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Constitution and Convention Collection

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History of ITU Portal

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The International Telegraph (later Telecommunication) Convention, today the Constitution and Convention of ITU, is the basic treaty that establishes the legal basis for the Union and defines its purpo​se and structure.
 
The first International Telegraph Convention signed in 1865 established the basic principles for international telegraphy. In order to keep up with advances in telegraphy, the Member States met regularly to revise the Convention and the annexed International Service Regulations (also known as the Telegraph Regulations).

For a brief period from 1906 to 1932, the regulation of radiotelegraph (“wireless”) communications was managed by a separate, but related, treaty – the International Radiotelegraph Convention.
 
​​​​​​​​​​​​​In 1932, the International Telegraph Convention and the International Radiotelegraph Convention were merged into a single new convention, the International Telecommunication Convention. This new Convention covered the three fields of telegraphy, telephony and radio.
 
The International Telecommunication Convention was revised regularly until 1989, when the Plenipotentiary Conference in Nice agreed to establish a stable Constitution and Convention. The 1989 Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union never received the required number of ratifications, however, and so it never came into effect. It is not included in the list below for this reason.
 
A thoroughly revised Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union was adopted at the 1992 Additional Plenipotentiary Conference held in Geneva. Subsequent plenipotentiary conferences have adopted only amending instruments to the 1992 documents. The Constitution and Convention currently in force are the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992) as amended by subsequent plenipotentiary conferences.​​​​​
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