THE AIJP ISSUE

Argos International Joint Program

4.9

With regard to the recommendations of the DBCP concerning the requirements of large buoy user programs, the meeting considered these in the context of an overall proposal for an Argos International Joint Program (AIJP) for buoy users, presented by Professor P. Niiler. A methodology for implementing this proposal within the existing JTA, prepared by CLS, is given in Annex.

4.10

After considerable discussion, the meeting agreed the following key issues associated with the proposal as formulated:

The basic concept had considerable attraction for buoy users of Argos, in providing for relatively favorable tariffs for such users under certain conditions, while at the same time not incurring penalties for other users;

At the same time, the proposal also created some potential difficulties for other JTA users who, while eligible for similar arrangements, would essentially be excluded from favorable tariff arrangements negotiated by buoy users;

No buoy deployer was at the present time able to make hard commitments towards a detailed, specific proposal for the 1997 agreement;

It would be very difficult for most deployers to make even realistic forward projections for five years, let alone hard commitments as was suggested under the proposal.

4.11

Under these circumstances the meeting considered that it was in no position to reach a long-term agreement on the proposal as it stood. It therefore recommended to the DBCP that it reconsider the question, perhaps through a working group including representatives of the GDP and other buoy user groups and regional programs, with a view to preparing a more concrete and specific proposal, including committed numbers of platforms, by May 1997 and based on a true global program concept. This proposal should be submitted by the chairman of the DBCP to the chairman of the JTA, who in turn would arrange for it to be studied in detail by a JTA working group including representatives of all JTA user interests. A finalized proposal from this group, to be presented to JTA-XVII, should be distributed to potential participants in this meeting at least one month in advance of the session, to allow for proper consultation on it at the national level prior to the session.

4.12

At the same time, however, the meeting recognized the importance of making at least a start towards a drifting buoy AIJP as early as possible, in order to encourage as many new deployments as possible, in particular in the light of the likely reduction in total numbers of PTT- years to be committed for 1997 (see agenda item 6). It therefore agreed to precede with trials of a purely interim AIJP in 1997, structured according to the outline in Annex, on the basis of those platforms which could be immediately committed to the program and according to the following conditions:

The interim AIJP would operate within the constraints of the agreed tariff rate and committed PTT-years for 1997 as given in paragraph;

The coordinator of the interim AIJP would be Mr. M. Bushnell of the GDP, who would be responsible for ensuring that individual programs/platforms participating in the interim AIJP conform to the basic concepts of the proposed long-term program as given in Annex, and would also be responsible, together with the ROCs under whose responsibility the programs fall, for informing CLS/Argos by 15 January of the PTT-years and programs within the 1997 JTA which would comprise the initial interim AIJP; these initial interim AIJP PTT-years MUST be part of the PTT-years already committed at the present meeting;

To be part of the interim AIJP, platforms must use an existing format and have their data distributed on the GTS;

Extra platforms in these programs deployed after and above the initial commitment will qualify for a 70% tariff discount as proposed in Annex; existing national JTA commitments made at the present meeting by ROCs must be honored, although platforms and programs contributing to these commitments can qualify individually for the discount; to qualify for the discount, platforms must operate in a standard, full-time location and data collection mode;

Discounted platforms transferring to inactive status will be charged at one-sixth the standard tariff;

ROCs MUST carefully manage their total programs to ensure that initial JTA commitments are maintained overall;

The number of interim AIJP PTT-years used during 1997 will, if a long-term AIJP is finally adopted, form the initial starting point for the program, tentatively in 1998;

If a long-term AIJP is not finally adopted, those platforms already deployed at the 70% discount rate will be allowed to continue at this rate for their full lifetime;

The DBCP working group should take the present agreement into account when developing the long-term AIJP proposal and also identify a coordinator for the program.

4.13

The meeting recognized that there remained many potential problems with the interim AIJP, and that these as well as others not yet identified would emerge during the course of the 1997 trials. It agreed that these problems would need to be satisfactorily addressed, together with the full AIJP proposal from the DBCP, at JTA-XVII, before any final decision could be made on a future long-term AIJP.

 
Posted March 3, 1997