19 The Basle Committee, in particular, adopted the approach in its 1996 amendment to the Basle Capital Accord.

Furthermore, emerging international banking capital adequacy regulations (Basel II), make the credit risks rating of potential borrowers a condition for their access to bank loans.

Basel II also recommends a new, more differentiated and stricter regulatory capital criterion for various types of such ratings.

Rule 16 states

The intergovernmental institution type of agreement provides oversight for a BCRC through a general assembly composed of Parties to the Convention in the region and the Secretariat of the Basel Convention.

One reason for this failure is that pillar 1 of the Basel II Agreement, which outlines how banks around the world should assess credit risks and determine the size of capital buffers, makes no explicit allowance for long swing fluctuations in asset markets. Instead, it relies on value at risk (VaR) measures that link risk to standard notions of short term market volatility.

Paragraph 1 of Article 14 of the Basel Convention states that

Rule 26, paragraph 6, of the rules of procedure of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention provides

While this type of framework agreement is available, only the BCRC in South Africa is in the process of entering into such an agreement with SBC.

ROME The Basel Accords meant to protect depositors and the public in general from bad banking practices exacerbated the downward economic spiral triggered by the financial crisis of 2008. Throughout the crisis, as business confidence evaporated, banks were forced to sell assets and cut lending in order to maintain capital requirements stipulated by the Accords.

After the crisis, world leaders and central bankers overhauled banking regulations, first and foremost by rectifying the Basel prudential rules. Unfortunately, the new Basel III Accord and the ensuing EU Capital Requirements Directive have failed to correct the two main shortcomings of international prudential rules namely, their reliance on banks risk management models for the calculation of capital requirements, and the lack of supervisory accountability.

Benin and Senegal received an exit agreement from the Paris Club.

88. For its part, the Basel Convention made provision for monitoring mechanisms, including a system for the transmission of information by States parties in accordance with article 13.

Had America really told others to bring in American banks to teach them about how to run their business? Had America really boasted about its superior risk management systems, going so far as to develop a new regulatory system (called Basle II)?

There was also delay in the implementation of the study because the host institution for BCCC was in the process of establishing a new agreement with the Basel Convention.

Specific provisions for market based instruments are contained in the Basel Convention, the FCCC and the Montreal Protocol.

The use of environmental liability in international environmental agreements as envisaged in the Basel Convention is not new.

Basel Convention Coordinating Centre (BCCC), Uruguay

Among other things, Basel III stipulates that banks do not have to set aside cash against their investments in government bonds with ratings of AA or higher. Moreover, investments in bonds issued by their home governments require no buffer, regardless of the rating.

There are, however, successful cases of fundraising by the BCRCs.

In case it is provisioned otherwise by the state, the related provisions shall apply.

Five BCRCs have signed formal agreements with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention to host regional centres and operate under this type of agreement with host Governments.

Item 5 (g) Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation (decision VII 28)

which, inter alia, committed the parties of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to respect fully human rights, and for the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (the Basic Agreement ), Ibid., document S 1995 951.

However, the legal independence with which the framework agreements will vest the BCRCs will permit them to attract additional financial resources.

Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation for Damage Resulting from Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Basel, 10 December 1999

Indeed, the Montreal Protocol is frequently considered more akin to the Climate Convention than to other chemicals agreements like the Basel or Stockholm Conventions.

The most remarkable feature of the policy deliberations on prudential banking rules so far has been their delegation to the Basel Committee of Banking Supervisors and the banks themselves, both of which have a vested interest in preserving the existing system. Governments and parliaments have an obligation to launch a thorough review of the Basel rules, and to demand revisions that align them with the public interest.

III. REVIEW OF INFORMATION PROVIDED BY STATES PARTIES TO THE BASEL CONVENTION

The Basel Secretariat would examine the possibility of holding such a meeting in conjunction with the meeting of the Open ended Working Group of the Basel Convention, to be held in early April 2006.

SBC has two types of agreements currently used for contractual purposes with institutions that are acting as BCRCs one for a BCRC established as a national institution with regional roles, and one for a BCRC established as an intergovernmental institution.

Formed Police Unit

Under the national institution type of agreement, much emphasis is placed on the host Government providing the necessary resources for the operation of the BCRC.

There is also a fear among developing countries that the new Basel II regime, a framework for regulatory capital and risk management, will have a negative impact on the already limited capacity of local banks to lend to SMEs, since it will impose higher and more restrictive lending ratios on commercial banks (UNCTAD 2004a).

South Africa has decided to stop the automatic renewal of investment agreements that it signed in the early post apartheid period, and has announced that some will be terminated. Ecuador and Venezuela have already terminated theirs.

BASEL

But many emerging markets are already leading by example on important issues like the need to shift global financial flows from debt toward equity. Mexico, for example, recently adopted ahead of schedule the changes in capital requirements for banks recommended by the Third Basel Accord (Basel III), in order to reduce leverage and increase stability.

BCCC was established by a written framework agreement between the Secretariat of the Basel Convention and the Government of Uruguay.

In Basel?

The Open ended Working Group decided that the second session of the Joint Working Group of ILO, IMO and Basel Convention should be hosted by the Basel Convention in Geneva.

Much has already been done to advance regulatory reform, notably the recent agreement to strengthen bank capital (Basel III). Yet we are far from having the supervision needed for proper implementation of the rules.

Subsequently, Barbados, Benin, Ethiopia, Ireland, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nepal, Papua and New Guinea, Senegal, Slovakia and Turkmenistan joined in sponsoring the draft resolution.

The new structure being established will help move Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Dayton to the Brussels eras, and should set the stage for concluding the military aspects of the Dayton Paris peace accords in due course.

III. REVIEW OF INFORMATION PROVIDED BY STATES PARTIES TO THE BASEL CONVENTION 33 36 8

The problem is that the Basel capital rules whether Basel I, II, or III are of no help in separating the weak banks from the sound ones. Indeed, more often than not, the banks that failed or had to be rescued in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis had solvency ratios higher than those of banks that remained standing without assistance.