The 40th session of the Assembly of Parties (AP) of EUTELSAT IGO was held in Paris last 15-16 March. The AP chair, held by Portugal for the last four years, was transferred to Monaco, which served as vice-chair during the same period.
The Assembly elected the organisation’s new Executive Secretary (ES), Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski, the candidate from Poland. The Portuguese candidate did not win election to the post by five votes. Italy was eliminated in the very first round. The current ES (Christian Roisse of France) will end his third consecutive term at the beginning of July 2017 and Poland will formally take over on 2 July for a four-year period.
The AP named the organisation’s new Advisory Committee (AC), comprising the following parties: France (state which since revision of the AP rules of procedure approved two years ago holds a secure seat on the AC as notifying administration before the International Telecommunication Union), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland. Note that in various terms Portugal chose to actively participate in the AC, though as an observer, in order to respect the rotation principle.
The Assembly was informed of the Secretariat’s activities since the last AP two years ago. It noted that the operator Eutelsat SA had fulfilled the basic principles, adopted the budgets for the financial years running from July 2017 thru June 2018 and from July 2018 thru June 2019, and endorsed reselection of the current external auditors (Ernst & Young). Note that the AP also approved the possibility of a period of overlapping duties between the ES-elect and the ES still in office, to facilitate transfer of the portfolio.
Given the company’s poor results, it was noted that Eutelsat SA had asked the IGO to streamline and even reduce its operating costs, given the downturn in its revenue and the business and competition related problems it is facing, like most satellite operators. In its presentation to the Assembly, the satellite operator’s new CEO, Rudolph Belmer, seemed intent on contesting even the budget limit set out in article 4.1 of the Arrangement in force between the operator and EUTELSAT IGO, updated at AP39, and which guarantees the organisation’s financing of Eutelsat SA until 30 June 2020.
Various administrative decisions were adopted along with others concerning human resources management, namely a recommendation asking the next head of EUTELSAT IGO to revise the staff rules and pension system, given that the current system has been shown to penalise staff soon to retire, specifically the organisation’s administrator, who currently holds the position of acting executive secretary in the absence of the ES.
The AP also decided that the new ES should designate as soon as possible the new acting executive secretary, on a provisional basis and until approved by AP41, in accordance with article IX, i) of the amended Convention.
The ES asked the parties to inform the relevant national authorities about revision of the 2007 Audiovisual Media Services Directive of the European Union (EU) and the proposed reversal of principle whereby the country of origin/broadcast will be valid in jurisdiction over non-European TV channels. Currently, the responsibility for monitoring TV programmes originating outside the EU and meant for the Union lies in the country where the uplink is located. However, in the review now under way, France and the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel advocate reversing that criterion for identifying the responsible administration, given that it is increasingly hard to locate the uplink, which can easily change country.
The Assembly noted the participation of EUTELSAT IGO as observer in activities of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications. The AP also authorised the ES to begin consultations with Intersputnik, after ‘careful analysis’ of that possibility, so that both organisations can obtain reciprocal observer status. A recommendation to that end must nevertheless be submitted for approval by the next AP.
Note that the amended Convention, which took force in 2002, has been ratified to date by 42 of the 49 parties comprising EUTELSAT IGO.
The next AP has been scheduled for 10-11 April 2019.
