international hydrographic organization 2003 - IHO

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After finalizing the discussions about the functions of the Council, the SPWG studied in detail other
structural aspects of the document “A Study into the Organizational Structure and Procedures of the
IHO” and reached full agreement on all the chapters.
The SPWG studied all the pending questions and produced a series of amendments, which will be
inserted in the Draft Amendments of the Convention. There were, however, some details that were
referred back to the Legal Experts, who met in Monaco, 3-4 December 2003 to finalize the Draft
Amendments to the Convention.. It was also decided to harmonize the text of the Convention to use
the same wording agreed in the draft report “A Study into the Organizational Structure and Procedures
of the IHO”.
Many countries stated their reservations to accept acceptance procedures described in the draft Article
XXI sub-paragraph d). [Accordingly the Portuguese Foreign Affairs authorities, this country officially
stated that the proposed Article XXI (concerning provisional application and tacit acceptance) should
be reviewed, in order to guarantee that countries that can not make use of these two legal instruments
could pursue the traditional form of ratification).
Development of other Basic Documents
The President of the IHB Directing Committee observed that the work to develop General Regulations
and Rules of Procedure for the Assembly, Council and Committees had already been commenced and
that a list of items concerning those documents should be discussed by the SPWG to facilitate the
continuation of the work.
The SPWG confirmed the schedule of its 5 th Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, 1–4 March 2004, followed by
the WEND meeting. Legal experts will be invited to attend this meeting.
SPWG LEGAL EXPERTS MEETINGS
The First meeting of the SPWG Legal Experts was held at the IHO Secretariat, Monaco, 18-19 June
2003.
It was agreed that the task of the Group was not to discuss the substance of the SPWG documents but
to provide legal advice on the drafting of a proposal concerning amendments to the present
Convention, to be submitted to the 3 rd Extraordinary Conference (April 2005). Furthermore the group
should consider and advise on the legal mechanisms available to bring any amendments that might
result from the work of SPWG into force in the most time efficient manner. The proposed text from
the legal experts should reflect the majority view of SPWG, while possible alternative views will still
be acknowledged in the documents. It was emphasized that the aim of the SPWG is to resolve any
alternative option and bring forward one consensus proposal to the Extraordinary Conference.
Several comments were made by the Group members to the 29 Articles of the draft text prepared by
the IHB.
The Second Meeting of the SPWG Legal Experts Group (LEG) was held at the BSH, Hamburg,
Germany. Delegates from Germany, Italy, Morocco, Norway, UK and USA were present.
The LEG devoted the total time available to examine the draft text of the amendments to the IHO
Convention, along with the comments made by the countries above mentioned. A number of issues of
a non-legal character were identified and were referred back to the SPWG for consideration and
approval.
The LEG was able to finish the Draft Amendments to the Convention, which included many of the
suggestions made.