EC contributions to UNDP are received as Trust Fund contributions. To receive these funds, UNDP (either through UNDP Brussels or the country office) signs a very detailed Trust Fund agreement that sets out all key financial and reporting obligations, as well as other project details. As these EC agreements have many implications for the country office, all EC agreements are required to undergo a clearance process before the UNDP Associate Administrator, Ad Melkert, grants approval for them to be signed.

Given the volume of agreements, the clearance process was lengthy, taking on average three weeks while at the same time, the vast majority of EC agreements that have come Mr. Melkerts for approval conform to the standard Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement (FAFA). In fact, out of the last 100 or so EC agreements, only three were non-standard as regards the FAFA.

This clearly advocated for a simplified procedure for clearing EC agreements where they conform to the standard FAFA format to reduce clearance time from the current average of three weeks to less than a week. This process has undergone extensive consultations among the parties involved in the clearance process.

The new clearance process, set out in the next submenu, has two guiding principles:

A) Standard EC agreements which conform to the FAFA and UNDP regulations and rules will undergo an expedited clearance process. Non-standard contribution agreements will go through the existing clearance process.

B) The quality of the clearance exercise will be improved through clear lines of responsibility and accountability.