FINAL ACT OF THE
INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE ON
EMERGENCY TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Tampere, 16-18 June 1998

1. At the invitation of the Government of Finland, the Intergovernmental Conference on Emergency Telecommunications was held in Tampere from 16 to 18 June 1998.

2. a) The following 60 States participated in the Conference:

Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, India, Italy, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Togo, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan.

b) The following 16 States attended the Conference as observers:

Australia, Canada, Chad, China, Comoros, Georgia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Nigeria, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates.

3. The European Communities attended the Conference as an observer.

4. The following intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations attended as observers:

United Nations, International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations World Food Programme, International Telecommunication Union, World Intellectual Property Organization, World Health Organization, World Bank, Council of Europe, Western European Union, International Committee of the Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, Finnish Refugee Council, International Amateur Radio Union.

5. The Conference was opened by H.E. Mr. Matti Aura, Minister of Transport and Communications of Finland, presided over by Ms. Kirsti Lintonen, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland, and closed by H.E. Mr. Pekka Haavisto, Minister for Development Cooperation of Finland.

6. The Conference elected as Vice-Presidents Mr. Idriss Ngari (Gabon), Ms. Yolette Azor Charles (Haiti), Mr. Kabindra Purkayastha (India) and Mr. Andrey Krutskikh (Russia).

7. The Conference appointed a Credentials Committee, chaired by Mr. Tara Singh (India), with Mr. Luis Alfonso de Alba (Mexico) as Vice-Chairperson, and approved its report (Document 8).

8. The Conference had before it the draft Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations (Document 4), and the report of the informal consultations which took place in Geneva from 27 to 28 April 1998 (Document 7). The Rules of Procedure were adopted by the Conference without amendment (Document 3).

9. On the basis of its deliberations, the Conference adopted the text of the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations, which was opened for signature in Tampere on this eighteenth day of June 1998 in the English, French and Spanish languages.

10. The Convention responds to the call for an international disaster communications convention issued seven years earlier by the Conference on Disaster Communications, which met in Tampere in 1991, and is the outcome of extensive consultations among governments, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, facilitated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Telecommunication Union. The Convention establishes an international framework to facilitate the provision and use of telecommunication resources and to foster cooperation for disaster mitigation and relief. It reflects the recognition by the Conference of the extraordinary impact of disasters on societies and the environment and of the need for providing timely, effective telecommunication assistance and resources for disaster mitigation and relief.

11. The Convention will be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and will remain open for signature in New York from 22 June 1998 to 21 June 2003. The text of the Convention in the Arabic, Chinese and Russian languages will be prepared by the depositary as soon as possible.

12. The representatives expressed their appreciation to the Government of Finland, to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Telecommunication Union and Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, ITU Secretary-General and Chairperson of the 1991 Tampere Conference.

13. The Conference thanked the Secretary-General of the United Nations for agreeing to serve as depositary of the Convention and encouraged him to schedule a signing ceremony in New York in connection with the 53rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Conference has adopted this Final Act, which shall also be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

DONE AT TAMPERE, this eighteenth day of June 1998, in the English, French and Spanish languages.

Annex: Declaration by the delegation of Mexico