The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC),
RECOGNISING the need for confidentiality at the commercial and organisational levels for data submitted to the IOTC;
CONSIDERING the provisions set forth in Resolution 10/02 [superseded by Resolution 15/02] on mandatory statistical reporting requirements for IOTC Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs);
CONSIDERING the provisions set forth in Resolution 11/04 on a regional observer scheme;
ADOPTS in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article IX of the IOTC Agreement, that:
The following policy and procedures on confidentiality of data will apply:
The policy for releasing catch-and-effort, length-frequency and observer data will be as follows:
Standard stratification
Finer level stratification
The policy for releasing tagging data will be as follows:
Procedures for safeguarding records and databases will be as follows:
Data submitted to IOTC Working Parties and the IOTC Scientific Committee will be retained by the IOTC Secretariat or made available for other analyses only with the permission of the source.
The above rules of confidentiality will apply to all members of IOTC Working Parties and the IOTC Scientific Committee.
This Resolution supersedes Resolution 98/02 Data Confidentiality Policy and Procedures.