Managing the frozen commons - Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent - page 295

Box 10.1 contd.

Article IX
1 Representatives of the Contracting Parties

at suitable intervals
and places, for the purpose of exchanging information, consulting together

… shall meet …

…

and recommending to their Governments, measures in furtherance of the
principles and objectives of the Treaty …

2 Each Contracting Party which has become a party to the present Treaty by
accession under Article XIII shall be entitled to appoint representatives to
participate in the meetings

during such times as that Contracting Party
demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial research
activity there, such as the establishment of a scienti

…

c station or the despatch

of a scienti c expedition.

Article XII
1a The present Treaty may be modi

ed or amended at any time by unanimous
agreement of the Contracting Parties

…
2a If after the expiration of thirty years from the date of entry into force of the
present Treaty, any of the Contracting Parties ,a

Conference of all the Contracting Parties shall be held as soon as practicable
to review the operation of the Treaty.
b Any

… so requests …

amendment to the present Treaty which is approved at such a
Conference by a majority of the Contracting Parties

…

, shall be
communicated by the depositary Government to all Contracting Parties

…

… .

c If any such … amendment has not entered into force … within a period of

two years … any Contracting Party may … after the expiration of that period

give notice of its withdrawal from the present Treaty; and such withdrawal

shall take effect two years after the receipt of the notice by the depositary
Government.

…

The secretariat is led by an Executive Secretary and operates under the
direction of the ATCMs. The ATCPs are, so to speak, the Board of the Secretariat,
but they only meet once a year, and there is no delegation of authority to a subgroup
in the periods between ATCMs. In the early days it was clearly a challenge to nd

the right balance of roles between the Secretariat and the ATCMs. In particular
the ATCPs do not want the Secretariat to be perceived as taking positions on
contentious issues. The first Executive Secretary, Jan Huber from the Netherlands,

had to operate within narrow bounds. To develop the trust of the ATCPs will no
doubt be a target for its second chief of cer, Dr Manfred Reinke from Germany, who

took over in 2009.