WIPO

      E

        WO/GA/23/5
        ORIGINAL: English
        DATE: July 29, 1998

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION

GENEVA

WIPO GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Twenty-Third (10th Extraordinary) Session
Geneva, September 7 to 15, 1998

PREMISES

Memorandum of the Director General

Highlights

(i) WIPO is in the process of purchasing the Steiner lot (hereinafter referred to as the "new lot"), for 13.5 million Swiss francs, following the approval of the joint session of the Budget and Premises Committees on June 4 and 5, 1998.

(ii) In order to provide a durable solution to WIPO's needs for working places, the new office building to be constructed on the new lot should provide at least 500 working places, in an "intelligent" operational building with the latest information technology facilities and with modular working areas to provide maximum flexibility for the future. The new office building would also have small meeting rooms, an underground car park for about 300 vehicles for staff working in the building, a 300-seat cafeteria, storage areas, technical service areas and related facilities. The new office building would have underground connections and an above-ground passageway (over the closed-off chemin des Colombettes) to connect it to the main WIPO Building.

(iii) The need for a larger main conference room is well known to delegates, who have had to contend, on a number of occasions, with the insufficient size of Conference Room A, which is also the only conference room having facilities for six languages of interpretation. In light of the continuous growth in the number of Member States of WIPO and in the number of observer organizations, and therefore in the number of delegates attending meetings, it is considered essential that the new main conference room should have approximately 600 seats for delegates, with modern interpretation and information technology facilities and related conference facilities. That new main conference room should be located in close proximity to WIPO's conference and meeting facilities. It is proposed to have the new main conference room located on WIPO's present land, being integrated into the structure of the main WIPO Building.

(iv) It is necessary that adequate parking should be provided for delegates, close to WIPO's conference and premises facilities. It is proposed to provide additional parking by more than doubling the present underground parking space under the main WIPO Building.

(v) A new international architectural competition, open to architects from all Member States of WIPO, is proposed to determine the best solution for the above-mentioned three construction elements. The duration of that competition, leading to the international jury determining the overall winner(s), would be about 12 months following the September 1998 sessions of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO (i.e., ending about September/October 1999).

(vi) There would then follow the development, by the winning architect(s) with the associated team of engineers, of the detailed building specifications and the international tendering for the construction. The construction itself is tentatively estimated to be completed by about the end of the year 2002.

(vii) Pending the results of the international architectural competition, preliminary cost estimates are as follows:

Those amounts would be financed from the Special Reserve Fund for Additional Premises and Computerization.

(viii) In keeping with the principles of accountability and transparency, there would be continuing consultations with Member States, including regular joint sessions of the Budget and Premises Committees, and informal consultations, to ensure the involvement and oversight by Member States. The actual construction would not begin until approved by the General Assembly.

(ix) The decisions invited to be taken by the General Assembly are given in paragraph 54.

Background

1. At their June 4 and 5, 1998, joint session, the Budget and Premises Committees approved (see paragraph 37 of document WO/BC/19/5-WO/PC/9/5) that:

Purchase of the Steiner Lot

2. As concerns the purchase of the Steiner lot (hereinafter referred to as the "new lot"), the Director General has undertaken the following steps to conclude the purchase of the new lot from the Steiner firm. The Steiner firm was immediately informed of the authority granted to the Director General to purchase the new lot.

3. A notary (Notaire) has been retained for the purposes of verifying the situation of the new lot concerning easements (servitudes) and mortgages and of preparing the necessary documents to complete the purchase. As of the date of the present document the foregoing work was in progress. The purchase of the new lot is expected to be completed by the end of August 1998.

4. In addition to the steps described in paragraph 3, above, communications were ongoing at the date of the present document with the Swiss authorities. These communications include notification of the purchase by WIPO of the new lot and discussions on the privileges to which WIPO is entitled in connection with the said purchase, including exemption from taxes.

Informal Consultations

5. The informal consultations referred to in paragraph 1(b), above, were undertaken, under the chairmanship of the Chairperson of the Budget and Premises Committees, on June 22, 1998, at which time the following premises matters were discussed: the new office building to be constructed on the new lot, with connection to the WIPO Building; a larger main conference room; additional parking, especially for delegates; a new international architectural competition for the above-mentioned three construction elements, and the approximate timing and preliminary cost estimates. Further informal consultations on those premises matters were also undertaken on July 8, 1998, under the chairmanship of the Chairperson of the General Assembly.

6. The proposals developed, following those consultations, by the Secretariat for the said three construction elements and for the said architectural competition are contained in this document.

New Office Building on the New Lot

7. It is recalled that the Secretariat's forecasts of its needs for working places resulted in a figure of 1,429 working places for the year 2008, which has been accepted as the basis for planning for new premises. As noted in document WO/BC/18/3-WO/PC/8/2, WIPO's owned premises (namely, the WIPO, BIRPI I and BIRPI II Buildings and the extended WMO Building) would provide only 1,009 working places. In order to have a durable solution to provide the full number of working places needed, another building is required to provide some 500 working places, so that WIPO's owned premises would provide a total of 1,509 working places for the year 2008. At their June 4 and 5, 1998, joint session, the Budget and Premises Committees approved the immediate purchase of the new lot, so that such a building could be constructed thereon. Having that new building, along with the renovated and extended WMO Building, will make it possible to bring together the staff of the Secretariat, and the Library, from the numerous dispersed rented premises where they have had to be accommodated, to be re-grouped and co-located in the buildings complex consisting of the following buildings: WIPO, BIRPI I, BIRPI II, extended WMO and new building.

8. The new office building will therefore need to provide at least 500 working places, and must be a functional, utilitarian, modern and fully operational building designed to answer the precise needs and functional requirements of the Secretariat while, at the same time, offering maximum flexibility so that the modular working areas could be re-arranged to enable future needs to be accommodated. The building will incorporate the latest information technology facilities, including high bandwidth cabling throughout the building and video-conference and other electronic conference facilities, so that staff can make maximum use of information technology in their work, thereby enabling them to work in the most efficient and productive manner; this is particularly important in the context of WIPO's computerization and information technology oriented projects. Through the effective use of information technology and new ways of using space, the building should allow for the possibility of accommodating larger numbers of staff in the future. The building can therefore be characterized as being an "intelligent" and operational building. (The building should also be "intelligent" in incorporating the latest building technologies, to be environmentally adaptable and energy-efficient.)

9. The local zoning plan (plan localisé de quartier) approved by the Geneva authorities allows the new office building to have five stories fully above ground, an upper and a lower ground floor, three underground floors of parking places (offering about 300 parking spaces for staff working there) and a further underground floor for storage. In addition to providing for at least 500 working places, and several small meeting rooms (with multi-tasking possibilities), the new building would include a 300-seat cafeteria, reception areas, storage areas, technical and service areas, and related facilities.

10. It is recalled that the local zoning plan allows the chemin des Colombettes to be closed off to vehicular traffic (although there would still be pedestrian access), so that WIPO's city block would effectively be extended into a "L" shape, as shown in the Plan annexed to the present document, which indicates the location of the new office building on the new lot. Vehicle access to WIPO's various buildings would be via chemin du Pré-de-la Bichette and chemin des Colombettes, and possibly also via chemin de Sous-Bois and chemin de Mon-Soleil; there would also be direct access to and from the parking from the route de Ferney.

11. The new office building would be connected to the WIPO Building with underground connections on several floors, linking parking areas and technical facilities. There could also be an above-ground passageway to link to the WIPO Building and/or the new main conference room (see paragraphs 23 to 31, below).

12. A new international architectural competition is proposed to determine the best solution for the new office building on the new lot. The international architectural competition, and the subsequent development of the detailed specifications for the new building by the chosen architect with the associated team of engineers, would have a duration of about 19 months following the September 1998 sessions of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO (i.e., ending about April 2000). (More information on the international architectural competition and the development of detailed building specifications is given in paragraphs 40 to 50, below.)

13. The actual construction of the new office building, following international tendering for a general contractor to undertake the construction, is (pending the results of the international architectural competition) tentatively estimated to take about 32 months (i.e., until the end of the year 2002).

14. Preliminary cost estimates (also pending the results of the international architectural competition) are as follows:

Including the cost of the new lot (13.5 million Swiss francs) and the associated notarial costs (about 0.1 million Swiss francs) gives a total estimated cost for the new lot and the new office building of about 62.4 to 67.4 million Swiss francs.

15. Office furniture (desks, tables, chairs, etc.), information technology equipment (PCs, printers, servers, controllers, etc.) and other equipment and furniture for the new office building are provisionally estimated to cost about five million Swiss francs.

New (Larger) Main Conference Room

16. With the conversion of the Mezzanine floor of the WIPO Building, approved by the General Assembly at its March 25 to 27, 1998, session, to be essentially for meetings and use by delegates (with three meeting rooms having interpretation facilities, plus one other meeting room, additional toilets, offices for the Chairperson of the WIPO General Assembly and for other officers of meetings, a room with personal computers, printers and telecommunications links for the use of delegates, a press room, and conference support facilities), there will be a major improvement in WIPO's conference and meeting facilities.

17. There remains, however, the continuing problem of the insufficient size of Conference Room A, which now provides only 270 seats (of which only 220 have desks for delegates), and the fact that it is WIPO's only conference room having facilities for six languages of interpretation. It is recalled that the need for a larger main conference room was pointed out in document WO/GA/22/1 for the March 25 to 27, 1998, session of the General Assembly, but it was recommended that the question of a larger main conference room should be addressed only once the decision had been taken in choosing between the Procter & Gamble Building and the Steiner lot Building. As that decision has now been taken, it is timely to examine the question of a larger main conference room.

18. The need for a larger main conference room is clearly known to delegates, who have had to contend with the major inconveniences caused by the insufficient size of Conference Room A on a number of recent occasions (including, in the year since September 1997 alone, the September 15 to 19, 1997, Information Meeting on Intellectual Property in Databases and Committee of Experts on a Protocol Concerning Audiovisual Performances (317 participants); the September 22 to October 1, 1997, sessions of WIPO's Governing Bodies (594 participants); the March 25 to 27, 1998, sessions of the Assemblies of WIPO's Member States (434 participants); and the June 8 to 12, 1998, meeting of the Committee of Experts on a Protocol Concerning Audiovisual Performances (302 participants)). Furthermore, Conference Room A is expected to be of insufficient size for the September 7 to 15, 1998, sessions of the Assemblies of WIPO's Member States. Thus, in a period of one year, Conference Room A has been, or is expected to be, insufficient in size for a total of about six meeting weeks. As regards the forthcoming sessions of the Assemblies of WIPO's Member States, the first week will be held at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), which became available due to a cancellation; the cost charged by the CICG will be about 15,000 francs.

19. The need for a larger main conference room is expected to become even more pronounced in the future, in the light of the continuing growth in the number of Member States of WIPO and the Unions administered by WIPO1, and the consequential increase in the numbers of delegates attending meetings, as well as the increase in the number of accredited observer intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations1, reflecting the ever-increasing world-wide interest in intellectual property. Not only are there more Member States, but the situation of accommodation in a large conference room becomes even more problematic when States wish, as is often the case, to have a delegation consisting of a number of representatives (to cover, for example, the interests of the Industrial Property Office (with patent and trademark specialists), Copyright Authorities, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Mission in Geneva, etc.).

20. WIPO's need for another large conference room results also from the fact that, even with careful scheduling, there are increasing numbers of occasions when parallel large meetings have to be held.

21. Furthermore, with Conference Room A being WIPO's only conference room having facilities for six languages of interpretation, the expressed desire of many Member States to have more meetings provided with six languages of interpretation provides a further reason for WIPO to have a new large conference room with facilities for interpretation into a number of languages.

22. It is recalled that several independent studies have been undertaken in the past few years to examine WIPO's need for additional conference facilities and the possibility of using other conference facilities in Geneva2 to satisfy them. In his July 1996 report (reference document WO/BC/XV/2-WO/PC/VI/2, Annex, paragraph 110), the independent expert, Mr. Alec Sugden, concluded that the expansion of membership of the Organization and increasing interest in intellectual property matters made it likely that a divisible 400-seat conference room would be needed within the next few years, as existing and planned facilities did not appear to be flexible enough to cope with the Organization's likely needs. Furthermore, the report in February 1997 by the independent consultant STG-Coopers & Lybrand Consulting SA (reference document WO/BC/XVI/2-WO/PC/VII/2, Annex, page 16) stated that, in view of the urgent need for WIPO to have a conference room which it could use freely and in view of the situation in the Geneva market, it would seem that the most realistic solution would be for WIPO to build a conference room of its own which could be rented to others (other international or private organizations) when not occupied.

23. In the light of the continuing growth in the numbers of delegates and the number of major meetings associated with the increasing activities of WIPO, it would now appear to be short-sighted to consider constructing a new main conference room of only about 400 seats or so, as that would probably already be too small by the time it would be built. It is thus considered essential that WIPO have a new, larger main conference room, with approximately 600 seats for delegates from Member States and observer intergovernmental organizations and observer non-governmental organizations.

24. That new main conference room would have modern interpretation facilities, along with modern information technology and audiovisual facilities for multi-media presentations (including appropriate video technologies to show the person who is speaking, and including large screens in both the new conference room and in Conference Room A so that extremely large numbers of delegates could be accommodated using both conference rooms). Associated with the new main conference room would be a delegates lounge, a coffee bar, cloakroom area, a waiting room for interpreters, document distribution facilities, working places for the Secretariat staff serving conferences, and related facilities.

25. The new main conference room should be located in close proximity to WIPO's existing conference and meeting facilities, so that delegates can go from one conference or meeting room to another without having to leave the complex of buildings, and so that the Secretariat can service meetings in the most efficient way.

26. It is therefore only reasonable to consider possibilities of locating the new main conference room on WIPO's present city block or on the new lot. Possible approaches have been examined, involving an expansion of Conference Room A or construction of a large conference room as part of the new building on the new lot. Unfortunately, as explained in the following paragraphs, neither of those solutions is feasible.

27. As concerns the possibility of expanding Conference Room A, the Geneva authorities have indicated that, for architectural reasons and because of the limited land available in front of it, the present walls can not be moved outward. Any expansion into the present WIPO Building would be limited by technical considerations. Thus, all that can be envisaged would be a re-arrangement of the seating within the present room. This could add several more seats (possibly about 30 seats, increasing the capacity to some 300 seats), but would involve a cost estimated at about 0.5 million Swiss francs (including the cost of replacing the present interpretation facilities), and making Conference Room A unavailable for between four and six months for the renovation.

28. As concerns the possibility of including a large conference room as part of the building to be constructed on the new lot, consideration was given to locating that on the ground floor; however, that is precluded by technical factors, namely, that significant weight (i.e. a number of floors of offices) cannot be put on the roof of a large conference room unless extremely expensive construction is undertaken. Thus the only possible location of a 600-seat conference room would be at the top of the new building, where it would take up a major part of two floors (and thereby significantly reduce the number of working places) while involving important problems of rapid access for delegates and of security.

29. The best solution, for technical, practical and economic reasons, is to construct the new main conference room on WIPO's present land, integrated with the structure of the main WIPO Building, as shown in the Plan annexed to the present document. The competent Geneva authorities have indicated their acceptance of and preference for this location, as it would permit a good synergy with the existing conference facilities and reception hall; they noted that construction of such a conference room could be undertaken under the existing local zoning plan, recognizing that it would have to be architecturally integrated with and in harmony with the existing WIPO Building.

30. For architectural and aesthetic reasons, the design of the new main conference room would have to be undertaken within several significant constraints, namely, that its roof would be a continuation of the present roof of the Mezzanine floor of the WIPO Building, and that its exterior walls would have to be compatible in form and materials with the adjoining exterior walls of the WIPO Building. The architectural competition for the new main conference room would be appropriately undertaken as part of the international architectural competition for the new office building on the new lot (see paragraphs 40 to 49, below).

31. The construction of the new main conference room, which would appropriately be undertaken in conjunction with the construction of the new office building on the new lot and the construction of the additional parking spaces, with a similar duration, is tentatively estimated to cost about 12 to 15 million Swiss francs. (There would be some recovery of the cost of the new main conference room through renting it out, when not required by WIPO, to other United Nations specialized agencies, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, or private organizations. The Secretariat has received indications of interest from several of those bodies in renting conference facilities at WIPO, as long as the main conference room would have no less than 600 seats.)

Additional Parking

32. At present there is clearly insufficient parking for delegates attending meetings held at WIPO; delegates have to park in the very limited area by the front door of the WIPO Building and use the very limited on-street parking. It is necessary that adequate parking be provided for delegates, and that should be in close proximity to WIPO's conference and meeting facilities. (This matter was also raised in document WO/GA/22/1 for the March 25 to 27, 1998, session of the General Assembly.)

33. Moreover, there are no parking facilities for visitors to WIPO. At the same time, WIPO's owned buildings provide insufficient parking for staff, so that 206 parking spaces are now rented for the staff in the nearby Parking des Nations.

34. When the extension of the WMO Building is completed, including an extension to its underground car parking, and when the construction of the new office building on the new lot is completed, WIPO will have the following parking facilities associated with its owned buildings:

35. That total of 719 parking spaces is inadequate to meet the needs. A solution identified by WIPO's consulting architect would involve more than doubling the parking space now located on floors -2, -3, -4 and -5 under the main WIPO Building, by extending that space, on the one hand, as far as the edge of the chemin des Colombettes and, on the other hand, as far as to be under the present floral emblem, as shown in the Plan annexed to the present document. Such an extension of WIPO's underground parking would also involve moving the entrance to the parking from its present location to be in front of the BIRPI I Building; the exit from the parking could be onto the route de Ferney. The total net number of parking spaces that would be added is estimated at about 280, thus increasing the total number of parking spaces associated with WIPO's owned buildings in the future to about 1,000 parking spaces, as shown in the following table:

Building

Working places

Parking spaces
WIPO

281

215
BIRPI I

191

24
BIRPI II

107

-
Extended WMO

430

180
New

500+

300
Additional Parking

-

280

Totals

1,509+

999

36. Having that number of parking places would provide a durable solution to the problem of parking, by ensuring that there would be sufficient parking facilities for delegates and for visitors, conveniently close to WIPO's conference and meeting facilities, while also providing a significant increase in the parking available for the staff (although it would probably still be necessary in the future to rent parking spaces for the staff in the Parking des Nations).

37. The architectural competition for the additional parking would appropriately be undertaken in conjunction with the international competition for the new office building on the new lot and for the new main conference room (see paragraphs 40 to 49, below). The construction of the additional parking would also appropriately be undertaken in conjunction with the construction of the new office building on the new lot, with a similar duration.

38. The construction of the additional parking is tentatively estimated to cost about eight million Swiss francs.

Integrated Project

39. While the three construction elements described above (namely, the new office building on the new lot, the new main conference room, and additional parking) could be envisaged as separate projects, it would be preferable to consider them as one integrated project, especially since they would necessarily be designed to be physically and aesthetically integrated. This would enable a single international architectural competition to be undertaken to determine the best solution (i.e., the best architectural, functional and economic solution) overall and for each of those construction elements. A combined approach would also enable all the major construction to be undertaken at once, with less disruption and a shorter period of construction than if the three elements were to be undertake separately. Moreover, the costs would undoubtedly be lower (and, indeed, the cost estimates contained in this document are predicated on the three elements of construction being undertaken together). Furthermore, there is the advantage that the present Geneva authorities are fully supportive of all three construction elements (whereas one can never be certain what might be the view of a future administration).

International Architectural Competition

40. The new international architectural competition would be prepared by a working group; including a member of the Secretariat, a consulting architect engaged by WIPO (who would not be able to compete in the competition or in any tender process), and a representative from each of the Swiss Confederation, the Canton of Geneva and the City of Geneva. The working group would prepare the announcement (referred to in the following paragraph) and the regulations and program of the competition.

41. The new international architectural competition would be so organized and publicized that architects and architects' offices from all States members of WIPO could participate under the same terms. They could make proposals for all three construction elements, or for only one or two of them. In order to enable architects throughout the world to be informed about the international architectural competition, so that they could indicate their interest in participating, an announcement would be made through the Internet, in major architectural journals (including the periodic Information Letter of the International Union of Architects (which is a non-governmental organization admitted as an observer to the meetings of WIPO's Governing Bodies), and would also be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Permanent Mission in Geneva of each of the Member States of WIPO, with the request that the text of the announcement be transmitted to the appropriate bodies of its country. Assuming that the announcement would be publicized and sent in October 1998 to the above-mentioned journals, Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Missions, a closing date of February 1, 1999, could be set for architects and architects' offices to express their interest in participating in the competition.

42. A jury with international membership would oversee the competition procedure and would award prizes for the best proposals (overall, or possibly separate prizes for each of the three construction elements). As is normal for such juries, the majority of the members would be persons independent from WIPO and the majority of the members would be architects. All the members would be appointed by the Director General, following informal consultations with the representatives of the Member States of WIPO referred to in paragraph 1(b), above.

43. The first duty of the jury would be to approve the documentation to be sent to prospective candidates. That documentation would provide background information regarding WIPO and the site for the three construction elements, information on the international architectural competition, the particulars of the qualification dossier to be submitted by prospective candidates, and the qualification criteria by which the jury would select the candidates to participate in the competition. That documentation would be prepared especially for the new international architectural competition, but would be able to build upon the material already prepared for the previous first stage architectural competition which was undertaken about two years ago (during the period October 1996 to April 1997) in respect of a different building for the Steiner lot. The approval of that documentation would be undertaken as quickly as possible, so that it could be sent to the prospective candidates soon after the February 1, 1999, closing date for expressions of interest.

44. The qualification dossiers of the prospective candidates would have to be received by the Secretariat, with a nominal entry fee (300 Swiss francs or 200 US dollars), by mid-April 1999. On the basis of those qualification dossiers, the jury would decide on the selection of the candidates to participate in the competition. The jury would meet for that purpose in May 1999.

45. The candidates selected to participate in the international architectural competition would then be sent the competition rules and program, along with detailed documentation (including surveys and photographs of the site, site plans, and geotechnical analysis of the sub-soil) and a scale model of the site. The candidates would also be given information on the expected cost for each of the three elements of the construction, to ensure that their proposals would be in line with financial expectations. That material would be prepared especially for the competition, but would (again) be able to build to a degree upon the material already prepared for the above-mentioned earlier first stage architectural competition. The participants would be invited to visit the site.

46. The projects with scale models for the three elements of construction would be submitted by the participating candidates by a date in September 1999.

47. The jury would then meet about a month later to evaluate the projects submitted and to rule on those projects, in order to determine the overall winner (or the winners of the three elements of construction), and to award prizes and mentions to the participants.

48. Following the preparation of the report giving the jury's decisions, there would be a press conference, publication of the said report, and a display, for a certain period, of the projects submitted.

49. The cost of the international architectural competition for the new office building on the new lot, for the larger main conference room and for the additional parking is estimated at about 1.5 million Swiss francs, including the fees of an architectural consultant, the honoraria and travel expenses of members of the jury, the cost of producing and sending documentation to the prospective candidates, the cost of producing and sending the documentation and scale model to the candidates participating in the competition, the amounts for prizes, mentions and allowances for the participants, and the cost of publishing the results of the competition.

Subsequent Steps

50. The subsequent steps would involve the following:

(a) The award of a contract in October 1999 to the winner (or the winners) of the international architectural competition for preparing the request for the building permit and for undertaking the studies for the implementation of the project. Working with the associated team of engineers, the winning architect(s) would develop the detailed specifications, and undertake a costing, of the three elements of construction (namely, the new office building on the new lot, the new main conference room and the additional parking), leading to the production of the detailed, definitive specifications for those elements of construction. The cost of developing the said detailed, definitive specifications for the three elements of the construction, as well as of developing the fully detailed plans for the construction itself, is tentatively estimated at two million Swiss francs, to cover the fees and costs of the architect(s) and the associated team(s) of engineers involved.

(b) Based on the detailed specifications for the three elements of construction, an open and transparent process for the international tendering for the general contractor to undertake the construction itself. The international tendering will ensure that the final cost of the construction will be as low as possible.

(c) The actual construction phase, which is tentatively estimated to be completed by the end of the year 2002.

Financial Considerations

51. Summarizing the financial information contained in paragraphs 14, 15, 31, 38, 49 and 50, above, and recognizing that precise cost estimates can only be made following the international architectural competition, gives the following preliminary cost estimates:

_ international architectural competition
(for new office building, new main
conference room and additional parking) 1.5 million Swiss francs

_ development of detailed building specifications
(for new office building, new main
conference room and additional parking) 2 million Swiss francs

_ construction of new office building and its connection 46 to 51 million Swiss francs

_ furniture and equipment for new office building 5 million Swiss francs

_ construction of new main conference room 12 to 15 million Swiss francs

_ construction of additional parking 8 million Swiss francs

52. Those amounts would be financed from the Special Reserve Fund for Additional Premises and Computerization, which was established for this purpose, and which still has an uncommitted/unallocated balance, at the time of drafting the present document, sufficient to cover those amounts (reference paragraphs 9 and 10 of document WO/GA/23/3).

Oversight by Member States

53. In keeping with the principles of accountability and transparency, it is planned that there will be a continuing process of consultations with Member States to ensure that, in a spirit of partnership, they will be kept fully informed, in particular, as regards the international architectural competition, the international tendering phase, and the construction stage. Those consultations will involve both regular joint sessions of the Budget and Premises Committees and, as necessary in between those sessions, informal consultations with the Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons of the Budget and Premises Committees, and the Regional Group Coordinators. Information will be provided as appropriate, in good time, so that the Permanent Missions in Geneva will have sufficient time to consult on technical matters with experts in their capitals. Periodic progress reports will also be provided to the General Assembly, and the actual construction would not begin until approved by the General Assembly.

Decisions Invited

1 To illustrate past growth, in the 20 years from 1978 (when the WIPO Building with Conference Room A was completed) to the present, the number of States members of WIPO or its Unions has grown by 61%, from 106 States in 1978 to the present number of 171 States. During the same period, the membership of the Paris Union has grown by 70%, from 88 to 150 States; the membership of the Berne Union has grown by 87%, from 70 to 131 States; the membership of the PCT Union has grown by 552%, from 15 to 97 States, and the membership of the Madrid Union has grown by 138%, from 24 to 57 States. At the same time, the number of intergovernmental organizations with observer status has grown by 41%, from 39 in 1978 to the present number of 55, and the number of non-governmental organizations with observer status has grown by 163%, from 54 in 1978 to the present number of 142; in addition, other intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations are often invited to participate in meetings on an ad hoc basis.

2 Those other conference facilities examined by the independent studies were those of the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), the UN Office in Geneva, the ILO, the new WTO Conference Centre, Palexpo and the Intercontinental Hotel.