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The Tampere Statement
Adopted by the first
Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference
GAREC-2005


Tampere, Finland, 13 -- 14 June 2005

  1. The Plan of Action adopted by the World Summit of the Information Society in Geneva on 12 December 2003 states the need to strengthen and expand ICT-based initiatives for providing humanitarian assistance in disasters and emergencies (PoA[1] C7, 18. f.).

  1. Recognized by the International Telecommunication Union, "the Amateur Radio Service is a radio communication service for the purpose of self training, intercommunication and technical investigations, carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." (Radio Regulations Article 1.56) National amateur radio societies throughout the world work together under the auspices of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), a sector member of the ITU Radiocommunication and Development sectors.

  1. The tragic events of 26 December 2004 have once more drawn the attention to the importance of ICT, and to the need to make best use of all available means of communications in all phases of disaster prevention and response. The volunteers of the amateur radio service made substantive and widely recognized contributions at a time when other links were non-existing, destroyed or overloaded.

  1. During first Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference GAREC-2005, Tampere, Finland, 13 -- 14 June 2005, representatives from all three ITU regions reviewed the role of the amateur radio service in the service of emergency and disaster communications.

  1. The Conference reviewed the possibilities to further improve the contributions the amateur radio service can make to the goals defined by the World Summit on the Information Society. The considerations included in particular the following issues:

    1. The existing structures and agreements of cooperation between national amateur radio organizations and institutional providers of emergency and disaster response services,

    1. The role of the amateur radio service in national and international humanitarian assistance (PoA C7 # 18.f and DoP[2] A. # 16) and in disaster prevention (DoP B.7, # 51) and preparedness,

    1. The role of the amateur radio service in capacity building (PoA C4.# 11), training (DoP B.4,# 31), and in improving global affordable connectivity (B6,40),

    1. The need for a supportive regulatory framework (PoA C.6, # 13.a.) as part of an enabling environment (B6, 38) to improve access to communication (DoP B. #19).

  1. The Conference furthermore considered relevant regulatory instruments, in particular

    1. The Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations, entered into force on 8 January 2005,

    1. The decisions of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) of 2003, providing substantial facilitations for the amateur radio service resulting in particular from modifications to Article 25 of the Radio Regulations,

    1. The ITU Recommendation on Disaster communications in the amateur and amateur-satellite services (Rec.ITU-RM.1042),

    1. The ITU Resolution on Public Protection and Disaster Relief (Res.646, WRC-03),

    1. CEPT Recommendation T/R 61-01 facilitating the trans border operation of stations of the amateur radio services, and

    1. The documents included by reference in those listed above,

    1. The results of the second special session on Telecoms for Disaster Relief, held during the Second Preparatory Meeting for Phase Two of the World Summit on the Information Society.

  1. The Conference concluded, that

    1. The amateur radio service has the proven capabilities and capacities to serve the international community through its global network of infrastructure-independent stations. Such stations are not only most likely to withstand the physical impact of disasters, but their flexibility furthermore avoids the overload all public networks inevitably experience in the aftermath of disasters. The broad spectrum of technologies used by the amateur radio service allows the joint use of traditional media and new technologies (PoA C2. # 9. l.)

    1. Beyond its character as a global network, the amateur radio service is an invaluable resource of skilled operators, trained and experienced in maintaining communications under the most adverse conditions. It is thus essential, to ensure that this resource can be fully utilized in the service of emergency and disaster response providers.

    1. The amateur radio service provides continuous and adult education, re-training, life-long learning, helping people to benefit from new opportunities offered by ICT (DoP B4. # 31).

    1. In order to fully apply its capabilities towards the goals determined by the World Summit of the Information Society and expressed in its Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action, the Amateur Radio Service needs the access to appropriate portions of the shared and limited resource of the radio frequency spectrum.

  1. The conference appeals to all stakeholders in the Information Society and in particular to the respective national and international regulatory authorities such as governments, administrations and international organizations, to support the amateur radio services and to include them in their endeavours to remove barriers to equitable access to information (DoP B3. # 25).

  1. The Conference recommends the inclusion of a respective item into the document(s) resulting from Phase 2 of the World Summit of the Information Society (item 12 of the draft agendaWSIS-II/PC-2/DOC/9-E).


[1] Plan of Action, World Summit of the Information Society, Document WSIS-03/GENEVA/DOC/5-E

[2] Declaration of Principles, World Summit of the Information Society,

Document WSIS-03/GENEVA/DOC/4-E


Page last modified: 01:47 PM, 17 Jun 2005 ET
Page author: k1zz@arrl.org