SB DX @ ARL $ARLD040
ARLD040 Scarborough decision
 
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DX Bulletin 40  ARLD040
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  July 26, 1995
To all radio amateurs   
 
SB DX ARL ARLD040
ARLD040 Scarborough decision
 
At its July 19 meeting, the ARRL Membership Services Committee (MSC)
of the ARRL Board of Directors voted to remove from the Awards
Committee Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) an administrative
interpretation of a Board motion.  The deleted text said in part,
''Thus it requires a favorable recommendation by the DXAC to initiate
a country status review by the Awards Committee.'' All ARRL Directors
were present at the meeting, and it was the sense of the meeting
that the Awards Committee should review negative as well as positive
country status recommendations of the DXAC.
 
On July 25, the ARRL Awards Committee voted unanimously that
Scarborough Shoal (Huang Yan Dao) should be added to the DXCC List
under Point 2 (a) of the Countries List Criteria.  Committee members
all felt that Scarborough meets the rules that were in place when
the petition for new country status was received.  Further they
concluded that it meets the definition of an island under the UN Law
of the Sea Conventions.  China claims Scarborough, and there is an
absence of other territorial claims.  Finally, it is more than 225
miles from the nearest part (island) of China.
 
Awards Committee Chair, Chuck Hutchinson, K8CH, shared the results
with DXAC Chair, Garth Hamilton, VE3HO, immediately after the vote.
As announced in a June 30, 1995 news release, the DXAC voted 9 to 7
against recommending the addition of Scarborough to the DXCC
Countries List.
 
Under procedures established by the ARRL Board, and because the
Chairs are unable to effect a compromise, there is an automatic
appeal.  In the next step, the two committees will report the
reasons for their votes to the MSC for recommendation to the full
Board, which ultimately will decide the matter.
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