20. The opening words of paragraph
1,
i.e., “Notwithstanding anything contained in this
Convention any Contracting Government may grant a special permit”, have to be interpreted in the
sense of a discretionary power granted under the Convention to State
s
parties to issue a special
permit for
purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions and conditions “as the
Contracting Government thinks fit”. The discretionary power granted to States parties
distinguishes this type of whaling from the commercial whaling regulated in other par
ts of the
Convention for which the Commission has to fix the conditions and restrictions, such as
stock
status and commercial quotas, in accordance with the schedule annexed to the Convention.