Part II Commentaries to Typical Sofa Rules, 16 Communications

Subject(s):

Military assistance — Sovereignty — Military matters — Peace keeping

This chapter examines the role of telecommunications in the law of Visiting Forces. The ability to send and receive messages is indispensable to military operations. With this in mind, modern status-of-forces agreements (SOFAs) grant broad latitude to Sending States in the field of communications, while taking into consideration that in peacetime, Sending State forces must cooperate with the communications authorities of the Receiving State in order to avoid the possibility of communications breakdown or interruption. Generally speaking every State has the sovereign right to provide for and regulate its telecommunication and radio frequencies spectrum. The term ‘telecommunications’ is usually defined by making a reference to the definition given in the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union.