International Pressure Regulation Organization

The International Pressure Regulation Organization (IPRO) is a Pax-based international agency. It was founded in 236 after an explosion on the LCA tugboat Cascina was linked to an overpressurized fuel barrel.

Organization

The structure of IPRO was established by its 236 founding charter. It was amended in 413 to create the Crisis Team, and in 431 to create the Enforcement Team. IPRO is overseen by a congress of representatives from signatory countries. The congress meets monthly to vote on proposed amendments to the founding charter or IPRO Treaty. IPRO is comprised of the Executive Secretariat and six operational teams.

The Executive Secretariat, led by the Director General, is accountable to the congress and otherwise manages IPRO operations.

The Inspection Team makes up the majority of the IPRO workforce. They operate local IPRO offices internationally conduct densimeter checks of imported barrels. They wear sky-blue vests.

The Scientific Team works closely with the Nordovest Institute Pressure Lab to develop and deploy densimeter technologies and grading schemes.

The Analytics Team tracks global trade and market information. They were heavily involved in monitoring the Black Air Conflict and initially flagged the discrepancies caused by the Emerald Circuit smuggling ring.

The Crisis Team, created in 413, administers IPRO’s humanitarian crisis response stockpile. The creation of the Crisis Team was a significant factor in the accession to the blue-stripe levy by Pax countries.

The Legal Team manages legal issues in signatory countries and internal accounting for IPRO.

The Enforcement Team, created in 431 after the Lock 19 Blockade, accompanies Inspection officers and conducts independent enforcement actions. They were trained and initially staffed by Egide mercenaries. Half of the ET is permanently stationed in Liara. The Enforcement Team has significant autonomy compared to the rest of IPRO. At the discretion of ET Director, they may declare an emergency situation under Article 9 of the IPRO charter and withhold operational details from the rest of IPRO for up to 30 days past the conclusion of the operation. Additionally, unlike other team Directors, the firing of an ET Director must be approved by the signatory congress.

History

In 236, the Tilian crown constructed the Cascina Memorial Station on the south bank of the Cormorant Strait. The Station leased a state-of-the-art room-sized densimeter from the Nordovest Institute and hired aethericists to operate it. At first, certification was entirely voluntary and used as a mark of quality.

In 249, the portable densimeter was invented. Cascina Station purchased several of these and opened offices in Liara, Ternmouth, and New Harbor. Many privately-owned measurement stations also opened across the world, with various levels of trustworthiness. Seals from Cascina Station, being technologically backed by NVI, remained the highest standard.

As people were introduced to the reliability of certified barrels, and the unreliability of local certifiers, demand at Cascina Station grew. In the mid 250s, it was common for queues to back up into the mouth of the canal locks. To deal with this, ownership of Cascina Station and its satellite offices was transferred to the newly-created IPRO, a Pax-chartered independent company, in 257. This was accompanied by the IPRO Treaty, which, for signatory countries, establishes IPRO as the only provider of legally valid pressure certificates and obligates IPRO to set up measurement stations in every major port and border crossing.

The IPRO treaty was initially signed by Liara and Tilia, the Pax member states at the time, but was not technically an element of Pax law. Ercos and Kota joined in 263 and 275 respectively, both before joining Pax itself. Monnais, Marisa, Qamar, Arkand, and Stolmont instead opened their own certification offices paid for by compressed air import levies. Marisa closed their office in 340 and joined IPRO at the request of the ONC. Stolmont followed suit in 342.

The widespread adoption of triplex compressors was initially thought to render pressure certification obsolete: triplex compressors fill a standardized container with air of a standard pressure. This was proven wrong in 410 when counterfeit triplex-compressed containers flooded the Itaan market, leading to numerous fatal accidents. These contents of these containers were cut with a gas able to fool the densimeters commonly in use in Itaan, which were decades behind IPRO/NVI technology.

Monnais, Qamar, and Arkand petitioned to join IPRO, but were hesitant to give up their import taxes in order to protect local production. After a lengthy negotation which included the existing IPRO states, the blue-stripe levy was added to the IPRO Treaty in 413, effectively becoming near-international law.

Events with notable IPRO involvement

Controversies

Sovereigntist opposition

Sovereigntists object to the collection of import taxes by a supranational organization, and its ability to suspend tax collection without reimbursing the country who would otherwise recieve 70%. In Pax countries, some sovereigntists initially accepted IPRO as a safety standards organization but later saw the blue-stripe levy as a bait-and-switch overextension of IPRO’s mandate. This was the motivation for the blockade of Lock 19 by sovereigntists in 431.

Enforcement Team

Although they are obligated to report operations to the IPRO congress within 30 days and provide a public version of the report within 60, these documents often arrive years late and are heavily redacted. For example, the public file on Task Force Green Mirror (regarding the Emerald Circuit) was not released until 442, nine years after its dissolution, and was almost unreadable. Other operations, such as a 447 raid in Roclair that impounded 190 (allegedly legal) barrels, are still considered classified.

Arkand maintains that IPRO-ET is a military force of Pax and has a stated policy of treating them as an invading force if they enter without Syndicate Board approval.