The essential character of the Conv

The essential character of the Convention as examined above lies in the fact that the Contracting Parties have created a self-contained regulatory régime for the regulation of whales and whaling. The prescription contained in Article VIII of the Convention in my view is one important component of this regulatory régime. It would be wrong in this sense to characterize the power recognized to a Contracting Party to grant to its nationals special permits “to kill, take and treat whales for purposes of scientific research” (Convention, Art. VIII, para. 1) as nothing else than an exception to the regulatory régime established by the Convention namely as an exception recognized in deference to the traditional notion of sovereign right to engage in hunting whales under the freedom of high-sea fisheries. The Contracting Party which is granted this prerogative under Article VIII is in effect carrying out an important function within this regulatory régime by collecting scientific materials and data required for the promotion of the objectives and purposes of the Convention, such as the New Management Procedure (“NMP”) or the Revised Management Procedure (“RMP”) discussed in the IWC for the proper management of the whaling stocks. It is for this reason that the Contracting Party in question, endowed under the Convention with the discretion to determine what types of scientific research it intends to conduct and how the research should be implemented, will be subjected to the subsequent process of review and critical comment by its executive organ, the IWC, and more specifically, its scientific subdivision, the Scientific Committee. These are the organs entrusted in this regulatory régime with the task of conducting the process of review and critical comment on these activities, from the viewpoint of achieving the object and purpose of the Convention on the basis of scientific assessment. It is to be noted that there is no provision, either in this Article or in any other part of the Convention, that empowers the IWC or the Scientific Committee legally to restrict the exercise of this prerogative of a Contracting Party to grant special permits in any specific way, except that the granting of special permits has to be “for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit” (Convention, Art. VIII, para. 1). In other words, under this regulatory régime of the Convention the power to determine such questions as what should be the components of the scientific research, or how the scientific research should be designed and implemented in a given situation, is primarily left to the discretionary decision of the granting Government. The Contracting Government is obligated to exercise this discretionary power only for purposes of scientific research in good faith and to be eventually accountable for its activities of scientific research before the executive organs of the Convention, the IWC and the Scientific Committee. These organs have the responsibility to ensure that this will be the case by reviewing and raising critical comments from a scientific point of view.