The institutional structure of the Multilateral Fund was established at the 1990 Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in London. Established as an interim mechanism in 1991, and on a permanent basis in 1993, its structure has not been changed in any important respect since. Its key institutional elements are:

•  It operates under the authority of the parties to the Protocol, which, every three years, decide its budget, with contributions based on the UN assessment scale. 
•  Its operations are overseen by an Executive Committee comprising seven Article 5 and seven non-Article 5 parties, with a voting structure designed to ensure that neither donors nor recipients could dominate.
•  In delivering financial and technical assistance, it works together with ‘implementing agencies’: the World Bank, UNEP, UNDP and UNIDO. 
•  Its day-to-day operations are carried out by a small secretariat, based in Montreal.
  

Each of these elements is described in more detail in the sections that follow.