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Foreign Affairs Ministers meetings - Brussels, 4-5 December 2018

GENERAL

1. Meetings of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Foreign Ministers will be held at (New) NATO Headquarters on Tuesday 4 and Thursday 5 December 2018. All information about these meetings will be made available via the NATO website. This media advisory marks the opening of the online accreditation website (see below).
2. The meetings will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.

PROGRAMME

3. The official programme will be online and handed to media representatives as from the time of the pre-event press conference, and upon accreditation. The meetings will likely start on 4 December in the afternoon.
4. The Accreditation Office will be located at the Main Entrance, NATO Headquarters, Boulevard Leopold III 1110.
5. Information about individual ministers’ media programmes should be sought directly from the national delegation(s) concerned.
6. A list of NATO delegation press officers is available from the Press & Media Section and upon accreditation.

MEDIA ACCESS TO MEDIA EVENTS

7. Access to meeting openings and the official portrait is restricted by pool only. Access is unrestricted to press conferences of the NATO Secretary General. Briefings by delegation officials may be by invitation only. Open delegation events are announced on CCTV.

POOLS AT NATO HEADQUARTERS

8. Pool cards for restricted-access events will be given to a small number of videographers and photographers drawn from among those who submit an accreditation request on time; these will be distributed on the first floor of the Public Square of NATO HQ from 11h00 to 12h00 and from 15h00 to 15h30 on 4 December 2018 and from 8h00 on 5 December 2018.
9. Audiovisual media representatives who wish to cover the opening remarks from inside the Council room may make a written request for a pool card to the e-mail address given at the end of this advisory. No confirmation will be sent.
10. When a media representative accepts a NATO pool position it is with the strict understanding, in accordance with international practice, that the act of accepting the accreditation to be in a NATO pool implies explicit and unconditional agreement by that media representative that he/she will share immediately and upon request with other media accredited to the NATO event all information collected, and/or all material produced, while in that pool. It also implies explicit agreement that the media representative will share the material with no impediment from their own news organization, at no charge to other journalists and with no restriction on the use of the material for legitimate news purposes.
11. Media representatives can only accept the pool accreditation if they have the explicit backing of their employer to all of the conditions on providing pool material as the basis of accepting the pool position.
12. In turn, media organisations seeking pool photo materials should first contact the Wire service photo agency of which they are a member or client. Media representatives and the news organizations that employ them who accept any material from a pool accept it with the explicit and strict understanding that it must be identified as pool material any time it is used, that it can be used only for legitimate news purposes and that the receiving party has no right to sell pool material or otherwise profit from it.
13. The NATO photographers and videographers will provide video clips and photos of all the media events for posting to the NATO website; photos can be downloaded from www.nato.int.

ONLINE / BROADCAST

14. The opening remarks of several NATO meetings as well as the Secretary General’s press conference(s) will be broadcast live on the internal closed-circuit television system and can be viewed in the press working area as well as online.
15. B-roll and press conference videos can be downloaded live via satellite or from the NATO TV & Radio Unit (see the contact details below). After each event, the videos are available for free download from NATOChannel.

ACCREDITATION AND SECURITY CHECKS

16. Accreditation requests are introduced online here: https://my.hq.nato.int/. Please find instructions on how to create a profile in Annex 1. Confirmations will not be sent.
17. Journalists in possession of a valid NATO permanent media pass do not need to request accreditation.
18. Deadline for accreditation requests is no later than Tuesday 27 November 2018 at 12h00 noon (Brussels Time). After that, requests are considered late; they will be delayed and may be refused. Media representatives who have submitted the request for accreditation via the internet are encouraged to bring a print-out of the request confirmation. Late applications will not be taken into consideration for pool access.
19. The usual NATO accreditation procedures shall be applicable to this meeting. They are detailed here: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_83620.htm?mode=pressrelease.
20. Media passes will not be mailed to applicants; they must be collected in person upon presentation of an ID card or passport and a valid national press pass (or accreditation letter from a recognized media organization).
21. Passes must be worn visibly at all times, and security personnel may ask to see another form of ID at any time. Media representatives are informed that security personnel will examine and may test equipment and personal effects carried onto the site and are advised to arrive with sufficient lead time to clear security checks.

MEDIA FACILITIES

22. Television and Radio editing space will be made available. They will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, upon request by email to the NATO TV & Radio Unit (see contact details below).
23. Journalists, wire services and photo agencies using bulky equipment are urged to bring it to the Media Centre as of Monday 3 December at 15h00.
24. NATO also makes available one TV and one radio studio when they are not in use by senior NATO officials. These facilities are usually booked via delegations press officers wishing to accept interview requests from media organisations.
25. A press area with working spaces for journalists will be set up on the first floor of the public square area. Electricity plugs, Wi-Fi internet, and telephones will be available. In addition, a permanent filing centre is also available on the first floor of the Public Square facing the Agora.
26. Please note that working spaces mentioned above cannot be booked in advance but media can use it on a first-come, first-served basis.

OPENING HOURS

PARKING

27. Media representatives are informed that they will not be allowed to park their vehicles
28. inside the NATO compound. They may, however, park in the visitor’s car park of the New NATO HQ, or in the car park directly across the main entrance, at the Z entrance parking of the former NATO HQ. Uplink vans may park in a special section of the east car park upon request to the NATO TV & Radio Unit.

CONTACT POINTS

Annex 1

How to create a new profile in MIT https://my.hq.nato.int/ :

• To create a new profile, please select the New user option in the home page: https://my.hq.nato.int/ (Chrome or Mozilla Firefox work better with the platform)
• Avoid using special characters (with accents, etc.) when you upload your information on your profile, and ensure that the filename of your photo also does not contain special characters
• Note that for your address, you must insert your street name and house number in separate fields. Both fields are mandatory and cannot be left empty
• The size of the picture you wish to upload must be less than 100 KB. Using larger pictures can stop the application from working
• In case our site is blocked by your provider (most likely because of a firewall), it’s best to use a device that uses a different channel to connect to the internet (4G or connection at home)

Existing profiles:

• If you have previously covered an event at NATO HQ and have lost your credentials, your existing credentials can be recovered by sending an email to NatoAccreditations@hq.nato.int.