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FIFTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Proposed 2000-01 budgets for extra-budgetary accounts

(a) International Occupational Safety and Health
Information Centre (CIS)

1. The International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS) is located in the InFocus programme SafeWork. Its activities are conceived in the context of this programme and will be carried out in conjunction with the ensemble of activities of SafeWork. This paper presents the estimates of the income and expenditure for 2000-01 of the CIS and takes into account the decisions taken by the Governing Body and the Conference in approving the ILO Programme and Budget for 2000-01.

2. With resources that include a computerized file of documents on the safety and health of vulnerable workers reaching back over 25 years, a growing body of evidence of the positive financial rewards of safety programmes and a well-developed network of institutional partners at the national and international levels, the CIS will devote itself to the advancement of SafeWork's goals on several fronts. These activities are set out in the appendix.

3. It is anticipated that staff and non-staff resources in the amount of $2,483,064 will be made available from the SafeWork programme of the Social Protection Sector. In addition, extra-budgetary income is estimated at $948,000. The total resources amount to $3,431,064, while total expenditure is estimated at $4,084,404, leaving a budgetary shortfall of $653,340 to be met by funds to be carried forward from 1998-99 and giving an estimated carry-forward of $423,613 at the end of 2000-01. The latter would be sufficient to cover approximately six months' expenditure under the extra-budgetary account. The present estimates are drawn up on the basis of an ILO budget exchange rate for 2000-01 of Sw.frs.1.53 to $1.00.

Income

4. The CIS-generated extra-budgetary income, estimated at $948,000 for 2000-01, comes mainly from subscriptions to CIS services, sales of other products and services, royalties from compact disc sales and for direct computer access to CIS information, and contributions from national and international organizations. The downward trend in income is a conservative projection; more vigorous promotion and innovative products will be introduced to reverse this trend. For example, it is anticipated that the French version of the fourth edition of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety will be added to the line of CD-ROMs during the biennium. By way of comparison, the 1998-99 budget included an estimate for CIS-generated income of $1,095,000, which is not expected to be fully realized.

Expenditure

5. Total expenditure for 2000-01 is estimated at $4,084,404, of which $2,483,064 (10/06 Professional work-years, 10/00 General Service work-years and $136,416 for non-staff costs) will be covered by the contribution from the ILO Programme and Budget for 2000-01 and $1,601,340 will be financed from extra-budgetary income. The latter expenditure comprises $849,272 for staff costs and $752,068 for non-staff costs. The staff costs cover 4/02 Professional and 3/00 General Service work-years, bringing the total proposed staff resources to 14/08 Professional and 13/00 General Service work-years. Staff resources show a decrease of 1/04 Professional and 1/03 General Service work-years due to a reduction in the ILO regular budget contribution. The forecasted lower rate of expenditure for 1998-99 is attributable to staff turnover and to the necessity of accommodating the production schedule for the French version of the Encyclopaedia to that of the English original. The proposed provision for non-staff costs includes the production costs for the French version of the Encyclopaedia, other costs of the Encyclopaedia programme element, the production of CIS's bibliographic, full-text and numeric databases, the production of archive copies of original documents, computer services, marketing and travel on official business, the purchase, renewal and hire of essential equipment and materials, and the acquisition of reference books and other necessary publications.

6. The Committee may wish to recommend that the Governing Body approve the proposed 2000-01 income and expenditure budget for the International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre extra-budgetary account, as set out in detail in the appendix.

Geneva, 15 October 1999.

Point for decision: Paragraph 6.

Appendix

International Occupational Safety and Health
Information Centre (CIS)
Income and expenditure budget for the biennium 2000-2001

Summary of income and expenditure budget

1. The income and expenditure estimates for 2000-01, with comparative figures for 1998-99, are shown below:

Summary of proposed 2000-01 income and expenditure
 

	1998-99				2000-01
	Approved budget US$*		Forecast income and expenditure US$		Budget proposals US$**
A. Funds brought forward from previous period	867 448		1 457 181		1 076 953
B. Income
Contribution from ILO regular budget***	2 811 167		2 811 167		2 483 064
Extra-budgetary income
Contributions and copyright payments	303 000		240 000		229 000
Sales of information services	792 000		753 000		719 000
Total extra-budgetary income	1 095 000		993 000		948 000
C. Total income	3 906 167		3 804 167		3 431 064
D. Total funds available	4 773 615		5 261 348		4 508 017
E. Expenditure related to the ILO contribution	2 811 167		2 811 167		2 483 064
F. Expenditure related to the extra-budgetary account	1 669 892		1 373 228		1 601 340
G. Total expenditure	4 481 059		4 184 395		4 084 404
H. Funds expected to be carried forward to the next period	292 556		1 076 953		423 613
* Rate: $1 = SFr. 1.46. ** Rate: $1 = SFr. 1.53. *** For comparison with previous biennia, the ILO contribution and the activities include work on the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety; the position of the Encyclopaedia within SafeWork as a whole will be subject to review at the programme level.

Summary of proposed 2000-01 expenditure by activity
(extra-budgetary account and ILO contribution)

	Work-years/months			Cost in US$
	Professional	General Service		Staff	Non-staff	Total
Management and support, including finance and subscriber services	3/06	3/00		754 008	69 000	823 008
Information services, CIS database and bulletin production, electronic and paper publication programmes, advocacy	9/02	9/00		2 071 496	611 484	2 682 980
Data processing and other support for the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety	2/00	1/00		370 416	208 000	578 416
2000-01 proposals*	14/08	13/00		3 195 910	888 484	4 084 404
1998-99 budget	16/00	14/03		3 645 039	836 020	4 481 059
* Including 10/06 Professional and 10/00 General Service work-years and US$136,416 for non-staff costs financed from the ILO contribution.

Activities and services of the International Occupational Safety
and Health Information Centre in 2000-01

2. The International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS) pursues the ILO's strategic objective of enhancing social protection by providing tools that enable constituents to target and take effective action against hazardous conditions in and around the workplace. The activities of the CIS are particularly oriented toward strengthening the ILO's knowledge base and making it available to those who need it, as called for in the SafeWork programme document. This two-way flow of information is amplified by the participation of counterparts at the national level in a well-established institutional network. The multiplier effect is enhanced by the other units of the ILO and the other international organizations that come to CIS for information; they come for raw material for research, for facts to support advocacy campaigns and on behalf of their own constituents. The willingness of a substantial number of people to pay for CIS information is one indicator of their need for it (and of the buyers' conviction that protection pays).

Detailed income budget for 2000-01

Contribution and copyright payments

3. Total income from contributions and copyright payments is estimated at $229,000 for 2000-01. This source of income includes a contribution of $124,000 from the European Commission and a payment from the CIS National Centre in Spain of $8,500 for rights to translate CIS abstracts into Spanish. Other income is expected to amount to $96,500.

Sales of information services

4. Proceeds of sales of information services are estimated at $719,000 for 2000-01, as follows:

• The estimated income from subscriptions to Safety and Health at Work -- ILO-CIS Bulletin (English and French editions) amounts to $210,000.
• Direct sales of other products and services are expected to yield $205,000. Most of this ($172,000) will come from the provision of access to the CIS archive of occupational safety and health literature. Sales of new CD-ROM products, bibliographies, microcomputer databases and miscellaneous sources of income are expected to provide an additional $33,000.
• Royalties from CD-ROMs and online access to CIS information are estimated at $35,000. Whereas two former online hosts ceased providing access to the CIS database during 1998-99, a new host will be providing access via the Internet, and one of CIS's oldest partners will expand its offering of CIS information on the Web in combination with the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. If policy problems can be resolved, direct access via the ILO website may enhance revenue further.
• Income from direct sales of the CD-ROMs produced in collaboration with the CIS National Centre in Canada is expected to amount to $138,000.
• The rest of the income, amounting to $131,000, will be received from various sources for the provision of services, including technical cooperation projects and sales of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, the CIS Thesaurus, the Occupational Safety and Health Glossary and training materials.

Detailed expenditure budget for 2000-01

5. The largest share of expenditure is taken by the staff costs of information acquisition and dissemination (9/02 Professional and 9/00 General Service work-years or $2,071,496). Although some National and Collaborating Centres contribute abstracts of national literature, and in spite of increased outsourcing of document analysis, selection of "raw material", managing the flow of original documents and derived references, supervision of the work of subcontractors and the editorial work of turning the isolated components into a coherent whole are necessarily central functions. "Information dissemination" also covers the response to queries from subscribers, ILO units and third parties. Staff resources allocated to administrative functions amount to $754,008 (3/06 Professional and 3/00 General Service work-years). These functions include relations with subscribers and constituents, compliance with internal reporting and other requirements, the organization of annual meetings of the CIS Centres and representation of the CIS under various circumstances. The persons who discharge those responsibilities are also involved in the information acquisition and dissemination component; routine interaction with Centres related to the documentation work is considered to fall under the latter activity. Work related to the French translation of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety and to data management for updates on the English version are expected to require $370,416 (2/00 Professional and 1/00 General Service work-years) in staff resources.

6. The proposed non-staff expenditure of $888,484 will cover expenses related to external collaborators, subcontracts and outside services for the production of the CIS database and related printed and electronic products; paper, packaging and other consumables for the publications; production of the French version of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, which it proved impossible to complete in 1998-99; for the travel and communications costs of maintaining the network of CIS National Centres; services offered to CIS subscribers; and computer equipment to meet evolving Office standards.