IOTA's Five-Yearly Review of its List of Qualifying Groups

[IK0ZCW]

With a review due this year the IOTA Board has decided not to delay the announcement of Hans Island, located in the high Arctic between Canada and Greenland, as the new IOTA NA-251P. This follows the final stage of ratification last December of an agreement between Canada and Denmark (representing Greenland) to split the island’s sovereignty equally between their two countries. IOTA Programme rules specify that split sovereignty island groups can qualify for separate listing (IOTA Programme Structure B.1.7). In fairness to all activators who might consider activating what is a demanding group the Board has felt it necessary to insert a delay in implementation of the decision and will only consider operations that take place on or after 1 July 2024.

The Board has also considered the whole review exercise. Aware that due to the pandemic in the last three years there has been a major absence of IOTA operations from the rarer IOTA groups, it has decided on a pause in creating any further groups in the immediate future that might draw attention away from these. The current tragic world political situation is also one factor in this decision. It is not clear how long this pause may last and it is best not to assume that it will end any time soon and what the decision will be when it does.

G3KMA and the IOTA Board, 7 February 2024