PROVIDING THAT NATIONAL COMMITMENTS MADE AT JTA-XVI ARE HONORED IN TOTAL, THE FOLLOWING RULES FOR ALIP WILL APPLY (IN ACCORDANCE WITH DECISIONS MADE AT JTA-XVI AND WRITTEN IN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS GIVEN IN ANNEX 2):

• An "ALIP program" is defined as an Argos program participating in the JTA, being part of the list given in Annex 2 and having committed to a number of PTT-years for CY 1997 as indicated in the list. All other programs are considered as non-ALIP programs.

• In each country participating in the JTA, ALIP programs must be managed and accounted separately from non-ALIP programs:

- Platforms, i.e. Id numbers, belonging to a non-ALIP program must not be transferred to an ALIP program.

- Platforms, i.e. Id numbers, transmitting operationally and belonging to an ALIP program can be transferred only to a non-ALIP program or to another ALIP program in the same ALIP program "group", (i.e. are considered together for the purpose of meeting their JTA commitment). ID numbers which have not yet transmitted operationally in 1997 can be transferred to any other program.

- For Limited Use Service (LUS) programs designated as an ALIP Program, the companion Standard Service Programs are assumed to be a part of the same ALIP Program group.

-New ALIP programs may be created and added to an ALIP Program group for the purpose of adding new ALIP Platforms or to receive ALIP Platforms from an existing ALIP Program in the group. The new program shares in the commitment.

- To meet the committed number of PTT-years, all platforms belonging to an ALIP program will contribute, whatever is their status concerning service, GTS or format. This means that ALIP and non-ALIP platforms will contribute to meet the commitment.

- If the committed number is not met, there will be no discount applied and the program will be invoiced by the ROC for the committed number of PTT-years (see program 1 in example below).

- If the committed number is met, the 70% discount will apply to the part of PTT-years in excess "produced" by ALIP qualifying platforms (see programs 2, 3 and 4 in example below). Each program will be invoiced for the total number of PTT-years actually used minus the discount on ALIP platforms, plus the 25% surcharge for excess use, if any for the country of the program, on non-ALIP platforms.

Example:

1. Conditions for Interim Argos Large International Program (ALIP) for Drifting Buoys (as part of the draft report of the sixteenth JTA meeting).

This program is intended to encourage growth in the use of the Argos system with the ultimate goal of reducing costs while meeting the Global Agreement commitments.

For 1997, the following rules apply:

(1) National commitments made at JTA-XVI must be honored in total and for each ALIP program

(2) Platforms must use an existing format and have their appropriate data distributed onto the GTS

(3) Extra platforms deployed after and above those initially committed in a ALIP program at JTA-XVI will qualify for a 7O% tariff discount

(4) To qualify for the discount, platforms must operate in a standard location and data collection mode

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

(6) Revenue generated by these platforms will be applied to the JTA portion of the Argos operating costs

(7)These platforms are not subject to the 25% surcharge for excess use

(8) If a long term ALIP is not adopted, those platforms already deployed at the 70% discount rate will be allowed to continue at this rate for their full life-time.

2. Conditions to be an ALIP platform

An ALIP platform is defined as an Argos platform,
- being a drifting buoy
- using an existing format,
- having its appropriate data distributed onto the GTS,
- operating in a standard location and data collection mode (including on full-time).

All other platforms are considered as non-ALIP platforms however, they can reside in an ALIP-qualified program.

3. ALIP candidate programs list

This list, confirmed by Mark Bushnell on 4th of March 1997 is given in Annex 2.

Note that ALIP groups are made of programs which belong to the same user, are considered together for the purpose of meeting their JTA commitment, or both.