Regionale Overeenkomst betreffende het gebruik door de Omroepdienst van golven in de middengolfbanden in de gebieden 1 en 3 en in de langegolfbanden in gebied 1

Preamble

With the object of facilitating relations, mutual understanding and cooperation in the field of LF/MF broadcasting;

with a view to improving the use of the frequency bands allocated to the broadcasting service in order to ensure satisfactory reception of the broadcasting service for all countries;

recognizing that all countries large and small have equal rights and that the needs of all countries and in particular the needs of the developing countries shall be fulfilled as far as possible in the implementation of this Agreement;

the delegates of the following Members of the International Telecommunication Union, meeting in Geneva for a regional administrative conference convened under the provisions of the International Telecommunication Convention (Malaga-Torremolinos, 1973), have adopted, subject to the approval of their respective competent authorities, the following provisions relating to the broadcasting service in Regions 1 and 3 for the medium frequency bands and in Region 1 for the low frequency bands:

Republic of Afghanistan, Algeria (Algerian Democratic and Popular Republic). Federal Republic of Germany, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Australia, Austria, People's Republic of Bangladesh, Belgium, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Republic of Botswana, People's Republic of Bulgaria, Republic of Burundi, United Republic of Cameroon, Central African Republic, People's Republic of China, Republic of Cyprus, Vatican City State, People's Republic of the Congo, Republic of Korea, Republic of the Ivory Coast, Republic of Dahomey, Denmark, Arab Republic of Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon Republic, Republic of the Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Republic of Guinea, Republic of Upper Volta, Hungarian People's Republic, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Iceland, State of Israel, Italy, Japan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Republic of Kenya, State of Kuwait, Kingdom of Lesotho, Lebanon, Republic of Liberia, Libyan Arab Republic, Principality of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malawi, Malagasy Republic, Republic of Mali, Kingdom of Morocco, Mauritius, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Monaco, Mongolian People's Republic, People's Republic of Mozambique, Nepal, Republic of the Niger, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Norway, New Zealand, Republic of Uganda, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Republic of the Philippines, People's Republic of Poland, Portugal, State of Qatar, Syrian Arab Republic, German Democratic Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Socialist Republic of Roumania, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Republic of the Senegal, Republic of Singapore, Democratic Republic of the Sudan, Republic of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Sweden, Confederation of Switzerland, United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of the Chad, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Thailand, Togolese Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Yemen Arab Republic, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republic of Zaire, Republic of Zambia.

Article 1. Definitions

For the purposes of this Agreement, the following terms shall have the meanings defined below:

Union: The International Telecommunication Union;

Secretary-General: The Secretary-General of the Union;

I.F.R.B.: The International Frequency Registration Board;

C.C.I.R.: The International Radio Consultative Committee;

Convention: The International Telecommunication Convention;

Radio Regulations: The Radio Regulations annexed to the Convention;

Regions 1 and 3: The geographical areas defined in Nos. 126 and 128 to 132 of the Radio Regulations, Geneva, 1959;

Agreement: The whole of this Agreement including its annexes;

Plan: The Plan and its appendices forming Annex 1 to this Agreement;

Contracting Member: Any Member of the Union which has approved or acceded to the Agreement;

Administration: Any governmental department or service responsible for discharging the obligations undertaken in the Convention and the Radio Regulations.

Article 2. Frequency Bands

The provisions of this Agreement apply to the frequency bands between 150 and 285 kHz and between 525 and 1 605 kHz allocated to the broadcasting service under Article 5 of the Radio Regulations, Geneva, 1959.

Article 3. Execution of the Agreement

Article 4. Procedure for Modifications to the Plan

• -. to change the characteristics of a frequency assignment to a broadcasting station shown in the Plan, whether or not the station has been brought into use, or

• -. to bring into use an assignment to a broadcasting station not appearing in the Plan, or

• -. to change the characteristics of a frequency assignment to a broadcasting station for which the procedure in this Article has been successfully applied, whether or not the station has been brought into use, or

• -. to cancel a frequency assignment to a broadcasting station,

the following procedure shall be applied before any notification is made under ths provisions of Article 9*or the corresponding article of the Radio Regulations currently in force. of the Radio Regulations (see Article 5 of this Agreement).

• 3.1. Any administration proposing a change in the characteristics of an assignment or the bringing into use of a new assignment shall seek the agreement of all the administrations having an assignment in accordance with the Agreement, in the same channel or an adjacent channel, which is considered to be affected (see 3.2.5 and 3.3.1).

• 3.2. Channels other than Low-Power Channels

• 3.2.1. An administration proposing to change the characteristics of an assignment or to bring a new assignment into use shall so inform the I.F.R.B. and furnish the characteristics of the modification or addition in the form adopted in the Plan and its appendices.

• 3.2.1.1. Where the proposed modification is within the limits defined in 3.2.9, the information shall contain a reference to that paragraph.

• 3.2.1.2. In all other cases, in order to arrive at the agreement referred to in 3.1, the administration shall notify to the I.F.R.B. the names of the administrations whose agreement it considers should be sought and of those with which agreement has been reached.

• 3.2.2. The I.F.R.B. shall determine on the basis of Annex 2 to the Agreement the administrations having frequency assignments in accordance with the Agreement which are considered to be affected within the meaning of 3.2.5. The results of these calculations shall be sent immediately by the I.F.R.B. to the administration proposing the modification to the Plan. The I.F.R.B. shall include the names of these administrations in the information received and shall publish the complete information in a special section of its weekly circular.

• 3.2.3. The I.F.R.B. shall send a telegram to the administrations listed in the special section of the weekly circular drawing their attention to the information it contains and shall also send to them the results of its calculations.

• 3.2.4. Any administration which considers that it should have been included in the list of administrations whose frequency assignments are considered to be affected may, giving its reasons for so doing, request the I.F.R.B. to include its name. A copy of the request shall be sent to the administration proposing the modifications to the Plan.

• 3.2.5. Any assignment may be considered affected when its usable field strength is increased by a value equal to or greater than 0.5 dB as a consequence of the proposed modification to the Plan. The usable field strength is calculated at any point on the boundary of the service area resulting from the first recording of the assignment in the Plan. When the original assignment in the Plan has been modified in accordance with the Agreement, the calculation shall take account of this modification. The increase in the usable field strength is calculated in accordance with Annex 2 to the Agreement.

• 3.2.6. An administration seeking agreement under 3.1 for daytime operation of a station may, by agreement with the affected administrations, use the simplified method of calculation defined in 3.3.4.3 or 3.4.3.3, as appropriate, of Annex 2 to the Agreement.

• 3.2.7. An administration may ask the administration proposing the modification for the additional information it considers necessary to calculate the increase of the usable field strength. Similarly, the administration proposing the modification may ask any administration whose agreement it seeks for the additional information it considers necessary. The administrations shall inform the I.F.R.B. of such requests.

• 3.2.8. Comments from administrations on information published pursuant to 3.2.2 should be sent either directly to the administration proposing the modification or through the I.F.R.B. In any event the I.F.R.B. shall be informed that comments have been made.

• 3.2.9. The agreement mentioned in 3.1 is not required if the proposed modification either: In either case, the administration intending to modify the Plan may put its project into effect, subject to the application of the provisions of Article 9 *or the corresponding article of the Radio Regulations currently in force.of the Radio Regulations.

• -. entails no increase in effective monopole radiated power in any direction, or

• -. relates to a change in the site of the station, within the tolerances specified in 4.9 of Annex 2 to the Agreement.

• 3.2.10. An administration which has not notified its comments either to the administration concerned or to the I.F.R.B. within a period of sixteen weeks following the date of the weekly circular referred to in 3.2.2 shall be understood to have agreed to the proposed change. This time limit may be extended by eight weeks in the case of an administration which has requested additional information pursuant to paragraph 3.2.7.

• 3.2.11. If in seeking agreement an administration makes changes in its initial proposal, it shall again apply the provisions of 3.2.1 and the consequent procedure.

• 3.2.12. If no comments have been received on expiry of the periods specified in 3.2.10, or if agreement has been reached with the administrations which have made comments, the administration proposing the modification may proceed with its project and shall inform the I.F.R.B. indicating the final characteristics of the assignment together with the names of the administrations with which agreement has been reached.

• 3.2.13. When the proposed modification to the Plan involves a developing country, administrations shall seek a solution conducive to economical development of the broadcasting system of the developing country, giving due consideration to the principles enunciated to this effect in the Preamble to this Agreement.

• 3.2.14. The I.F.R.B. shall publish in a special section of its weekly circular the information received under 3.2.12, together with the names of any administrations with which the provisions of this article have been successfully applied. With respect to Contracting Members, the assignment concerned shall enjoy the same status as those appearing in the Plan.

• 3.3. Low-Power Channels

• 3.3.1. Any administration proposing a change in the characteristics of a frequency assignment in a low-power channel or the bringing into use of a new station in such a channel shall seek the agreement of any other administration when the distance between the proposed station and the nearest point on the boundary of the territory of that other administration is less than the corresponding values given in 4.8.3 of Annex 2 to the Agreement.

• 3.3.2. After having obtained the agreement of the administrations concerned, the administration proposing the modification shall inform the I.F.R.B. indicating the characteristics of the station together with the names of the administrations with which agreement has been reached.

• 3.3.3. The I.F.R.B. shall publish this information in a special section of its weekly circular. With respect to Contracting Members the assignment concerned shall enjoy the same status as those appearing in the Plan.

• 3.3.4. The administration may then proceed with its project.

• 3.4. Additional Provisions for Channels in shared Bands The provisions of this Article apply also to frequency assignments to broadcasting stations in frequency bands shared with other radiocommunication services. However, the special sections of the I.F.R.B. weekly circular mentioned in 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 which concern the proposed modifications shall be considered by these other services to be for information only (see also Resolution No. 7).

• 3.5. Provisions common to all Channels

• 3.5.1. If no agreement is reached between the administrations concerned, the I.F.R.B. shall make any study that may be requested by these administrations; the Board shall inform them of the result of the study and shall make such recommendations it may be able to offer for the solution of the problem.

• 3.5.2. Any administration may at any stage in the procedure described, or before applying it, request the assistance of the I.F.R.B., particularly in seeking the agreement of another administration.

• 3.5.3. If, after application of the procedure described in this Article, the administrations concerned have been unable to reach agreement, they may resort to the procedure described in Article 50 of the Convention. Administrations may also agree to apply the Optional Additional Protocol to the Convention.

• 3.5.4. In any case, the relevant provisions of Article 9 *or the corresponding article of the Radio Regulations currently in force. of the Radio Regulations shall be applied when assignments are notified. When, no agreement having been reached, the I.F.R.B., following the notification of an assignment, records it in the Master International Frequency Register, the entry shall be accompanied by a symbol indicating that the entry has been made subject to the reservation that no harmful interference will be caused to frequency assignments in conformity with the Agreement.

• 3.5.5. The I.F.R.B. shall maintain an up-to-date master copy of the Plan, and of Appendix 1 relating to low-power channels, taking account of the application of the procedure specified in this Article; to this end the I.F.R.B. shall prepare a document listing the amendments to be made to the Plan and Appendix 1 as a result of modifications made in accordance with the procedure of this Article and of the addition of new assignments in conformity with the Agreement.

• 3.5.6. The Secretary-General shall be informed by the I.F.R.B. of these changes made in the Plan and shall publish an up-to-date version of the Plan in an appropriate form as and when the circumstances justify and in any case every three years.

When an assignment in accordance with the Agreement is released, whether or not as a result of a modification (for instance a change of frequency), the administration concerned shall immediately so inform the I.F.R.B. The I.F.R.B. shall publish this information in a special section of its weekly circular.

Article 5. Notification of Frequency Assignments

Article 6. Special Arrangements

In addition to the procedures provided for in Article 4 of the Agreement and to facilitate their application with a view to improving the utilization of the Plan, Contracting Members may conclude special arrangements in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Convention and of the Radio Regulations.

Article 7. Scope of Application of the Agreement