CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

PETR VÁLEK CYIL 14 (2023) in the future, however, the authorization by the Conference of Participants will be needed in this scenario. 52 Furthermore, the Statute – in order to bring in as many States as possible – offers two forms of participation: the States may either choose to become either a “full-fledged” Participants who would pay annual contributions and enjoy all rights, or Associate Members who would provide voluntary contributions and enjoy “the full range of rights of Participants during the financial year for which they made such a contribution” 53 This flexible model was crafted to enable mainly the observer States of the Council of Europe and the European Union to participate in the Register of Damage from the outset. At the end, the option to become an Associate Member has not been used just the observer States and the European Union, but also by Albania, Liechtenstein and Moldova. 54 The organizational structure of the Register of Damage is comparable to those of other international institutions. First, there is the Conference of Participants whose main competence will be to approve the rules and regulations, appoint the members of the Board, designate the Executive Director and adopt the budget. 55 Its decisions shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority, while procedural matters shall be settled by a majority of the votes cast 56 . Second, the Board “shall be composed of seven members, taking into account their integrity, experience and multidisciplinary expertise…notably as regards international law, war damages and claims, accounting and loss assessment” 57 . They will act “in their individual capacity” and “be independent and impartial” 58 . The competence of the Board includes proposing the rules and regulations and, most importantly, “the ultimate authority in determining the eligibility of claims to be recorded in the Register, based on the recommendation of the Executive Director” 59 . This third organ “shall represent the Register and is entitled to act on its behalf” 60 . Given the crucial role of the Executive Director for the Register of Damage, a special appointment procedure was created, conferring upon the Government of Ukraine the prerogative to propose a person for this post, to be designated by the Conference of Participants. 61 Fourth, the Register of Damage has its own Secretariat and it was agreed, after some debate, that it “shall have full administrative autonomy from the Council of Europe and its bodies” 62 (nevertheless, the Council of Europe Staff Regulations shall still apply to this body 63 ). The arguments in favor of this provision stressed the need for efficient, flexible and non-bureaucratic functioning of the Secretariat of the Register of Damage. The Statute also contains standard “technical” provisions found in other EPAs, such as those on the independence of the Board, the Executive Director and the Secretariat 64 ,

52 Ibid. , Art. 4. 53 Ibid. , Art. 5.7. 54 See supra 28. 55 See supra 24, Art. 5.3.

56 Ibid. , Art. 5.5. 57 Ibid. , Art. 6.1. 58 Ibid. , Art. 6.4. 59 Ibid. , Art. 6.5. 60 Ibid. , Art. 7.1. 61 Ibid. , Art. 7.5. 62 Ibid. , Art. 8.2. 63 Ibid. , Art. 8.3. 64 Ibid. , Art. 9.

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