The Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC) draws up a budget for each calendar year for approval by States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC. The budget is prepared on the basis of assumptions about the level of activity for the following year. The overall budget for 2008 of €90.4 million was drawn up on the expectation that at least one trial would take place; and that the Office of the Prosecutor would continue to pursue investigations in four situations (relating to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda and Sudan/Darfur). Following the arrest and surrender of two further individuals to the ICC, the Registrar sought permission, in accordance with the ICC Financial Regulations and Rules, to use the court’s contingency fund to meet the unforecast costs relating to a second trial in 2008. This was approved but, as the first trial has now been delayed, the costs for that second trial are likely to be met within the existing 2008 budget.
The budget for 2009 has not yet been finalised, but the court will base its planned expenditure on the assumptions that: two trials will take place consecutively; there will be some pre-trial activities for a third; and the Prosecutor will continue investigations in three of the situations currently before the court, with no new investigations envisaged.