From working group to technical committee

FROM WORKING GROUP TO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

During the Intergovernmental Conference on Oceanographic Research, 1960, at which the setting up of an Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission was recommended, certain initial tasks for the new Commission were outlined and amongst these was included the requirement for a structure to co-ordinate international oceanographic data exchange. The first formal establishment of a Working Group on Exchange of Oceanographic Data was made by IOC Resolution I-9 adopted at the First Session of the Commission in October 1961, which also prescribed that:

"The mission of this Working Group shall be the facilitating of exchange of oceanographic data, the standardization of forms for reporting and coding data, the encouragement of the preparation of data catalogues, and the assistance of development of national oceanographic data centres."

The Commission authorized the continuation of the Working Group at its Second Session (September 1962).

At its Fifth Session (September 1967) the Commission (Resolution V-20A) amended the terms of reference of the Working Group by adding the following:

"(a) to review and re-appraise the whole international oceanographic data exchange system as recommended by Section 8 of the report 'International Ocean Affairs' (IOC/V-INF.111), and as reaffirmed by Recommendation IX of the summary of the recommendations of the Working Group meeting in the Hague in September 1967 (IOC/V-4);

(b) to continue and encourage the present work leading towards format standardization for use with automated techniques for data input, storage, retrieval, dissemination and exchange, but recognizing the considerable financial implications inherent in such automation;

(c) to continue the development of means whereby geological, geophysical, biological, special air-sea interaction data and data from 'continuously recording' sensors are incorporated into the international oceanographic data exchange system."

The Eighth Session of the IOC Assembly decided that the Working Group for International Oceanographic Data Exchange be renamed Working Committee (Resolution VIII-31) and it also amended its Terms of Reference (Report of the Eighth Session of the IOC Assembly, Doc. SC/MD /39, Annex V, page 8, Item II).

The Fourteenth Session of the IOC Assembly (Paris, 17 March - 1 April 1987) "noting the increasing interest in marine scientific information ... recalling also the decision of the Executive Council at its Nineteenth Session, on the Guidelines for the Structure and Responsibilities of the Subsidiary Bodies of the Commission", changed the name of the Technical Committee on International Oceanographic Data Exchange to the Committee on Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange, retaining the acronym IODE.

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Created on: Friday, 28 November 2008 10:50

Last Updated on: Monday, 01 July 2013 12:20