While the Tampere Convention will enter into force only after its ratification by 30 States, it is already now an applicable tool in all cases where the provision of international humanitarian assistance involves the use of telecommunications.  In all such cases, the Convention should be invoked as outlined below, in particular whenever one or more parties involved are among the signatories and/or the entities covered as providers of assistance.

Agreements, such as host country agreements or bipartite/tripartite agreements on the subject of the provision of international humanitarian assistance, should make reference to the Tampere Convention by including a paragraph to the effect that either "the Tampere Convention shall be applicable to all operations covered by this agreement", or by referring to specific articles.   Such application of the Convention in an agreement is, even if the partners thereto should not be signatories of the Convention, the easiest and the clearest way to ensure an appropriate regulatory environment.

In negotiations and/or agreements, reference should furthermore be made to two resolutions, unanimously adopted by the 1998 Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU: Resolution 36, "Telecommunications in the Service of Humanitarian Assistance", and Resolution 98, "The Use of Telecommunications for the Safety and Security of Humanitarian Personnel in the Field". These resolutions urge all Member States "to take all practical steps for the application of the Tampere Convention" and "to ensure that humanitarian personnel have unhindered and uninterrupted use of telecommunication resources as relates to their safety and security ...", respectively.

Implementing the mandate of the Operational Coordinator of the Tampere Convention, OCHA (DRB) is ready to provide any assistance, advise or support you might need in this context. At the same time, all applications of the Convention should be reported to the WGET secretariat.