Joint Oversight Commission of Avey
| Joint Oversight Commission of Avey | |
| Formation | 1704 AN |
|---|---|
| Type | Bilateral commission |
| Purpose/focus | Review of the division of port revenue, infrastructure investment and jurisdictional disputes in Avey |
| Headquarters | Federal Building of Avey, Avey |
| Region served | Avey |
| Membership | Six members, three appointed by each government |
| Co-Chair for the Federation | Séverine Corvisier |
| Co-Chair for the Commonwealth | Ardeshir Mahtab |
The Joint Oversight Commission of Avey (Alexandrian: Commission de surveillance conjointe d'Avey) is a bilateral body of Nouvelle Alexandrie and the Commonwealth of Zeed that deals with matters affecting both governments in Avey, the Zeedic port city the Federation has administered since the Third Euran War. Each government appoints three of its six members. The Commission reviews the division of the port's net revenue between the two governments, considers infrastructure investment, and resolves disputes arising from the city's divided jurisdiction. Decisions require consensus, with deadlocks settled by binding arbitration.[1]
The Commission dates from a protocol of 1704 AN, concluded during the Raspur Pact's occupation of Zeed; Zeed's own government has named its members since that period ended. Zeed's share of the revenue it reviews stood at 35 percent from 1738 AN until 1761 AN. The Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, 1760, introduced on 14.XV.1760 AN and given Royal Assent on 23.II.1762 AN, added three tasks to its work: reviewing an equal division of the port's revenue from 1761 AN, hearing disputes over the funding of the Avey-Rusjar railway, and hosting talks on the future of Avey before the Federation's hundred-year protection of the port ends in 1801 AN.[2]
History
Nouvelle Alexandrie took charge of Avey under the 1701 Armistice of Alduria City, signed on 18.IX.1701 AN, whose fourth article placed the port "under the protection of the Federation of New Alexandria for a period of one-hundred years." The armistice made no provision for a joint body.[3] In the years that followed, Zeed was under Raspur Pact occupation, with executive power over its ministries held by the Allied Control Commission, which the Pact's Trans-Euran Command had appointed.[4] The Federation was itself a member of the Pact and had fought on its side in the Third Euran War.[5] Under a protocol of 1704 AN, the first of the bilateral agreements that later confirmed the arrangement in Avey, the Federation and the Allied Control Commission set up the Joint Oversight Commission to review the division of net revenue under the charter granted that year to the Avey Port Authority Corporation.[1] That charter gave Zeed 30 percent.[2] The Allied Control Commission named the first Zeedic members, and the Zeedic government took over those three appointments once Pact rule ended.
The Federal Administrator, the senior official who heads the Federation's administration of Avey, promulgated the Avey Commercial Code of 1716, the legal framework of the enclave's economy, with the approval of the Joint Oversight Commission. The revenue formula was revised after 1704 AN, and in 1738 AN a renegotiation raised Zeed's share to 35 percent in recognition of the Commonwealth's contribution to the port's labor supply and to the infrastructure of its hinterland.[1] The Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act divided the port's net revenue equally between the Federation and Zeed from 1761 AN.[2]
The Rusjar address
On 20.VIII.1760 AN, during the Royal Goodwill Tour of 1760, King Sinchi Roca II told the National Assembly of Zeed in Rusjar that Zeed's share of the port's net revenue would rise to half from the following year, and that the two governments would open talks on the port's future before 1801 AN through the Joint Oversight Commission. The government of Prime Minister Hypatia Damarion welcomed the undertakings and said it would name its delegation to the talks.[6] The Council of State put the undertakings before the Cortes Federales as the Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, carried by Secretary of State Gabrielle Fitzgerald.[2]
Composition and procedure
The Commission meets quarterly, and more often when circumstances require.[1] Of the three members each government appoints, one serves as co-chair. Séverine Corvisier, an official of the Department of State, presides for the Federation, and Ardeshir Mahtab, a diplomat serving under Zeed's Minister of Foreign Affairs, for the Commonwealth. Except for one meeting a year held in Rusjar, its meetings take place in the Federal Building of Avey, which also houses the offices of the Federal Administrator. A small joint secretariat in the Federal Building keeps the Commission's records and prepares its meetings.
Matters on which the members cannot agree are referred to binding arbitration before a panel of jurists appointed by the High Court of Justice and the Zeedic judiciary. In practice most issues are settled by negotiation.[1]
Functions
Under its standing mandate the Commission examines the net revenue that the Avey Port Authority Corporation pays to the two governments, which the Corporation calculates after retaining enough of its operating revenue for expenses and capital reserves. Infrastructure investment in the enclave also comes before it, as do disputes over Avey's divided jurisdiction, under which the Federation holds authority over defense, foreign relations, customs and port operations while Zeedic law governs certain civil matters for Zeedic citizens.[1]
Role under the 1760 Act
The Act, numbered FA-1760-14 as a bill, came into force on Royal Assent on 23.II.1762 AN and assigns the Commission further duties. The Secretary of State notifies the Commonwealth of the equal division of net revenue through the Commission, and the three Federal members submit the new division to it for review. Disputes over the agreement financing the Avey-Rusjar railway go first to the Commission, then to its arbitration panel. The Federal members also open talks with the Commonwealth's members on Avey's status after the protection period within twelve months of the Act coming into force, seeking to conclude them before 18.IX.1800 AN, a year before that period ends. Any resulting agreement that altered the terms of the Federation's administration would need a further Act of the Cortes Federales.[2]
See also
- Avey
- Avey Port Authority Corporation
- Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, 1760
- Zeed-Nouvelle Alexandrie relations
References
- ^ a b c d e f Avey.
- ^ a b c d e Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, 1760.
- ^ 1701 Armistice of Alduria City.
- ^ Union of the Republics of Zeed.
- ^ Raspur Pact; Third Euran War.
- ^ "Zeed is promised an equal share of Avey's port revenue and ₦60 billion from Natopia in Rusjar", NBC Newsfeed, 20.VIII.1760 AN.
