Treaty consultative meetings

Representatives of the nations of the Antarctic Treaty system gather at intervals to discuss the management of the Antarctic Treaty area and to further develop the Antarctic Treaty system. These gathering are called Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, or ATCM.

The host government is determined by the alphabetical order of the Consultative Parties (in English). Meetings have been held annually since the adoption of the Madrid Protocol in 1991.

Meetings are conducted in the four languages of the Treaty system - English, French, Spanish and Russian. The Rules of Procedure provide for the orderly conduct of the discussions. Decisions of the meetings are normally taken by consensus.

The meeting reports contain a summary of the discussions as well as the text of any Recommendations, Measures, Resolutions and Decisions made by the parties.

Ordinary ATCMs have been held as follows:

• 1st Consultative Meeting, Canberra (Australia) 10-24 July 1961
• 2nd Consultative Meeting, Buenos Aires (Argentina) 18-28 July 1962
• 3rd Consultative Meeting, Brussels (Belgium) 2-13 June 1964
• 4th Consultative Meeting, Santiago (Chile) 3-18 November 1966
• 5th Consultative Meeting, Paris (France) 18-29 November 1968
• 6th Consultative Meeting, Tokyo (Japan) 19-31 October 1970
• 7th Consultative Meeting, Wellington (New Zealand) 30 October-10 November 1972
• 8th Consultative Meeting, Oslo (Norway) 9-20 June 1975
• 9th Consultative Meeting, London (UK) 19 September-7 October 1977
• 10th Consultative Meeting, Washington (USA) 17 September-5 October 1979
• 11th Consultative Meeting, Buenos Aires (Argentina) 23 June-7 July 1981
• 12th Consultative Meeting, Canberra (Australia) 13-27 September 1983
• 13th Consultative Meeting, Brussels (Belgium) 8-18 October 1985
• 14th Consultative Meeting, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 15-16 October 1987
• 15th Consultative Meeting, Paris (France) 9-20 October 1989
• 16th Consultative Meeting, Bonn (Federal Republic of Germany) 7-18 October 1991
• 17th Consultative Meeting, Venice (Italy) 11-20 November 1992
• 18th Consultative Meeting, Kyoto (Japan) 11-22 April 1994
• 19th Consultative Meeting, Seoul (Republic of Korea) 8-19 May 1995
• 20th Consultative Meeting, Utrecht (Netherlands) 29 April-10 May 1996
• 21st Consultative Meeting, Christchurch (New Zealand) 19-30 May 1997
• 22nd Consultative Meeting, Tromso (Norway) 25 May-5 June 1998
• 23rd Consultative Meeting, Lima (Peru) 24 May-4 June 1999
• 24th Consultative Meeting, St Petersburg (Russia) 9-20 July 2001
• 25th Consultative Meeting, Warsaw (Poland) 10-20 September 2002
• 26th Consultative Meeting, Madrid (Spain) 9-20 June 2003
• 27th Consultative Meeting, Cape Town (South Africa) 24 May-4 June 2004
• 28th Consultative Meeting, Stockholm (Sweden) 6-17 June 2005
• 29th Consultative Meeting, Edinburgh (UK) 12-23 June 2006
• 30th Consultative Meeting, New Delhi (India) 30 April - 11 May 2007
• 31st Consultative Meeting, Kiev (Ukraine) 2-13 June 2008
• 32nd Consultative Meeting, Baltimore (USA) April 2009