Funding ETSI

ETSIs funding is derived from:

member contributions
grants
revenue from its assets
services provided by ETSI
any other legal source

Membership fees

The principal source of ETSI's income is annual membership fees.
These are usually related to the financial turnover of member companies or organizations. In the case of national administration membership (government ministries etc), the annual fee is related to that country's gross domestic product (GDP). However, for some member categories, reduced fees are charged.
As an Association established under French law, ETSI is not permitted to make a profit and any surplus of income over expenditure in a financial year is usually returned to members as credit towards their membership fee for the ensuing year.

Other sources of income

These include:

contributions from the European Commission and the Secretariat of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), mainly for 'mandated' (contracted) standardization work to be performed by ETSI, and for ETSI's participation in 'special projects'
income from 'commercial' activities, including sales of standards, events (such as interoperability testing events), and services to outside organizations (such as fora hosting)
contributions from partner organizations for services performed by ETSI on behalf of collaborative activities, such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP^TM).

Expenditure

ETSI's principal expenditure relates to:

competence centres within the ETSI Secretariat. These provide the technical, project management and administrative support to ETSI's technical committees and other standards-related activities
general operating costs including the ETSI Secretariat
Specialist Task Forces (STF). These are groups of experts working together under contract to ETSI to urgently produce draft standards and other documents, or to perform special studies. Funding for STFs may be provided from the ETSI ordinary budget, from the European Commission and/or EFTA, from voluntary contributions from ETSI members, or from other organizations.
interoperability testing events, workshops etc.
'special projects', typically in support of European Commission/EFTA research and development programmes
services to external organizations.

Financial regulations

The administration of ETSI's finances is controlled by the financial regulations within its Directives and is overseen by a Finance Committee appointed by the ETSI General Assembly. The Director-General, assisted by the Deputy Director-General, is responsible for the implementation and management of ETSI's finances.

Financial statements

Financial statements are provided to ETSI members at each meeting of the General Assembly and summary statements are included in the ETSI Annual Report.