Regulations for the Empress Shôken Fund

 Article 1 - The sum of 100,000 yen in Japanese gold presented by H.M. The Empress of Japan to the International Red Cross on the occasion of the Ninth International Conference (Washington, 1912) to promote " relief work in time of peace " , was increased to 200,000 yen by a further gift of 100,000 yen from their Majesties The Empress and The Dowager Empress of Japan, on the occasion of the Fifteenth International Conference, (Tokyo, 1934). The Fund was further increased by a gift of 3,600,000 yen from H.M. The Empress of Japan, on the occasion of the Red Cross Centenary in 1963, and by successive contributions from the Government of Japan since 1966, and from the Japanese Red Cross Society. This fund shall be entitled: " The Empress Shôken Fund " .

 Article 2 - The Fund shall be administered and its revenues distributed by a Joint Commission of six members chosen in their personal capacity. The Joint Commission shall be composed equally of three members appointed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and three by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; the quorum shall be four. The Chairman of the Joint Commission shall be on a permanent basis one of the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross whereas the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies shall provide the Joint Commission's Secretariat. The Joint Commission shall meet at Geneva, in principle at t he headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

 Article 3 - The capital of the Fund as well as subsequent donations and contributions shall remain intact. Only revenues provided by interest and capital gains may be used for allocations awarded by the Joint Commission to meet all or part of the cost of the activities enumerated below:

(a) Disaster preparedness

(b) Activities in the field of health

(c) Blood transfusion services

(d) Youth activities

(e) First aid and rescue programmes

(f) Activities in the field of social welfare

(g) Dissemination of the humanitarian ideals of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

(h) Such other programmes of general interest for the development of the activities of the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

 Article 4 - National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies wishing to receive an allocation shall make the necessary application through their Central Committees to the Secretariat of the Joint Commission before 31 December of the year preceding that in which the allocations are to be made. Applications shall be supported by full details concerning the particular activity selected from among those specified in Article 3 above.

 Article 5 - The Joint Commission shall examine the applications menti oned in the previous Article and shall make such allocations as it considers just and suitable. It shall each year communicate the decisions it has taken to National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

 Article 6 - National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies which feel obliged by circumstances to put the allocations received to uses other than those specified in their applications for grants under Article 4 must ask for the Joint Commission's approval before doing so.

 Article 7 - National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies shall send to the Joint Commission, not later than twelve months after receipt of the allocations, a report on the use of the allocations received.

 Article 8 - The announcement of distribution shall take place each year on 11 April, the anniversary of the death of H.M. The Empress Shôken.

 Article 9 - A sum which shall not exceed CHF 50,000 shall be set aside to cover the cost of administering the Fund and of assisting the National Societies concerned in the realization of their projects.

 Article 10 - The Joint Commission shall present to each Council of Delegates of the Red Cross and Red Crescent a report on the current financial situation of the Fund, the allocations which have been made since the preceding Council and the use made of those allocations by National Societies. The Council of Delegates shall transmit this report to the Japanese Imperial Family through the intermediary of the Japanese Red Cross Society.