Dave Patton asked me to forward this to the ODV list. 73, Harold From: Patton, David NN1N Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 3:03 PM To: dxac-i Subject: DXCC Rule Addition Hello DXAC members. Coy has asked me to post some information about how we, with respect to DXCC, intend to handle the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October, 2010. This information is private for the DXAC at this time. The ham media and DX bulletins have been publishing updates on the situation over the last couple of years. These stories have been accurate, and I think the speculation on the final outcome has been correct also - so this change is not a surprise to most DXers. We have been following this political development since 2006 along with well-connected hams in the Netherlands. The dissolution of the Antilles and subsequent independence of St. Maarten and Curacao is a near certainty. These islands will be treated similarly to Aruba as separate, independent nations within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The other islands of the Antilles, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, will each become a municipality of the Netherlands. In so doing, they also will qualify as two separate DXCC entities: (1) Bonaire; and (2) Saba and St. Eustatius. There was a slight hitch, however, in the DXCC rules when it came to considering the addition of these four entities to the List. The DXCC 2000 committee created DXCC rules that have proven to satisfy and solidify the running of the DXCC program and remove some of the ambiguity and uncertainties of the past. But it was impossible to foresee all possibilities with respect to politics and in how DXing might change, including the use of a system such as Logbook of the World, in which confirmations can be made in near-real time. Under the DXCC List Criteria, and Political Entities, Rule 1, the newly independent Curacao and St. Maarten would each be added to the DXCC list at such time when either rule 1(a) the island(s) become UN member states; or 1(b) a prefix block is assigned to the island(s) by ITU. At the same time, because the old entity of the Netherland Antilles will be dissolved, the status of the other islands will change and they would eventually qualify under rule 1(c) when they appear on the U.S. Department of State's list of "Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty," and/or Rule 2(b)(ii) as municipalities of Netherlands. In any of these scenarios, on 10 October it is unlikely that UN membership will occur, or a prefix will be assigned by ITU, nor is it likely that the islands will appear separately on the Department of State list at 12:01 AM local time when many operations are scheduled to be active. As there is no international controversy over these political changes, and whereas we know ahead of time what will happen as well as what we need to do, there is a general consensus that the DXCC program needs a "common sense" rule that allows additions to the List in situations such as this. At its Board meeting over 16/17 July, 2010, the Programs and Services Committee approved a new rule - Rule 1(d) that will solve the above described problem: 1(d) If a UN member nation (which is also a political or parent entity for DXCC purposes) grants independence to any part(s) of its territory, the newly independent entity or entities may be added to the DXCC list with the granted date of independence as the Event Date, provided that as of that date the Awards Committee has received no evidence that the entity may not qualify under either rule 1 (a), 1 (b) or 1 (c). In the coming days we will publish the above information as a plan of action with the caveat that something unexpected and extraordinary might happen that changes the status of these islands in such a way as to prevent us from adding these four entities as planned on 10 October, 2010. Extraordinary things are truly not expected to occur, and sources close to the Netherlands government have given assurance that the status changes are 100 percent certain to occur on 10 October. We do not know yet how licensing will be addressed by the new island governments, or of the status of CEPT participation for Curacao and St. Maarten. Operationally, at 12:01 AM local on 10 October, 2010, we plan to delete the two Netherland Antilles DXCC entities, and add four new entities (1) Curacao; (2) St. Maarten; (3) Saba and St. Eustatius; and (4) Bonaire. The event date will be 10 October, 2010. These entities will be immediately available to participants in the DXCC program as most of the known operations from these islands intend to use LoTW. The overall total for current entities will rise to 340 through the subtraction of two, and addition of four. Over the last three months of 2010 we will strive to update all records and reporting systems at HQ. The Honor Roll qualification level will rise to 331 entities for new applicants. The Annual List for 2010 will include the new entities. Dave Patton, NN1N, and Greg Widin, KØGW, for HQ and the PSC.