Background

• In 1991 the Tampere Declaration on Disaster Communications was adopted and called for international legal instrument on telecom provision for disaster mitigation & relief
• WTDC-94 Res. 7 endorsed by Res. 36 of the ITU Plenipot. Conference (1994), urged governments to take all practical steps for facilitating the rapid deployment and effective use of telecom equipment for disaster mitigation and relief operations by reducing and removing regulatory barriers
• Res. 644 (WRC-97) urged governments to give their full support to the adoption of the Convention and to its implementation
• WTDC-98 Resolution 19urged governments to continue their examination of this convention with a view to considering giving their full support to its adoption
• The International Conference on Emergency Communications (1998) drafted and adopted the Convention
• The Tampere Convention came into effect on 8 January 2005