CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020)

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ANTARCTIC TREATY SYSTEM

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ANTARCTIC TREATY SYSTEM

Every year, the Contracting Parties to the Antarctic Treaty meet at the Antarctic Treaty ConsultativeMeeting (ATCM) to discuss matters of common interest pertaining to Antarctica according to Article IX of the Antarctic Treaty. Although the Antarctic Treaty is silent on the periodicity of such meetings and, after the first meeting in Canberra in 1961, it only envisages that such meetings shall be held at suitable intervals and places, a practice among the Contracting Parties, whose representatives are entitled to participate in these meetings according to para. 1 and 2 of Article IX (have so-called consultative status), 1 has developed over time in respect to both the place and frequency of the meetings. Since the beginning, the Contracting Parties with consultative status (Consultative Party) were chosen by alphabetical order to host the meeting. 2 In this context, I would like to recall that the last ATCM was held for the first time in the Czech Republic in Prague from 2 until 11 July 2019. With respect to the timeline, the ATCM used to be held every two years since the 1960s until 1994. However, since 1994, this meeting has been held annually. By Article 11 of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Protocol), the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) was established. The first meeting of the CEP was held in 1998 and it has met annually ever since. One has to begrudgingly add, until this year. The unprecedented situation of COVID-19 was not foreseen by the drafters of the Rules of Procedure of the CEP. Unlike the Rules of Procedure of the ATCM, which do not specify the periodicity of the meeting, the CEP Rules of Procedure set forth in Rule 9 that the CEP shall meet once a year, generally and preferably in conjunction with the ATCM and at the same location. 3 It is worth noting that the CEP provides advice and formulates recommendations to the Parties in connection with the implementation of the Protocol which is subject to discussions at the ATCM. The establishment of the CEP was a “game-changer” with respect 1 According to Article IX para. 1 of the Antarctic Treaty, representatives of the Contracting Parties are those that concluded the Treaty in 1959, the twelve original signatories. Para. 2 of the same Article entitles Contracting Parties to Antarctic Treaty which demonstrate their interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial scientific research there, such as the establishment of scientific station or the dispatch of scientific expedition. 2 There were several occasions when the alphabetical order was disrupted. One of the recent examples was when the Czech Republic, as a new Contracting Party with consultative status as of 1 April 2014, came to conclusion with Ecuador that since Ecuador was originally supposed to hold the ATCM in 2018 (before the Czech Republic was recognized with consultative status), it would stick to this plan and the Czech Republic would host the XLII ATCM in 2019 (having to host the ATCM only 5 years after its recognition of consultative status). However, Ecuador never managed to organize the ATCM in its territory and Argentina had kindly offered its services, so the meeting would take place, even in shorter terms as usual. 3 The interaction between the ATCM and the CEP also underwent different attempts in order to be as effective as possible. Originally, the ATCM took 10 working days and the CEP 5 days, while coinciding with the first week of the ATCM. Whereas 5 days has proven to be suitable for CEP, more adjustments were made to the ATCM. An 8-day format was proposed and practiced for some time, with the first week still parallel to the CEP meeting. However, this has been deemed inadequate by the Consultative Parties regarding the allocation of time for decision-making after having been advised by the CEP. It was argued that in order to better reflect the advice and recommendation of the CEP at the time of taking a relevant decision, at least one more day is needed. Hence, since the XL ATCM and the XX CEP in Beijing in 2017, the ATCM opens one day after the CEP meeting, but still lasts 8 working days. This practice has been carried out only twice as the following meeting in 2018 was held under special circumstances in Argentina instead of Ecuador.

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