2. The forecasts are produced with typically a horizontal resolution of 0.4°-0.5° lat/long (40-50km), for some 60 vertical (average distance ca. 500m, smaller close to the ground) and with a forecast time resolution of typically one hour
3. The ECMWF network for products dissemination consists of dedicated links to all Member States. However, there is only one link to each Member State, paid from the Centre's budget, which goes from ECMWF to the National Meteorological Service.
4. The ECMWF global products are essential for all operational centres in the weather market, in particular as initial and boundary data from a good model is a prerequisite for good limited area and local model forecasts. Therefore all other centres are forced to buy these data from the NMS's, or take slightly inferior data from NOAA/Washington which delivers similar data at no cost over the Internet
5. The above control of the ECMWF data stream gives the NMS's an enormous competitive advantages over the other actors in the market place, an advantage which could be removed by making these data freely and efficiently available to everybody.
6. At present those centres who wish to have full access to ECMWF data must pay 365 000 Euro per year to the NMS, plus a "delivery charge" which can be even higher and which has no foundation in reality as the network is covered by the ECMWF budget.
7. In order to adhere to the "level playing field" requirement implied in the DG-IV Comfort Letter, the commercial unit of the NMS should pay the public unit the above 365 000 Euro per year (and the normal delivery fee charged). Nobody believes that this is done anywhere, but the lack of transparent accounting makes it impossible to confirm this.
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