[SEDXC] Is there any official news from the DXCC desk about Saba, etal?

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

 > Originally I heard there was going to be 4 deleted countries and then 
 > after the 10th there would be 6 entities added as new, for a net gain 
 > of two entities.

The DXCC Desk and DXAC have repeatedly said they will not announce
anything until after a qualifying event takes place.  See the further
discussion below concerning qualifying events.

 > Anyone know if that is how it is going to shake out in the end or is
 > it something different.

There is no way there will be six "new ones" as there are only five
islands.  The final result really boils down to what happens at the
Department of State and what they put on the list of "Dependencies
and areas of Special Sovereignty."  The effective date for any "new
ones" will depend on when (how soon after 10/10/10) the Department
of State updates the list.  In the case of St. Barts (FJ) it took nine
months from the time the French law making St. Barts an "Overseas
Collective" became effective on Feb 21, 2007 until Department of
State released the updated "Dependencies" list on December 13, 2007
(http://www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/10543.htm - last change 17 Dec 2007).

Here is how things will change in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
on 10/10/2010:

Curacao and St. Maarten will become autonomous regions (same status
as Aruba) .  Since Aruba is a separate entry on the State Department
list, there is no reason to assume that Curacao and St. Maarten will
not also be added to the list in due "Bureaucratic time."

The real question lies with Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the
BES Islands).  The BES islands become special municipalities within
the Kingdom of the Netherlands - essentially no different than any
other city in the Kingdom.  According to the DXCC rules the BES
Islands would be considered geographic entities (point 2 entities)
and not political entities (point 1 entities).  The rules for island
groups call for a 350 km separation from the mainland for the first
such entity and require that any further entity be separated from
any other island by 800 km (point 2 b ii).

However, careful study of the maps and the use of the more accurate
non-spherical models (e.g., WGS84) of the globe show the separation
between Bonaire and Saba is less than 800 km (between 798 and 799 km).

If the State Department does not put the individual BES Islands on
the Dependencies list, there are two options consistent with the
DXCC rules.  First, due to the lack of the required separation the
BES Islands could be a single "new" entity.  In this case there
would be three "new ones" and two "deleted countries."  Second,
because of the long period  of transition in the "reintegration"
process, DXAC/DXCC could decide that the dissolution of Netherlands
Antilles did not represent sufficient real change to justify deletion. 
In that case Bonaire could remain as the "successor entity" to PJ2/PJ4
and Saba/St. Eustatius could remain as the "successor entity" to
PJ5/6/7 (like Serbia vs. Yugoslavia).  In this case there would be
two new ones and no new "deleted countries."

However, each of the BES Islands will have a local "administrative
center" (e.g. center of local government).  This could cause the
Department of State, as they have done in other cases, to include
EACH of the BES islands as areas of special sovereignty.  If each
of the BES islands are listed individually, there will be five
"new entities" and two "deleted countries."

In any case, according to the DXCC rules *NONE* of the "new ones"
will count until after the applicable "Event Date."  In this case
the "Event Date" is not 10/10/10 but the date on which the US
State Department approves any change to the list of "Dependencies
and Areas of Special Sovereignty" (see the FJ precedent).

There are other acceptable "events" that could trigger a change
in status.  Such events are: admission to the UN General Assembly,
assignment of a callsign block by ITU, or inclusion in the UN list
of "non self-governing territories" but since The Netherlands
continues to represent all of the former Netherlands Antilles
(including Aruba) for external affairs, none of the other criteria
are likely to be met.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 9/15/2010 3:03 PM, Tad Williamson wrote:
> Originally I heard there was going to be 4 deleted countries and then after the 10th there would be 6 entities added as new, for a net gain of two entities.
> Anyone know if that is how it is going to shake out in the end or is it something different.
>
> I know it wuill all come out "officially' soon, but I was just wondering if anyone had an inside scoop on it.
> Thanks, 73, Tad, WF4W
>
>
>
> "What a long, strange trip it's been"
>
> The Grateful Dead
>
> Truckin'
> _______________________________________________
> SEDXC mailing list
> SEDXC at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/sedxc
>