United Nations Pension System

A/RES/49/224No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 115United Nations pension system, published in 1995.

What other versions does this mandate have?

24 versions · 1987–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/253

2024A/RES/79/253United Nations pension systemLatestCompare with previous version
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What does this mandate say?

28 operative paragraphs

I

Welcomes with appreciation the changes made by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board in the presentation of the results of the valuation of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund as at 31 December 1993, in response to requests made by the Panel of External Auditors and pursuant to discussions with the Board of Auditors, so as to provide (a) the valuation results in dollar terms, as well as in the form of percentages of pensionable remuneration, (b) additional disclosures regarding the values of the assets and liabilities, and (c) statements by the Consulting Actuary and the Committee of Actuaries regarding the sufficiency of the assets of the Fund to meet current and projected liabilities;

Takes note of the increase in the actuarial imbalance from 0.57 to 1.49 per cent of pensionable remuneration, reflected in the valuation of the Fund as at 31 December 1993, of the elements that contributed to the increase in the imbalance, including in particular the increase in the life expectancy of pensioners, and of the observations on the valuation results by the Consulting Actuary, the Committee of Actuaries and the Board;

Takes note in particular of the opinions provided by the Consulting Actuary and the Committee of Actuaries, as reproduced in annexes IV and V, respectively, to the report of the Board, 1/ that there was no requirement, as at 31 December 1993, for deficiency payments under article 26 of the Regulations of the Fund, and that the current contribution rate of 23.7 per cent of pensionable remuneration could be maintained for funding purposes, pending a review at the time of the next valuation, as at 31 December 1995;

Takes note of the review by the Board of the interest rate and mortality table used to determine lump-sum commutations, and of its decisions, under article 11 of the Regulations of the Fund, (a) to retain the current 6.5 per cent interest rate, which would be reviewed again by the Standing Committee of the Board in 1995, and (b) to request the Committee of Actuaries to develop a revised unisex mortality table, based on the longevity assumptions used in the actuarial valuation of the Fund as at 31 December 1993, for the approval of the Standing Committee, and to be implemented in determining lump-sum commutations as from 1 July 1995;

Approves, with effect from 1 July 1995, an increase in the maximum number of years of creditable contributory service, so that the years of contributory service in excess of 35 and performed as from 1 July 1995 shall be creditable at an accumulation rate of 1 per cent per year, subject to a maximum total accumulation rate of 70 per cent, and amends accordingly, with effect from 1 July 1995, article 28 of the Regulations of the Fund, as set out in annex I to the present resolution;

Concurs with the transfer agreements with the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, approved by the Board under article 13 of the Regulations of the Fund, with a view to securing continuity of pension rights between the Fund and each of the banks, as set out in annex VII to the report of the Board; 1/

II.PENSIONABLE REMUNERATION

Recalling section II of its resolution 45/242, section III of its resolution 46/192 and sections IV and VI of its resolution 47/203,

Approves, with effect from 1 April 1995, amendments to article 54 of the Regulations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, as set out in annex I to the present resolution, to include the latest scale of pensionable remuneration for staff in the Professional and higher categories, to define

the pensionable remuneration of ungraded officials and of participants in the Field Service category and to include references to, and place limitations on, the extent to which merit and/or longevity step increments are deemed to be pensionable;

III.PENSION ADJUSTMENT SYSTEM

Recalling section IV of its resolution 46/192, section V of its resolution 47/203 and section I of its resolution 48/225,

Takes note of the reviews carried out by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board, described in section VI of its report, 1/ on various aspects of the pension adjustment system and of its intention to pursue additional studies at its next regular session, in 1996;

Takes note also of the results of the first monitoring by the Board of the costs of the longer-term modification of the pension adjustment system that entered into effect on 1 April 1992, based on the actual costs during the period from 1 April 1992 to 31 March 1994, which indicated a long-term cost estimate of 0.26 per cent of pensionable remuneration, as against the earlier estimate of 0.30 per cent, and of the intention of the Board to review the matter further at its next regular session on the basis of the second assessment of the actual costs, in the context of the valuation of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund as at 31 December 1995;

Approves, with effect from 1 July 1995, the reduction of the "120 per cent cap" provision under the pension adjustment system, which is described in paragraph 166 of the report of the Board, 1/ to 110 per cent for participants separating from service on or after 1 July 1995, and the consequential changes in the pension adjustment system, as set out in annex II to the present resolution;

Approves also, with effect from 1 July 1995, the application to staff in the General Service and related categories of the longer-term modification of the pension adjustment system that entered into effect on 1 April 1992, the consequential revisions in the schedule of cost-of-living differential factors and the schedule for special adjustments for small pensions under section E of the pension adjustment system, and the consequential changes in the pension adjustment system, as set out in annex II to the present resolution;

Takes note of the decision taken by both the Board 1/ and the International Civil Service Commission, 2/ to defer until 1996 the submission to the General Assembly of recommendations on possible changes in the special index for pensioners, in the context of the comprehensive review of the pensionable remuneration and consequent pensions of the various categories of staff;

IV.ADMISSION TO MEMBERSHIP OF THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR

GENETIC ENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

Decides to admit the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology to membership in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, in accordance with article 3 of the Regulations of the Fund, with effect from 1 January 1996, subject to the adoption by the Centre, before that date, of staff regulations, rules and salary scales that conform to the common system of salaries and other conditions of service;

V.ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

Approves additional expenses of 390,200 United States dollars net for the biennium 1994-1995, chargeable directly to the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, for the administration of the Fund;

VI.OTHER MATTERS

Requests the member organizations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal and the Registrar of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization, in pursuance of section VI, paragraph 7, of General Assembly resolution 48/224, to inform the Fund of any pending cases that have direct or indirect implications for the Fund, to ensure that the interests of the Fund are adequately represented;

Notes with satisfaction that the Board of Auditors has indicated, inter alia, that the presentation of the financial statements of the Fund for the biennium 1992-1993 is consistent with a number of the United Nations System Accounting Standards, and requests that the changes recommended by the Board of Auditors in this regard be implemented at the earliest opportunity so as to bring the statements fully into line with those Standards;

Takes note of the action taken by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board regarding the recommendation of the Board of Auditors on the provision of an internal audit function, and the comments of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions thereon; 4/

Requests the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board to report to the General Assembly, in the context of the revised estimates for the biennium 1994-1995 and the estimates for the biennium 1996-1997, on the arrangements made for internal audits of the Fund and the costs thereof;

Also requests the Board to continue to review the monitoring and control procedures for payments from the Fund in order to strengthen the verification process, including those related to the payment of benefits to widows and widowers, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session;

Takes note of the observations of the Board in section VII of its report 1/ on the continuing representations made by former participants affected by the application of the Transfer Agreements with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, and of the steps taken thus far by the Board, through its Secretary, to enter into consultations with the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, as well as with the appropriate national authorities, with a view to ascertaining the extent to which the problems that had arisen with regard to the interpretation and application of the Agreements could be resolved;

Notes that the Fund has transferred to the Social Security Fund of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics the actuarial value of the pension rights accrued by individual former participants, as required under the Agreements;

Welcomes the establishment of a working group composed of high-ranking officials representing relevant ministries and agencies of the Russian Federation, as well as of representatives of former Fund participants, with a mandate to address the problems mentioned above;

Calls upon all parties concerned to continue their efforts to resolve the problems that have arisen in respect of the interpretation and application of the three Agreements, in a manner consistent with the letter and intent of the Agreements;

Takes note of the decision of the Board not to propose changes at the present time in the size and composition of the Board and of its Standing Committee, but to keep the subject under review and to submit a further report on the matter to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, in 1998;

Also takes note of the observations of the Board on attendance at Board sessions and on the frequency of, and attendance at, meetings of the Standing Committee, as well as the changes made in the rules of procedure of the Fund with respect to attendance at meetings of the Standing Committee;

Further takes note of the other matters dealt with in the report of the Board;

VII.INVESTMENTS OF THE FUND

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the investments of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, 3/ and of the observations made by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board in its report 1/ on the investments and custodial arrangements for the assets of the Fund, and on the membership and size of the Investments Committee;

Welcomes any proposal on how the long-term performance of the investments of the Fund might be enhanced and reviewed in the future, taking into account the interests of the participants, the importance of the amounts involved and the established criteria of safety, profitability, liquidity and convertibility, and, in this respect, invites the Secretary-General to review the arrangements for the provision of institutional advice;

Requests the Secretary-General to present in future reports to the General Assembly on the investments of the Fund a fuller analysis of the performance of those investments and their significant components, including, where applicable, means of comparing performance with relevant benchmarks and other pension funds;

Notes with appreciation that the new custodial arrangements are expected, inter alia, to produce cost savings, and requests the Secretary-General to keep under review the costs of those arrangements, bearing in mind the custodial costs of other pension funds;

Notes with satisfaction that several Member States that had not previously granted tax exemptions for income from the investments of the Fund have decided to grant such exemptions, and appeals to those Member States that do not grant such exemptions to make all possible efforts to do so as soon as possible.

Amendments to the Regulations of the United Nations

Joint Staff Pension Fund

Article 28

Retirement benefit

Replace paragraph (b) (iii) with the following:

"(b) (iii) The next 25 years of his contributory service, by 2 per cent of his final average remuneration; and"

Add a new paragraph (b) (iv) reading:

"(b) (iv) The years of his contributory service in excess of 35 and performed as from 1 July 1995, by 1 per cent of his final average remuneration, subject to a maximum total accumulation rate of 70 per cent."

Add a new paragraph (c) (iii) reading:

"(c) (iii) The years of his contributory service in excess of 35 and performed as from 1 July 1995, by 1 per cent of his final average remuneration, subject to a maximum total accumulation rate of 70 per cent."

Article 54

Pensionable remuneration

Replace paragraph (b) with the following:

"(b) In the case of participants in the Professional and higher categories, the scale of pensionable remuneration effective 1 November 1994 shall be as set out in appendix B hereto. It shall be adjusted on the same date as the net remuneration amounts of officials in the Professional and higher categories in New York are adjusted. Such adjustment shall be by a uniform percentage equal to the weighted average percentage variation in the net remuneration amounts, as determined by the International Civil Service Commission."

Add the following text:

"(c)(i) In the case of participants who are appointed or elected as ungraded officials on or after 1 April 1995, their pensionable remuneration shall be established by the competent legislative organ which determines their other conditions of service, in accordance with the methodology recommended by the International Civil Service Commission and endorsed by the General Assembly, and shall be subsequently adjusted in accordance with the procedure in paragraph (b) above;

"(ii) In the case of participants who are ungraded officials on 31 March 1995, their pensionable remuneration shall be maintained, without adjustment, until surpassed by the level of pensionable remuneration derived from application of the methodology referred to in subparagraph (i) above;

"(d) In the case of participants in the Field Service category, the scale of pensionable remuneration effective 1 November 1994 shall be as set out in appendix C hereto, and shall be subsequently adjusted in accordance with the procedure in paragraph (b) above;

"(e) No step increments beyond the top step of the gross pensionable salary scale or the scale of pensionable remuneration established according to the methodology approved by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the International Civil Service Commission shall be recognized for participants entering or re-entering the Fund on or after 1 January 1994. Nevertheless, any step increments awarded in conformity with the provisions of the appropriate staff regulations or rules of a member organization to a staff member in service in that organization before 1 January 1994 shall be recognized by the Fund for pension contribution and benefit calculation purposes."

Replace appendix B with the following:

Appendix BPENSIONABLE REMUNERATION FOR STAFF IN THE PROFESSIONAL AND HIGHER CATEGORIES

(United States dollars)

(Effective 1 November 1994)

Add the following new appendix C to the Regulations of the Fund:

Appendix CPENSIONABLE REMUNERATION FOR STAFF IN THE FIELD SERVICE CATEGORY

(United States dollars)

(Effective 1 November 1994)

Changes in the pension adjustment system

D. COST-OF-LIVING DIFFERENTIAL FACTORS

Replace paragraph 6 (b) (v) with the following text:

"(b) (v) The applicable cost-of-living differential factor is finally derived from the following tables, the result being interpolated, where necessary, between the factors applicable to the next higher and the next lower ratio in the applicable table:

"Benefits based on separation or death in service before

1 July 1995 and other benefits derived therefrom

Cost-of-living

Ratio of midpoint differential factor net salaries (percentage)

Less than 122 0

122 3

128 7

134 12

141 17

148 22

155 28

162 34

171 40

180 or more 46

"Benefits based on separation or death in service on or after

1 July 1995 and other benefits derived therefrom

Cost-of-living

Ratio of midpoint differential factor net salaries (percentage)

Less than 105 0

105 3

110 8

116 14

122 19

128 25

134 31

141 38

148 45

155 52

163 60

171 68

180 76

189 85

198 94

208 or more 104"

E. SPECIAL ADJUSTMENT FOR SMALL PENSIONS

Replace paragraph 7 with the following text:

"7. Whenever the standard annual rate of a retirement or disability benefit under the Regulations of the Fund, before any commutation, is less than the highest dollar amount in the applicable table below, the benefit shall be subject to a special adjustment as follows:

"Annual amount of pension Special adjustment

(United States dollars) (percentage)

Separations before 1 April 1993

4 000 0

3 800 3

3 600 7

3 400 12

3 200 17

3 000 22

2 800 28

2 600 34

2 400 40

2 200 or less 46

Separations on or after 1 April 1993 up until 1 July 1995

6 500 0

6 250 3

6 000 6

5 750 9

5 500 12

5 250 15

5 000 18

4 750 21

4 500 25

4 250 28

4 000 31

3 750 34

3 500 37

3 250 40

3 000 43

2 750 or less 46

"Annual amount of pension Special adjustment

(United States dollars) (percentage)

Separations on or after 1 July 1995

6 500 0

6 250 3

6 000 7

5 750 12

5 500 17

5 250 22

5 000 28

4 750 34

4 500 40

4 250 52

4 000 60

3 750 68

3 500 76

3 250 85

3 000 94

2 750 or less 104"

I. PAYMENT OF THE BENEFIT

Replace paragraph 23 with the following text:

"23. Where a beneficiary resides in a country other than the United States, the determination of the amount of the periodic benefit payable in a given month is as follows:

"The dollar amount, as initially determined under subparagraph 5 (a) above and then adjusted under section H above, is converted to the local currency equivalent by using the exchange rate in effect for the month preceding the calendar quarter of that payment. The resultant amount is compared with the local currency amount, as initially determined under subparagraph 5 (b) above and then adjusted under section H above. Except as provided for in paragraph 25 below, the beneficiary is entitled, until the next quarter, to the greater of the local currency amount or the local currency equivalent of the dollar amount, subject to a maximum of: (a) 120 per cent of the local currency amount with respect to benefits payable on account of separation or death in service before 1 July 1995 and other benefits derived therefrom; (b) 110 per cent of the local currency amount with respect to benefits payable on account of separation or death in service on or after 1 July 1995 and other benefits derived therefrom."

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