Funding arrangement

The Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (“APPA”) Forum established the following funding arrangement at the 41st meeting in Seoul. The funding arrangement was revised at 61st meeting after the Personal Data Protection Commission, Singapore took over the role of the APPA Secretariat, with the currency for the levy changed from Canadian dollars to Singapore dollars, to reflect the location of the APPA Secretariat.

The Arrangement

1. From 2014, each APPA member authority will pay an annual membership levy (“the levy”) to establish an APPA fund for that year (“the fund”). The APPA Secretariat will collect, hold and disburse the proceeds of the fund. APPA members must pay those levies to continue to be considered APPA members, to participate in APPA activities, to attend APPA meetings or to receive disbursements from the fund.

The levy

2. The levy payable to a member is either the “standard levy” or the “reduced levy” (one half of the standard levy).
3. Levies will be set in the currency of the country in which the Secretariat is based. As the APPA Secretariat position is currently held by the Personal Data Protection Commission, Singapore, the levy is now in Singapore dollars.
4. The standard levy for 2014 is $2000 but may be adjusted by APPA for future years. The standard levy applies to all members unless the reduced levy applies under clause 5.
5. The reduced levy is $1000 but may be adjusted by APPA for future years. The reduced levy is payable by:
   1. A very small authority, being an authority with an annual budget of less than $750,000 or fewer than seven staff (full time equivalents);
   2. An authority based in an economy on the United Nations list of least developed countries (LDCs).

The fund

6. The fund consists of all monies derived from levies in a particular year. The Secretariat will account annually to the APPA members regarding the collection, holding and disbursement of the fund.
7. The Secretariat may disburse the funds once levies have been collected and the fund size is known. The funds will be disbursed during the year in three equal payments being:
   1. 65% to the Secretariat
   2. 10% to the virtual host
   3. 25% to the in-person host

Payment arrangements

8. An APPA member may enter an arrangement to extend the period for the payment of the annual membership levy. The arrangement must be entered into within 60 days of the Secretariat notifying the APPA member that the APPA membership levy is payable. The period for payment of the levy may be extended up to 120 days of receipt of the invoice for the payment of the levy. The Secretariat must take steps to accommodate all reasonable requests for such an arrangement.
9. APPA membership will be discontinued, if:
   1. An APPA member fails to enter an arrangement to extend the period for the payment of the levy within 60 days of the Secretariat notifying the APPA member that the APPA membership levy is payable; or
   2. An APPA member fails to pay the APPA membership levy within 120 days of receiving an invoice for the payment of the levy. The Secretariat must provide at least one reminder within this period.

Other

1. Matters of administration not otherwise dealt with explicitly in this Arrangement are to be determined by the Secretariat. Examples include the manner in which levies are notified and facilities for payment.
2. The Arrangement is to operate on a calendar year basis. Levies are to be requested before or at the beginning of the year and to be paid by a deadline set by the Secretariat.
3. An authority joining APPA after the deadline for payment levies will not be levied for that year. Such a member will not be entitled to receive any disbursement from the fund in relation to that year.
4. The fund will usually be disbursed within the year it is created. However, in extraordinary circumstances some monies may remain (for example, if a meeting is abandoned, or if a meeting is hosted by a new member that has not paid any levies).  In such cases, the Secretariat will recommend to APPA how surplus monies be dealt with (e.g. by reduction in the following year’s levies).
5. The Secretariat will require evidence of a member’s status as a very small authority to support the reduced levy. The Secretariat may obtain that evidence from publicly available sources or require a member to furnish supporting information. Supporting evidence of a country’s LDC status is not required as the Secretariat will take notice of any official LDC listing on a UN website.
6. In assessing whether a member is a very small authority regard will be had to the authority’s entire staffing and entire budget.  Staffing will include, for example, a commissioner. In offices with combined functions, for example privacy authorities also performing general access review roles, no subdivision of staff or budget into functional units is allowed — it is the organisation’s entire size that is to be considered.
7. It is not expected that interest accruing on the fund, if any, will amount to more than a trivial amount. Any interest earned may be kept by the Secretariat.
8. While the Secretariat will account to APPA for the levies collected for the fund and the three disbursements, the Secretariat need not further account for how those funds are used. Hosts need not account to APPA for how they use the funds allocated to them.
9. The Secretariat will schedule a review after the arrangements have been in place for three years (i.e. in 2017), or earlier if warranted. Without limit, such a review should:
   • Consider whether the Arrangement should continue and, if so, whether it should be modified;
   • Assess how well the Arrangement met the objectives of being fair, affordable, simple, equitable and empowering; and
   • Consider whether the level and thresholds for the reduced levy remain appropriate.

In the event that two authorities serve as Secretariat during the year, the portion of the fund due to the Secretariat will be shared evenly between the two authorities (or may be divided in such other shares as agreed between those authorities).