1. Roadmap to Enhanced Technical Regulations of WMO
16th Session of the Commission for Basic Systems
Dimitar Ivanov, Chief
Aeronautical Meteorology Division

2. WMO 17th Congress (2015) Key messages:
Congress reinstated that achieving compliance with the Technical Regulations of the Organization was fundamental for a global standardization and interoperability of systems, networks, methods and related services provided at global, regional and national level.

3. Organization-wide Culture of Compliance
WMO 17th Congress (2015)
Key messages:
Congress requested the Executive Council and the Secretary-General to actively pursue actions to enhance compliance with the Technical Regulations throughout the Organization.
Organization-wide Culture of Compliance

4. Follow up of Cg-17 What How Organization-wide culture of compliance
Improve the quality of the TRs
Engage all stakeholders
Capacity development
Rigorous monitoring of state of compliance
Strengthen the WMO role as a standard-making organization
Make this role more visible and recognized by all stakeholders
Strengthen the role of the Technical Commissions in the standard-making process
Build capacity of experts in drafting TRs
Coordinate drafts to ensure consistency
Members to enforce and implement the WMO standard and recommended practices
Transpose the international standards into national legal/regulatory framework
Capacity development together with RAs and other relevant bodies
Identify and address deficiencies

5. Decision 93 (EC-68)
Endorsed the Roadmap to Enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework;
Adopted the timeline of the Roadmap targeting Cg-18 in 2019;
Requested:
Technical commissions to prioritize in their work plans the review and update of relevant parts of the WMO Technical Regulations in accordance with their specific terms of reference;
Regional associations to support the compliance monitoring activities and collection of feedback from their Members as outlined in the Roadmap;
The Secretary-General to establish the necessary supporting processes and mechanisms of the Secretariat as outlined in the Roadmap;

6. Roadmap to Enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework (Annex 1 to Decision 93 (EC-68)
1. Objective and scope
The major objective of the Roadmap is to facilitate the development of a fully updated and consistent set of WMO regulatory publications for consideration by Cg-18 in 2019.
The Roadmap is aimed at strengthening WMO’s role as a normative organization.
The improved quality of the technical regulations promulgated by the Organization is a prerequisite for the enhanced Organization-wide culture of compliance called for by Cg-17.

7. Roadmap to Enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework (Annex 1 to Decision 93 (EC-68)
2. Timeline
The review of the existing WMO regulatory publications, the development of the necessary updates and amendments should be carried out throughout the seventeenth financial period.
A new edition of the WMO Technical Regulations, Volume I, General Meteorological Standards and Recommended Practices (WMO-No. 49, edition 2019), to be submitted for approval by Cg- 18 in 2019.
All related regulatory publications (Manuals) to be reviewed and updated accordingly by the time of Cg-18.

8. Roadmap to Enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework (Annex 1 to Decision 93 (EC-68)
3. Actions and responsibilities
Technical commissions – to review and update of the relevant parts of the Technical Regulations and related guidance material.
The management bodies of all TCs – to include this task in their respective work programmes and synchronize with their planned sessions during the financial period (2016–2019).
WMO Secretariat – to carry out the necessary editorial work on the proposed draft amendments and updates.  

9. Roadmap to Enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework (Annex 1 to Decision 93 (EC-68)
Further measures towards enhanced culture of compliance
Effective mechanisms and methodologies for systematic monitoring of Members’ compliance should be further developed.
Members should be better equipped to recognize the role of their governments in transposing the WMO Technical Regulations into national normative instruments.
Optimization of the processes of development and maintenance of the Technical Regulations.

10. Actions by Technical Commissions
Build capacity in drafting high quality technical regulations and related guidance material
Make full use of WMO Guidelines on the Preparation and Promulgation of the WMO Technical Regulations (WMO-No-1127)
First Secretariat Training Workshop on drafting WMO Technical Regulations from 10 to 12 November 2015 – developed recommendations for improved drafting processes
Better coordination between the TCs to improve the consistency and homogeneity of the whole set of WMO Technical Regulations

11. Actions by Technical Commissions
Issues to be addressed
Current definitions of standard and recommended practices do not fit to all types of regulatory material. For example,
WMO-No.407, International Cloud Atlas, Volume I, Manual on the Observation of Clouds and Other Meteors, containing the definitions of hydrometeors, clouds, phenomena
WMO-No.306, Manual on Codes, which is more and more composed of technical specifications, exchange models, metadata descriptions
Such publications need to be differentiated in a special group (e.g., tech. specifications and definitions) with specific amendment procedures

12. Actions by Technical Commissions
Reminder: Rules of drafting
To ensure the relevance of the regulations with the requirements and to avoid imposing an unnecessary burden on Members, Congress agreed on certain principles, as follows:
Technical commissions should not recommend that a regulation be a standard practice unless it is supported by a strong majority of Members;
The Technical Regulations should contain appropriate instructions to Members regarding implementation of the provision in question;
No major changes should be made to the Technical Regulations without consulting the appropriate technical commissions;
Any amendment to the Technical Regulations submitted by Members or constituent bodies should be communicated to all Members at least three months before it is submitted to Congress.

13. Actions by Technical Commissions
Reminder: Rules of drafting
Technical Regulations should be written in simple, concise, language. This is particularly important for those whose mother tongue is not one of the official languages of WMO. To achieve their objectives, provisions should:
be precise, consistent, clear and unambiguous;
be as complete as necessary within the limits specified by their scope;
take full account of the state-of-the-art;
provide a framework for future technological development; and
be comprehensible to qualified persons who have not participated in their preparation!

14. Actions by Technical Commissions
Reminder: Rules of drafting
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15. Thank you