Washington served as venue last 22-23 March for the 14th meeting of the Advisory Committee (IAC) of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO). The director general (DG) opened the meeting, welcoming the IAC, composed of 23 States. Delegates from Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, Switzerland and Uganda took part in the meeting as observers.
The Committee mainly focused on discussions about the future of the ITSO after 18 July 2013 when the organisation can theoretically cease to exist if two thirds of the States represented in the Assembly of Parties (AP) so decide. The first four studies presented by the DG were thus studied in detail, namely:
- Legal Analysis regarding article XXI of the ITSO Agreement and Article 14 of the Public Services Agreement;
- Evolution of the 'Common Heritage' - 2001-2010;
- Valuation of Common Heritage Orbital Locations;
- Interim Report on the Evolution of the Satellite Environment since 2001 - Implications for ITSO.
The studies received written comments from the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland. In the IAC written comments were also presented from Cameroon and oral comments from various Parties. Noteworthy were those from Burkina Faso, Canada, Denmark and the USA. At Portugal's request, the DG reported that the comments submitted by the private operator Intelsat would also be posted on the organisation's website. The DG also reported that it would extend the deadline for receiving new comments to 15 April.
The Committee took note of the four studies. The study titled "Interim Report on the Evolution of the Satellite Environment since 2001 - Implications for ITSO" will be revised and submitted to the next IAC. It should contain conclusions enabling the Committee to present a recommendation for approval by the Parties, which will gather in Assembly in June 2012.
The DG informed the Committee that since the last IAC he had implemented a new procedure for distributing documents to members which favours the use of email; the Parties are notified after the documents have been posted on the ITSO website, as opposed to sending them by mail. ITSO already applied this procedure to the minutes of IAC13, the minutes of AP34, documentation from IAC14 and studies about the organisation's future.
The director general also informed the Committee about the agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to hold in the second half of 2011 four training actions regarding satellite communications, in Angola, Uganda, Togo and Trinidad and Tobago. The capacity-building initiatives will be financed by savings made in each financial year by ITSO, which transit to the Reserve Fund created by decision of the last AP. The fund’s possible limit (80 percent) was used in 2010, equivalent to nearly 49,000 dollars.
The DG also reported that the ITSO signed last December a memorandum of understanding with the ITU with a view to promoting emergency telecommunications, valid for two years.
The Committee noted Uganda's invitation to host the next ordinary session of the Assembly of Parties (AP35), which will be held in June and July 2012.
This was the last IAC meeting chaired by Steve Lett (USA), who in June will begin working for another international organisation. The Committee thus preliminarily debated his succession. According to the outgoing chairman, the IAC should elect the next chairperson. The DG’s legal advisor, however, stated that the current vice-chair (Mamadou Ba of Senegal) should assume the position; same has confirmed his availability. The next chairperson will thus be chosen at the October IAC.
