lOC/B - 50 (1) - page 25 

 17. NORWAY 



Extract from tha letter of 51 October 1968 from Mr. E.F. Ofstad, Deputy 

 Director of the Department of Legal Affairs of the Royal Ministry of Foreign Af- 

 fairs: 



"1. The Norwegian aovemment endorses the positive attitude taken by the IOC 

 Bureau with the Cons-dltati ve Co'Jncil tov/ards the broadening of IOC to enable it 

 to fonimlate and co-ordinate an expanded progra.Time in marine science (recommenda- 

 tlons8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.I1, 8.5, and 8.18). 



2. It also expresses its general agreement with the measures taken by the 

 Bureau with the Consultative Council to prepare for the deliberations at the 

 coming 6th session of IOC in respect to a revision of the statutes of IOC. 



3. Attention is, however, drawn to one point in the terras of reference proposed 

 for the group of consultants, given in recommendation 8. If. 



In terms (i) and (11) the expressions "the future workload of the Commlo- 

 sicn..." and "the workload aecocltttd wltli ih© expanded progi'amme" are used. 

 These expressions not being defined. It would seem desirable to have them 

 clarified, since the interpretation of the word "workload" appears essential 

 for the financial iraplicatlcns of broadening IOC's activities and responsibil- 

 ities. 



The United Nations Secretary-General proposes that the finances of IOC be 

 strengthened through contributions from other organizations as well as 

 through direct contributions from Member States (The Secretary-General's re- 

 port pp. 77-78). Furthermore, it is stated that "The modified statutes 

 should permit the use of directly contributed funds for al l as pects of t he 

 Commission' s work" . It is not explained what the latter expi'ers.\on implies. 



So far the co-operative projects of ICC have been financed by the participa- 

 ting states. If the quoted sentence in the Secretary-General's report means 

 that a change of this policy is planned, it may have an important effect 

 upon the budgets of IOC. It would seem desirable to have this point explic- 

 itly clarified, either by an addition to the terms of reference in i?ecommenda- 

 tion 3.14^ or otherwise. 



A change of policy with regard to the financing of co-operative IOC field 

 work projects, whereby these would be financed by IOC through contributions 

 from other crgariizations or directly from member countries, would in prin- 

 ciple be acceptable to the Government of Norway. 



k. With recard to the scope suid character of the expanded programme in marine 

 science attention is drawn to tlie necesaity of a careful evaluation of the re- 

 lative value for progress in our knowledge of the oceans of (a) international co- 

 operative activities of the type hitherto performed by IOC and (b) intensified 

 studies of well-defined scientific problems in oceanography. The latter type 

 may also be undertaken by international co- operation. 



The two types of co-operative activities should both have their legitimate 

 place within the broadened IOC. 



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