World Meteorological Organization

Purpose
The purpose of these guidelines is to maintain and strengthen in the public interest the cooperative and supportive relations among NMSs in the face of differing national approaches to the growth of commercial meteorological activities.

Guidelines
In order to ensure the maintenance of the international exchange of data and products among WMO Members, and to develop the applications of meteorology, while adapting to the new challenge from the growth of commercial meteorological activities:

1. NMSs should provide the first point of receipt within a country for WWW data and products, in order to have complete and timely access to all the information necessary for the production of weather forecasts and warnings and other meteorological/climatological services necessary for the protection of life and property and other public interest responsibilities entrusted to the NMSs and without prejudice to the national laws of their territory of location;

2. NMSs should make their best efforts to ensure that the conditions which have been applied by the originator of additional data and products(3) are made known to initial and subsequent recipients;

3. In the case where conditions accompanying the exchange of additional data and products are not honoured, the originating NMS may take appropriate actions including denial of access of these additional data and products to the receiving Member;

4. NMSs may export NWP regional model products employing additional data and products for commercial purposes outside the country of the Member running the model, unless objected to by an affected Member. Every effort should be made to coordinate the provision of such services prior to implementation to avoid possible harm to other Members;

5. NMSs may distribute and export products from global NWP models without regard to conditions which were attached to the original data used in the models;

6. Services or products whose construction would suffer significant degradation by removal of the additional data or products and from which the additional data and/or products can be retrieved easily, or their use can be identified unambiguously, should carry the same conditions on their re-export for commercial purposes as those additional data or products;

7. An NMS receiving a request from a local client for service that it cannot fulfil may seek assistance from another NMS with the capacity to provide it. Where appropriate to enhance the free and unrestricted exchange of data and products among WMO Members, the service should as far as possible be made available through the offices of the NMS of the country within which the client is located;

8. Similarly, unless other arrangements have been agreed to, an NMS receiving a request to provide service in another country should refer the request back to the NMS in that country, i.e. to the local NMS. In the event that the local NMS is unable to provide the service for lack of facilities or other legitimate reasons, the external NMS may seek to establish a collaborative arrangement with the local NMS to provide the service;

9. Where the service originated by one NMS is likely to affect other Members (e.g. in the provision of regional broadcasts of meteorological information or the wide distribution of seasonal or climate forecasts), the NMS originating the service should seek, well in advance, and take into account the response of the NMSs of the affected Members, to the extent possible;

10. NMSs should, to the extent possible, refrain from using basic WWW data and products received from other countries in ways which jeopardize the performance of the public interest responsibilities of the originating NMSs within their own countries. If an NMS finds that, in the undertaking of its public interest responsibilities it is affected adversely by a public or private organization in another country, it may warn the NMS in the country from which the organization is deriving the data and products. The latter NMS should consider measures to mitigate these adverse effects and take those actions appropriate under its national laws;

11. NMSs with experience in commercial activities should make their expertise available, on request, to other NMSs, especially NMSs of developing countries, through the WMO Secretariat and bilaterally, and provide relevant documentation, seminars and training programmes to developing countries, on request, on the same financial basis as other WMO education and training courses are provided.

In implementing these guidelines, NMSs should take into account and, as far as possible, respect the different legal, administrative, and funding frameworks which govern the practices of NMSs in other countries or group of countries forming a single economic group. NMSs should, in particular, note that other NMSs will be bound by their own national laws and regulations regarding any trade restrictive practices. Furthermore, where a group of countries form a single economic group, the internal laws and regulations appropriate to that group shall, for all internal group activities, take precedence over any conflicting guidelines.

___________

(3) Additional data and products” means data and products additional to those with no conditions on their use.