ann18015 — Announcement

Clarification of Brazil’s Involvement in ESO

At its meeting on 7 March 2018, ESO Council decided to clarify the status of Brazil’s current relationship with the Organisation, for the benefit of both Brazil and ESO and their respective astronomical communities.

Brazil’s accession to ESO was unanimously approved by ESO Council on 21 December 2010. To support Brazil in the period before ratification was completed, the Accession Agreement contained a series of interim arrangements. These offered, among others, the possibility for Brazilian industries to participate in ESO calls for tender (for contracts awarded after ratification), and for astronomers in Brazilian institutes to apply for observing time for ESO’s telescopes on the same basis as those from ESO Member States.

The Accession Agreement was approved by the National Congress of Brazil on 14 May 2015, however, the conclusion of the accession process is still pending.

Noting that the completion of the Accession Agreement is unlikely to happen in the near future, ESO Council has decided to suspend the process until Brazil is in a position to complete the execution of the Accession Agreement, possibly through a re-negotiation. With the unanimous support from all its Member States, ESO will remain open to welcome Brazil at any time. Meanwhile, the interim arrangements will be suspended as of 1 April 2018.

As an international treaty approved by both Brazil and ESO Council, the Accession Agreement remains valid. ESO’s programmes and any ongoing Brazilian participation in project consortia are unaffected. The decision will be reflected in some modifications to ESO’s corporate image. ESO Council reiterated that Brazil continues to be a valuable potential partner of ESO and expressed its desire to welcome Brazil as a Member State in the future.

Contacts

Richard Hook

ESO Public Information Officer

Garching bei München, Germany

Tel: +49 89 3200 6655

Cell: +49 151 1537 3591

Email: rhook@eso.org