(i) the proportion of estimated operating costs of the Argos system to be covered under the Global Agreement was agreed to amount to 35.36 million French Francs;

(ii) the 1997 tariff for 365 days of location determination and data collection of a PTT (one PTT-year) will be 26 000 French Francs, although there are serious indications that, given the foreseen total number of PTT-years to be contracted in 1997, this tariff would not allow to meet the above amount of 35.36 million French Francs;

(iii) any PTT-year committed later than 15 January 1997, or eventually used in excess of those committed at this date, will be billed at a rate defined under (ii) above plus 25% (with the exceptions as already agreed at previous meetings);

(iv) the final date for the signing of the 1997 contracts under the Joint Tariff Agreement remains 1 March 1997. Possible discrepancies between the actual numbers of PTT-years signed at that time and those committed by 15 January will be treated according to agreements reached at previous meetings;

(v) a slight modification was made to the Conditions for Limited Use Service, viz not to impose the requirement that platforms use a regular duty cycle. This was done to better allow some users to make use of this service when the duty cycles of their platforms are independent of their direct control and in practice random (e.g., those who track marine mammals);

(vi) a new platform category was entered on an interim basis in the Global Agreement, under the title of Interim Argos Large International Programme (ALIP) for Drifting Buoys. The basic idea behind this provisional category is to provide large programmes, using essentially standardized platforms which can be quite routinely processed by CLS/Service Argos, with an important discount (70%) on platform processing cost for all platforms over and above the initially committed number in the Agreement. It is expected this might encourage the managers of such programmes to deploy more platforms than they had initially foreseen, since one important limitation in the number of platforms deployed remains the processing costs. Such additional platforms would of course not incur the penalties referred to under (iii) above. That is why the meeting emphasized that no Representative [vis-á-vis CLS/Service Argos] Organization for a Country or a group of countries (ROC) wishing to participate in the interim ALIP would be allowed to eventually (viz by 15 January 1997) commit less PTT-years than foreseen at the sixteenth meeting itself (the relevant figures are provided in the attached table Numbers of PIT-years likely to be purchased by each country in 1997). The year 1997 will be considered as a trial period to implement this concept. The next meeting on Argos JTA will review the situation and decide on the furtherance of the ALIP, or otherwise.

Yours Faithfully,

G. Kullenberg
Executive Secretary IOC

R. C. Landis
for the Secretary-General of WMO

Responsible Organizations for a Country (ROC) for Argos
Co-ordinator of the interim ALIP
Chairman of the JTA Meeting
Participants in the Sixteenth Meeting on Argos JTA
National focal points for the DBCP
Chairman, Vice-chairmen and Technical Co-ordinator of the DBCP
Chairman and Director General of CLS/Service Argos
President of Service Argos Inc.
Permanent Delegations and Observer Missions to UNESCO of IOC Member States

 Australia                               58.00                
 Brazil                                  14.00                
 Burkina Faso                            14.00                
 Canada                                  60.00                
 China                                    1.50                
 Denmark                                  8.50                
 Finland                                  1.65                
 France                                  78.00                
 Germany                                 39.00                
 Iceland                                  7.00                
 India                                   10.00                
 Italy                                                   16.00
 Korea (Republic of)                      6.00                
 Malaysia                                 0.00                
 Netherlands                             14.00                
 New Zealand                             12.63                
 Norway                                  22.00                
 Pakistan                                 1.60                
 South Africa                            34.00                
 Spain                                    9.00                
 Sweden                                   2.00                
 Thailand                                                 4.50
 Tunisia                                  3.00                
 United Kingdom                          50.00                
 United Arab Emirates                     3.50                
 USA                                    650.00                
 Others                                   3.00                
                                     _________       _________
     
                     TOTAL             1102.38         1122.88

(2) *

jointly providing support to their own authorized users for the location and data processing associated with test and implementation of remote platforms communicating with the satellites of the TIROS-N series.

Each authorized user under this Agreement adheres to the procedures and conditions of the Argos system. In this regard, prograrnme application forms should be submitted as soon as a programme is planned. Data distribution will be accomplished under the policies established by the ARGOS Operations Committee.

These Terms and Conditions are valid for the time period beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31, 1997.

"Platform-year" is defined as 365 days of operation of an acceptable Platform Transmitter Terminal (PTT).

"Consultation of files" or "Access to the data" is defined as direct user access to the disk files either by telephone, telex or other public data networks.

The "Global Agreement" included all those participating countries which agree to the Terms and Conditions contained herein and which sign a similar Agreement with CLS prior to March 1, 1997.

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(1) Collecte Localisation Satellites is the affiliate of CNES, in charge of operating the Argos system.

(2) Quote the country and its own organization in charge of the Agreement with regard to CLS. Hereafter defined by "ROC", i.e. a unique Representative Organization for a country or a group of countries.

CLS will perform the following categories of services associated with PTT's of the authorized users:

(1) Location determination or both location determination and data collection for PTT's with a repetition period equal to or less than 120 seconds, application of calibration curves to the data when appropriate, access to the data and distribution of the data according to the paragraph below entitled "Distribution of processed data" and archiving for three months;

(la) Same as (1) but subject to the limitation under LIMITED USE SERVICE;

(2) Data collection for PTT's with a repetition period greater than 200 seconds, application of calibration curves to the data when appropriate, access to the data and the distribution of the data according to the paragraph below entitled "Distribution of processed data" and archiving for three months;

(3) Same service as (1) except the location and the data are not made available to the users unless they require the data and follow the conditions for back-up services;

(4) Same service as (2) except the data are not made available to the users unless they require the data and follow the conditions for back-up service.

Charges for authorized users under this Agreement are given in the Table entitled

Summary of services and tariffs to users under the Global Agreement

Processing by CLS	Category	Repetition Period	Location Computed	Data Collection and Sensor Processing	On Line Data Access	Data Archiving	Tariff
Standard	1 2	<= 120 sec 200 sec	YES NO	YES YES	YES YES	YES YES	X X/2
Limited Use Service	1a	<= 120 sec	YES	YES	YES	YES	*
Back Up	3 4	<= 120 sec 200 sec	YES NO	YES YES	NO NO	YES YES	2X/5 X/5
Inactive Status	5		NO	NO	NO	NO	X/6

* Users will be charged the standard data collection and location rate for actual PTT-days used, up to a maximum
of ten per month.

CLS agrees to charge those authorized users a rate of X = 26 000 French Francs per platform-year for services defined in category (1), a rate as defined below under conditions for limited use service (paragraph 3) for services defined in category (la), and a rate of X/2 for services in category (2).

It is agreed that CLS will record the number of platform-days and will send quarterly reports to the ROC which contain the number of platform-days accumulated up to the time of the reports.

These charges will remain the same for the time period of coverage stated above. It is possible that these costs may vary from year to year. Therefore, the ROC and CLS will discuss and conclude agreements concerning fees to be charged to users prior to establishing the Terms and Conditions for the Agreement valid for the following year.

This service is intended for those users whose programmes operate effectively using a reduced number of data transmissions. Platforms under this service category are supposed to use a randomly initiated duty cycle.

The following conditions must be met to qualify:

(1) Standard location or standard location and data processing (services) only apply;

(2) Platform can transmit no more than twenty four (24) hours in any 72 hours period;

(3) Users will be charged the standard data collection and location rate for actual PTT-days used, up to a maximum of ten per month;

(4) All platforms in a single programme must meet these conditions;

(5) Separate programme applications must be submitted.

(1) For PTT's covered by the "back-up service" the data are stored in a special data bank for 3 months, but will not be distributed to the user. All PTT's of this type will be counted at 2X/5 (category 3) or X/5 (category 4) of the corresponding tariff under the Global Agreement;

(2) Each user can require CLS to grant access to the active computer files during a specified period. CLS will perform the required file modifications. During the specified period, the PTT's will be counted at the standard tariff (category 1 or 2) in the Global Agreement from the first of the month in progress. Each operation involving a file modification will be charged directly to the user as indicated under "Limitations on PTT's", paragraph 1;

(3) Upon request, CLS will provide magnetic tapes and/or printouts and/or floppy disks including the data from PTT's in the back-up mode for a specified period up to three months before the receipt of the order. For the specified period the PTT's will be counted at the standard tariff (category 1 or 2) in the Global Agreement;

(4) CLS will begin required services only after receipt of a detailed letter or telex specifying the service and the period required and the programme involved.

This status is intended for those platforms that continue to transmit but for which the location or data collection are of no further use to the user or the community. The following conditions must be met to qualify:

(l) Platforms in Standard Service (category (1) or (2)), Limited Use Service (category la)) or discounted under the conditions for the interim Argos Large International Programme only apply;

(2) The platforms must have operated in category (1), (la), (2) or under the conditions of the interim Argos Large International Programme for a minimum of 2 months;

(3) Data or location information cannot be retrieved nor can the platform revert to any category of service;

(4) It is intended that Location and/or data collection may not be computed using a Local User Terminal or other direct readout facility.

This programme 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 honoured in total and for each ALIP programme;

(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 programme at JTA-XVI will qualify for a 70% 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.

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For the period beginning 1 January 1997, the ROC will purchase for authorized users the guaranteed minimum of * platform-years in advance for 12 months service. On December 31, 1997, the final count of platform-years and fractions thereof which were actually used will be determined. The final cost adjustment over the * platform-years amount (if required) will be determined at the tariff defined above under "USER CHARGES PER PLATFORM-YEAR" plus 25%. Those programmes qualifying for the interim ALIP do not enter into this additional charging.

For those PTT's under these Terms and Conditions there are certain limitations which are itemized below:

(1) The modification of platform characteristics (number of sensors, calibration curves, etc.) will require a charge deemed in the annual price list issued by CLS. This charge and any additional financial cost resulting from these limitations will be paid by the users directly to CLS. Platform modifications within the GTS processing subsystem are not charged. In order to enter, delete or modify a platform, a one-week period may be necessary. After entering a new platform, a minimum of one calendar month is required to change the processing category of that platform. However, two months are required to enter inactive status;

(2) As an average per individual Agreement and per category of service for the platforms covered under these Terms and Conditions, there will be no more than six (6) locations derived for repetition periods up to and including 120 seconds or no more than ten (10) data acquisitions for a platform-day, allowed without additional financial cost. This cost will be 1/25 of the tariff rate for each processing category multiplied by the number of processed platform-years in each category. Funds for unused PTT-years under this agreement will be applied to offset these supplemental charges.

(1) These Terms and Conditions do not cover the costs of special off-line arrangements made to provide the processed data back to the users. These arrangements (i.e. periodic printouts, once a fortnight data tapes, etc.) must be made by the user directly with CLS;

(2) However, it is understood that CLS will continue to provide data from PTT's via the World Weather Watch Global Telecommunication System (WWW/GTS) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) according to procedures established by WMO.

When a location and/or data collection platform is initially received into the system in a 24-hour period, starting at 00.00 UTC, CLS will begin to accumulate the number of platform-days.

(1) CLS will send a preliminary bill for * (at least 70% of the total amount) in French Francs, in advance to the ROC, with the agreement to be signed. The indicated amount must include the additional 15,000 French Francs required per Agreement for general and administrative costs. This latter cost will be waived if the number of platform-years initially agreed to is three or less.

Final adjustment will be made after December 31, 1997, CLS will send a second bill to the ROC for * French Francs with additional charges if necessary.

These bills should be sent to:
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(2) Payment by the ROC will be sent to:

CLS
18 avenue Edouard Belin
31055 Toulouse Cedex
FRANCE
Account number: 30004 00762 00020666305 63
Bank: Banque Nationale de Paris

(3) Payment by USA ROC will be sent to:

Service Argos Inc.
1801, McCormick Drive, Suite 10
Landover, Maryland 20785
USA

(4)Services which are charged directly to users as in paragraph (1) under "LIMITATIONS ON PTT's" and paragraph (1) under "DISTRIBUTION OF PROCESSED DATA" above require a purchase order directly between the individual user and CLS, as noted in paragraph (2) under "GENERAL CONDITIONS OF AGREEMENT" below.

(1) The designated ROC agrees to provide the initial list of users included in the Agreement, encompassing and highlighting those programmes which are eligible to participate in the interim ALIP, and will update this list as appropriate.

(2) For services not provided within this Agreement, individual users under this Agreement must negotiate directly with CLS. Payments associated with these negotiations must be settled on receipt of the invoice. If these conditions are not met, CLS may stop the distribution of the user's processed data. Nevertheless, active platforms received by the system will be counted in the platform-year total. Should this situation occur, CLS will immediately notify the ROC.

(3) Authorized users are defined as those implementing PTT's which are government funded. However, other users of agencies or organizations which are considered "non-profit" may be authorized. PTT's funded partly or entirely by private companies or organizations cannot be included in the conditions of this Agreement, even if data are supplied free of charge to national or international organizations.

If these rules are not followed, CLS may stop the distribution of this user's data. Should this situation occur, CLS will immediately notify the ROC. Nevertheless, active PTT's received by the system will be counted in the platform-year total and data stored.

(4) All authorized users must sign a purchase order for each programme, either for the current year or for the duration of the programme, in order to clearly specify the services they request, whether these services are provided under this agreement or not.

(5) The terms of this agreement are based on a guaranteed minimum purchase of * platform years by all participants in the Global Agreement for the year 1997.

Each participating country will be charged for all platform-years used in excess of those contracted for by that country. These charges will be made at the tariff defined under "USER CHARGES PER PLATFORM-YEAR" in this agreement plus 25%. Discounted PTT-years accumulated under the ALIP are not subject to the 25% surcharge. These charges will be applied to the second invoice sent at the end of the year.

Each ROC is responsible, with regard to the other participants, to assure that the signed agreements are received by CLS before March 1, 1997. On and after this date, CLS will not take into account other agreements and will invoice according to the above conditions.

(6) All funds collected under this agreement in excess of 35.36 millions French Francs will remain the property of CLS and be applied to the losses accumulated from January 1st, 1984 to December 31st, 1990.

(7) VAT will be charged to EEC Members in accordance with EEC rules.

As an indication of additional costs for services not covered by this agreement, the normal tariffs charged by CLS are attached.

Signed by the designated ROC

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Date

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Signed by CLS

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Date

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Posted March 5, 1997