London hosted last 12-16 July the 21st ordinary session of the Assembly of the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO), chaired by Panama’s ambassador in the British capital, Gilberto Arias.
The Assembly approved reappointment of the current director-general (DG), Esteban Pacha-Vicente of Spain to a second four-year mandate beginning on 15 April 2011. The organisation’s director-general was elected by acclamation by the 60 states represented at the Assembly. Also elected were the regional vice-presidents: Europe (Hans-Joachim, Germany), Africa (Mohammed Oualid, Morocco) and Asia-Pacific (Hadi Supriyoni, Indonesia).
Most of this Assembly’s work was devoted to issues associated to the IMSO mandate’s two main topics of concern: the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and Long Range Identification and Tracking of Ships (LRIT).
Financial questions associated to GMDSS and LRIT were particularly discussed. Note that LRIT is directly or indirectly paid for by the state through contributions made to the data centres (LRIT DCs), even though the amended IMSO Convention, provisionally in force since 6 October 2008, specified that IMSO’s joining LRIT and the organisation’s assumption of the role of system co-ordinator did not imply costs for the Parties (article 4, section 1 of the amended Convention). Additionally, the Inmarsat operator has demonstrated its desire for the division of costs between GMDSS and LRIT (currently 70/30) to shift toward 50/50 with respect to budget items such as salaries, travel and administrative affairs.
The budget and financial questions led some Parties, among them Portugal, to criticise the current management. The director-general called for increased transparency in various areas, namely timely approval of budgets, future remuneration procedures and approval of the DG staff bonus, definition of future hiring rules for the administration (two staff members should retire in the next few years), and updating of the staff rules and financial regulations. Countries such as Canada, the USA, Cyprus, Marshall Islands (state which has held the Consultative Committee (CC) chair for the last two years) and Portugal had especially sharp criticism and asked for development of these matters to continue at CC level.
The Assembly also elected a new Consultative Committee, which will have 32 members, three more than in the previous one. Europe (where Poland and the Czech Republic are new members, after Croatia’s exit) and America (Peru) elected the additional members. In line with the regional rotation rules, the new CC chairperson will be European (Eric Berder of France), while the vice-chairperson (still to be determined) should come from the Asia-Pacific region. Portugal will continue to take part in CC activities as an observer. The next CC meeting will be held at Argentina’s invitation in Buenos Aires on 4-6 October. After that the committee should meet twice a year.
The participants in this meeting approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IMSO and the European Commission to make clear the role of the Lisbon-based European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA) as an entity that will host and operate the LRIT system’s International Data Exchange (IDE) from 2011 and until 2013, and after its transfer from the USA, where it is operated by the coast guard on an interim basis.
The Parties did not validate the director-general’s proposal that IMSO declare its acceptance of the rights and obligations under the so-designated five United Nations treaties on outer space (the Outer Space Treaty, Rescue Agreement, Liability Convention, Registration Convention and Moon Agreement) and asked the DG to request additional clarification from the director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), from whom the proposal originated. The Assembly deemed that acceptance of the said rights and obligations is a matter pertaining to the sovereignty of states. Per the director-general’s recommendation, the Assembly decided that the DG should inform UNIDROIT that IMSO will not be a candidate for the responsibility of Supervisory Authority for the future International Registry of Space Assets, as that would mean expanding the organisation’s mandate – a change not acceptable to most Parties.
The Assembly also considered various issues such as the possibility that the US operator SkyTerra may launch a bid to acquire Inmarsat or the proposal that the regional operator Thuraya, based in the United Arab Emirates, should make to the Maritime Security Council (MSC) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in December 2010, with a view to obtaining authorisation to become the second GMDSS provider.
The next ordinary Assembly should meet in June/July 2012 at a place still to be determined.
