Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting

The 42nd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and the 22nd Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection run from 1 to 11 July 2019 in Prague, the Czech Republic. The ATCM sees the 29 Consultative Parties (together with 25 other observer States) to the Antarctic Treaty convene annually for the purpose of exchanging information, consulting together on matters of common interest pertaining to Antarctica, including environmental protection and marine pollution. The IOPC Funds were invited to participate in the ATCM. The Secretariat submitted an information document which provided an overview of the IOPC Funds’ policy on claims for pollution damage and environmental restoration.

The Director, Mr José Maura, and the Legal Counsel, Mr Kensuke Kobayashi, took part in the meeting from 2 to 4 July, sharing the Funds’ expertise in the field of compensation for pollution damage in order to facilitate a comparison between the Funds’ system and a compensation mechanism envisaged under Annex VI to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.