IARU’s Spectrum and Regulatory Liaison Committee (SRLC) is a forum comprising individual experts who are personally involved in work for IARU in relations with regulatory and standards organisations in Region 1 (Africa, Europe, Middle East and Commonwealth of Independent States).

Individually and collectively they establish the policy and strategic direction that IARU Region 1 should take in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and in Region 1, Regional and Sub-Regional Telecommunication Organisations (RTOs) e.g. ASMG (Arab Spectrum Management Group), ATU (African Telecommunication Union), CEPT (Conférence Européenne des administrations des Postes et Télécommunications) and RCC (Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications) on matters of importance to the interests of the amateur services (e.g. spectrum management, licensing and spectrum engineering).

The Chairman and the Committee identifies and commissions Region 1 experts to represent IARU at meetings/conferences of the above organisations in accordance with the following Terms of Reference and objectives, SRLC:

• Monitors and researches developments in relevant regulatory forums which potentially impact the amateur Service and amateur-satellite Service (the amateur services);
• Advises the IARU Executive Committee (EC) on the workings of RTOs which might impact the interests of the amateur services and process material and undertake actions delegated to it by the EC in respect of these bodies;
• Prepares submissions on regulatory and spectrum management issues detailing the views, concerns and objectives of the amateur services within the overall envelope of IARU’s global strategies;
• For ITU issues works closely with the IARU officers and experts from IARU Regions 2 and 3 to arrive at common positions to take in RTOs worldwide
• Liaises with the Political Relations Committee (PRC) on matters arising in the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) and Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC) of the European Commission;
• Provides advice on regulatory concerns to IARU Member Societies and coordinate actions in core areas in support of IARU Region 1 and IARU global spectrum strategies;

SRLC also liaises with the Electro Magnetic Compatibility Committee (EMCC) concerning relevant issues raised in CEPT by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), including any proposals to amend ETSI EN 301 783, the European standard for commercial amateur radio equipment.

In addition members of the SRLC work with other IARU permanent Committees (PRC, EMCC, HF (including MF and LF) Committee and the VHF and Microwave Committee to identify potential threats to the amateur services from regulatory pressures and agree with the PRC and other relevant permanent bodies, strategies and their implementation to ensure that such threats are managed in a way that limits any adverse impact on the amateur services.

The Future

First of all as Chairman of the SRLC I would like to encourage any member of an IARU Region 1 Member Society who has worked on spectrum management issues in their own country or in an international or regional organisation to join the Committee. I would also like to encourage applications for membership of SRLC from any member of an IARU Region 1 Member Society who has worked extensively in regional or international scientific bodies, especially if interested in regulatory and operational aspects of amateur radio. From time to time amateurs who belong to an IARU Member Society in R2 or R3 may also be invited to become a SRLC participant. In future there will be two categories of SRLC participant.

Meeting Experts

The first category will be Meeting Experts e.g. those SRLC participants who have been designated to attend a one-off or series of particular meetings, project teams, working groups or committees of external organisations, or other IARU committees. A report of the meeting attended should be prepared which should be no longer than an A4 page. Out of pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings are refundable. Meeting Experts will also be expected to comment on documents and papers from external organisations as well as those produced by SRLC participants before they are sent to external organisations. See the next paragraph below. It should also be noted that persons attending meetings on behalf of the EMCC and PRC are not subject to these SRLC procedures, although similar arrangements may be in place for these committees.

General Experts

The second category of SRLC participant will be General Experts. General Experts will receive all SRLC documents being addressed within the SRLC It is intended that in future most if not all documents produced by SRLC participants will be circulated to the Committee as a whole. In most cases a week will be allowed for comments, dependant on any deadlines imposed by an external body.

Physical meetings are unlikely to occur except for perhaps an informal gathering at the Freidrichshafen ‘Ham Radio’ annual event. However if there are comments from a number of members, with differing views a conference call should be arranged using Go-To Meeting or Skype.

Experts Directory

I would also like to keep a directory of SRLC participants on the IARU-R1 web-site. If you apply to become an SRLC IARU R1 expert please provide your name call-sign and contact information and indicate whether the latter can be included in the list of members on the web-site. This issue may need to be reviewed in the light of recent data protection initiatives around the World.