Annual meetings
The Commission holds an Annual Meeting, often in June or July. The location is decided either through invitation from a member government, or in the absence of an invitation it is usually held in the United Kingdom where the Secretariat is based.
Currently, the Annual Meetings last for four weeks and comprise three elements:
• A meeting of the IWC’s Scientific Committee – around two weeks in length and attended by up to 200 scientists
• Meetings of the Commission’s Sub-committees – usually around 4 days and attended by approximately 250 delegates and observers
• The Annual Commission Meeting. This is attended by around 400 people including government delegates, observers from non-member governments, other inter-governmental organisations, non-government organisations (NGOs) and representatives of the press and media. Private individuals are not admitted to Annual Meetings.
The 64th Annual Meeting will be held in Panama in July 2012. At this meeting the Commission will discuss a proposal to move to meeting every two years. In addition, future meetings of the Scientific Committee will be separated from meetings of the Commission by a period of 100 days.
The following links provide the documents, reports and outcomes of previous Commission meetings
| PRESS RELEASES | RESOLUTIONS | CHAIR'S REPORTS |
Information on the Commission’s next meeting can be found HERE