convention, but rather under the terms of the Charter, would be covered by article 6, which does not exclude from its scope any costs of the Commission. Moreover Parties which as non-members of the United Nations are assessed for such costs under article 6 have under article 5 expressly recognized "the competence of the United Nations with respect to the international control of drugs". 11 See above, comments on article 5.

5. It may be noted that the procedure of assessing non-members under article 6 requires that they be consulted, but not that they consent. The obligation of a non-member to make a payment under this article flows therefore from the decision of the General Assembly, and not from its agreement with the particular percentage of the costs with which it is assessed. 12

1. See above comments on article 1, para. 1, subpara. (a).

2. The other being the Drug Supervisory Body established under Chapter II of the 1931 Convention; see article 45 of the Single Convention.

3 Resolution VII incorporated in the Final Act of the Conference; Records of 'be Second Opium Conference, November 17, 1924-February 19,1925, vol. 1, p. 539, vague of Nations, document C.760.M.260.1924.Xl.

4 Document A/C.5/340.

5 General Assembly resolution 455 (V) and document A/1418; see also General Assembly resolution 353 (IV) and document A/C.5/340, and Economic and Social Council resolution 201 (VIII)

7 See e.g. General Assembly resolution 2118 (XX), para. 1, subpara.(h), clause (it) and General Assembly resolution 1691 (XVI), para. 4, subpara. (b).

9 Article 8, introductory paragraph.

10 Even the Commission's work to extend control to drugs not covered by the Single Convention by preparing a new treaty, may be considered as a matter "pertaining to the aims of this Convention", i.e. to its principal aim of fighting drug abusc. Work of this kind was undertaken at the Commission's twenty-third session in 1969 and first special session in 1970, when it prepared the Draft Protocol on Psychotropic Substances and the Revised Draft Protocol on Psychotropic Substances (OfficiaiRecords of the Economic and Social Council, Forty-sixth Session (E/4606/Rev.1). Annex IV, andForty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 8 (E/4785), Chapter 111.

11 The technical assistance programme under General Assembly resolution 1395(XIV) is generally carried out by the Secretary-General in accordance with recommendations of the Commission, to which, as well as to the Economic and Social Council, he must report regularly under para. 6 of the resolution.

12 The English text uses the phrase "these expenses", and the Spanish text "dichos gastos", the phrasing in both cases making it clear that the costs are those of the Commission and the Board. The French text does not use this method of reference, but employs instead the phrase"frais des organes internationaux decontrole". Although article 5 refers only to the Commission and the Board as "international control organs", the above comments on this article point out that there are in fact other international organs of control under the terms of the Single Convention. Itis, however, suggested that despite the differing phrasing the French text has the same meaning as the other language versions. The terms"des organes internationaux de controle" in article 6 refer only to the Commission and the Board.