1. Purpose and Scope

1.1    The IOPER is an international forum of offshore petroleum and carbon capture and storage environmental regulators whose members are dedicated to the common cause of raising offshore environmental performance.  The forum provides regulators with a venue to exchange and enhance collective expertise; discuss regulatory approaches and best practices; exchange scientific, technical, and environmental information; and discuss industry trends and market developments.

1.2    IOPER was founded on the principle that effective, open, and timely sharing of information about challenges and opportunities in each member country’s jurisdiction measurably improves the ability of those jurisdictions to ensure sustainable and responsible offshore development and operations.  The application of well-informed regulatory best practices benefits governments, industry, ocean stakeholders and the public.

2. Objectives

2.1    The objectives of the IOPER are:

• • To enable exchange of information among regulators on:
  • Offshore environmental trends;
  • Industry environmental performance and best practices;
  • Lessons from environmental incidents;
  • Environmental studies related to potential impacts;
  • Environmental regulatory practices and initiatives;
  • Trends identified through monitoring programs; and
  • Measuring the effectiveness of regulatory activities.
  • To promote best sustainable environmental performance globally.
  • To provide a network of offshore petroleum and carbon capture and storage environmental regulators for mutual support and advice when required.

3. Ways of Working

3.1    The IOPER achieves its objectives through:

1. 1. an annual plenary meeting;
   2. communication among members between annual meetings, as the need arises;
   3. the formation of working groups, and/or the commissioning of other competent stakeholder organisations, to advance issues of importance; and
   4. individual IOPER member country outreach initiatives.

4. Meetings

4.1    The Secretariat working with the host country/organisation, for an annual general meeting will organise the meeting, including the development of an agenda and provision for taking of meeting notes.  Meeting notes will be summary in nature, excepting any explicitly agreed-upon action items, and will be circulated to attendees for comment but normally will not require formal signoff.

4.2    Agenda items at annual meetings normally include country updates and technical sessions, as notified to the Secretariat in advance.  Both categories should cover environmental issues likely to be of common interest, possibly with technical sessions addressing matters such as lessons from incidents, research findings, and regulatory initiatives.  Annual meetings also may include a review of IOPER working group activities during the previous year, and consideration of any shared work planned or proposed for the coming year.  Member countries should endeavour to agree upon responsibilities for the lead of, and contributions to, each such topic.

4.3    Meetings will be conducted in English with openness and honesty and must respect the confidentiality of information shared with participants.  To assist in this objective, as well as in general logistics, participant numbers should be small, with each member country (except for the host agency) normally sending no more than three participants to an individual meeting.

4.4    Information shared and discussed at the meeting is considered confidential and is subject to the Chatham House Rule, which states “when a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed”.  However, an IOPER member may give verbal permission for the dissemination of the information that they have shared at meetings.

4.5    IOPER members represent agencies, established under legislation, that directly regulate environmental issues within offshore petroleum and /or carbon capture and storage exploration, production, or both, in their respective countries.  Participants are authoritative decision makers, competent to speak about key operational, technical and policy issues and have access to sufficiently reliable information to enable meaningful discussion.

4.6    The Terms of Reference may be changed by mutual agreement of IOPER members.

5. IOPER Membership

5.1 Eligibility

A regulator with environment-related oversight functions for offshore petroleum or offshore carbon capture and storage who is:

(i) established under national legislation;

(ii) capable of independent decision-making, separate from the operations that they regulate and from royalty collection; and

(iii) committed to actively participating in annual meetings, work on IOPER projects or workgroups.

5.2 Application for Membership

An application for IOPER membership must be in writing, sent to the IOPER members, and include:

1. 1. a signed statement addressing the eligibility criteria above; and
   2. a statement agreeing to be bound by the Terms of Reference of the IOPER.

5.3 Election to Membership

1. 1. An application for Membership must be unanimously approved by the existing IOPER members.
   2. An application shall be rejected if the applicant has not met the “Eligibility’ or “Application for Membership” requirements above.

5.4 Termination of Membership

1. 1. An IOPER member may terminate its membership through written notification to the IOPER Secretariat.
   2. An IOPER membership may be terminated through a mutual decision of all the other members, should the member in question fail to meet member commitments. In considering such a termination, before termination, the member shall be offered an opportunity to comment on the action contemplated.

5.5 Listing of Members

The IOPER Secretariat shall maintain and publicise a list of current IOPER members on its website.

5.6 Observers

Regulators with environment oversight functions for offshore petroleum or offshore carbon capture and storage) who are considering IOPER membership may participate as an observer at IOPER meetings with the advance agreement of current IOPER members. Observers are limited to one year of participation in IOPER, at which time they are requested to apply to become members if they wish to continue participating in IOPER.

5.7 Obligations and Responsibilities of IOPER Members

1. 1. Each member shall promote the IOPER initiatives.
   2. Each member is responsible for making a contribution to the working of the IOPER by actively participating in IOPER meetings and working groups, in hosting IOPER Annual General Meetings (AGM) on a rotational basis, in addressing IOPER matters that may arise between meetings in a timely manner and in contributing to keeping the IOPER website alive and current.
   3. IOPER members may invite other relevant authorities or organisations from their jurisdiction to IOPER meetings, depending on the agenda for the specific meeting.

6. Cooperation with Other Organisations
   1. IOPER works closely with other regulatory forums particularly as many member agencies are common.
   2. Key regulatory forums of interest to IOPER are the International Regulators Forum for Offshore Safety (IRF), Management of Ocean Noise by Multinational Environment Regulators (MONMER) and the Global Offshore Wind Regulators Forum (GOWRF).