Statutes of the Nordic Research Council for Criminology

Article 1

The Nordic Research Council for Criminology consists of members appointed in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (hereinafter the participating states). The Council serves to promote criminological research in the Nordic region. The Council may initiate criminological research within the bounds of its financial and research resources. The Council also provides the authorities in the Nordic countries with assistance in criminological matters, as well as information on its activities and about Nordic criminology.

Article 2

The Council will have a permanent secretariat, which in principle is headed by a full-time secretary. The full-time secretary is appointed and remunerated by the Council, which may also employ temporary or permanent secretarial assistance. The Council may also employ additional clerical staff. The governments of the participating states will determine where the secretariat is to be located.

Article 3

The costs of the Council’s work are financed by annual state contributions from the participating states. The state contributions are distributed in accordance with the instructions concerning the distribution of expenditure on Nordic cooperation projects according to a fixed distribution key based on the respective countries’ GDP. Each country pays its contribution at the beginning of its budget year.

Article 4

The Council consists of 15 members, with three members from each participating country. The members are appointed by the government of each country or by a separate authority which is authorised to appoint the members. Appointment will be valid for a fixed term that may not exceed three years. Members may be re-appointed, if this is considered appropriate. If an appointed member is prevented from participating in the work of the Council, the government or authority concerned may appoint another member to participate in the Council instead. Persons representing criminological research should be recruited and appointed as members. The Council should also have representatives from administrative authorities.

Article 5

The Council will elect a Chair and a Vice-Chair from among its members. For the work performed, the Chair is entitled to fixed annual remuneration that is financed from the Council’s funds. All members will be paid travel and subsistence expenses in connection with travel on behalf of the Council. These expenses are calculated in accordance with the rules in force in the domicile country. For individual tasks or within separately designated areas of work, the Council may appoint special working groups consisting of members of the Council, possibly supplemented by representatives nominated by the Council. The members of the working groups who are not members of the Council will be paid travel and subsistence expenses in accordance with the rules for the members of the Council described in this provision.

Article 6

The Council will meet at least once a year and will itself determine where the meetings are to be held. In addition, the Chair may convene a meeting when considered necessary. If all members from one of the participating states so request, the Council must meet within two months after such request. On convening a meeting of the Council, the agenda for the meeting must be sent. The Council will form a quorum when at least eight members are present. Decisions of the Council will be taken by simple majority vote. In the event of a tied vote, the Chair will have the casting vote.

Article 7

The financial year is equivalent to the calendar year. The Council’s draft budget for the next financial year is drawn up before 1 April. Together with the audit report and accounts for the previous year, the Council will send the draft budget to the Ministries of Justice of the participating states for approval. The Ministries of Justice will inform the Council when the draft budget is approved. The estimated amounts will be stated in the currency of the domicile country and state contributions will be paid in the same currency.

Article 8

The Council will keep an account of all income and expenditure. The Ministry of Justice in the domicile country will appoint an auditor of the Council’s accounts. The auditor must be state-authorised in the domicile country or employed by the Office of the Auditor General in that country. The general audit authority of the domicile country has the right to review the accounts. A copy of the accounts with the auditors’ endorsement concerning the audit performed, together with the Council’s report on its activities and the proposed state contributions for the following year, will be submitted to the Ministries of Justice of the participating states within six months of the end of the financial year.

Article 9

The Council will keep minutes of Council meetings. The Council will draw up an annual report on its activities. This report will be submitted to the Ministry of Justice of each of the participating states in accordance with the last sentence of Article 8. Matters to be referred by the Council to the participating states, or which it considers appropriate to raise on its own initiative, will be submitted to the Ministries of Justice of the participating states via the Ministry of Justice of the domicile country. The same will apply to proposals for amendments to the provisions of these Statutes.

The tasks and activities of NSfK are based on the statutes of the organization, acknowledged by the founder members, i.e. different Nordic Ministries of Justice.