482. Editorial Note

The fifth preparatory meeting for the Third Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting was held in Brussels on November 14, 1963. The delegates agreed to postpone the establishment of a standing committee on Antarctic meteorology until the Third Consultative Meeting. Most of the meeting dealt with how to formulate measures for protecting Antarctic wildlife. The United States had submitted a draft of “Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Living Resources in the Antarctic.” Chairman A. van der Essen of Belgium regretted that these proposals had not been presented as amendments to a British “Draft Agreement on the Conservation of Wild Life in the Antarctic,” and pointed out that a code or “Agreed Measures” would be less binding on individual citizens than a convention would be. The delegates reached no agreement on permanent administrative arrangements between meetings, and scheduled their next meeting for January 9, 1964. The meeting was later rescheduled for the week of January 20–24. (Airgram A–484 from Brussels, November 20, 1963; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1960–63, SCI 11–1 ANT)