The International Whaling Commission is the principal organization for the conservation and management of whaling. It was established in 1949 with the objectives of allowing the effective conservation and development of whale stocks and to make possible the orderly  development of the whaling industry. Despite its status as the principal whaling organization, it is operation is impeded by a number of controversies and differing positions taken by anti-whaling and pro-whaling members. The controversies relate to various matters, including differences of opinion over the objectives of the Commission; the recruitment of new members by the Commission by existing members to bolster support for their own positions; the use of the objection procedure by whaling States; abuses of the moratorium on whaling by whaling members under the pretext of scientific whaling; and disagreement over the relationship between the Convention and the LOS Convention. The future of the IWC is currently uncertain.

The principal manner in which regulations are adopted by the IWC is through the adoption of regulation amending the Schedule, which is an integral part of the Convention. Amendments to the Schedule require a three-quarters majority of the members voting. The Convention permits the adoption of regulations fixing:

(a) protected and unprotected species;
(b) open and closed seasons;
(c) open and closed waters, including the designation of sanctuary areas;
(d) size limits for each species;
(e) time, methods, and intensity of whaling (including the maximum catch of whales to be taken in any one season);
(f) types and specifications of gear and apparatus and appliances which may be used;
(g) methods of measurement; and
(h) catch returns and other statistical and biological records.

These regulations must be "such as are necessary to carry out the objectives and purposes of the Convention and to provide for the conservation, development, and optimum utilization of whale resources; must be based on scientific findings; and must take into consideration the interests of the consumers of whale products and the whaling industry.

Any Party may avoid being bound by an amendment to the Schedule by registering an objection with 90 days of notification of its adoption. If a Party registers an objection with this period, an additional period of 30 days after the receipt of the last objection lodged is allowed for other Parties to withdraw their previously registered approval of the amendment. Once these periods have lapsed, a Party may not subsequently register an objection. As might be expected, use of the objection procedure by whaling States to decisions on amendments to the Schedule has - at times - had a deleterious effect on the IWC, causing considerable delay in adopting measures, in the early years in particular, and undermining the effectiveness of measures actually adopted because of the opting-out of the States actually involved in whaling. More recently, Norway has made use of the objection procedure to resume commercial whaling of minke whale in the North Atlantic.

Originally the enforcement of IWC measures was left to its individual members, but a Protocol was adopted in 1956 which added methods of inspection among those schedule provisions which may be amended by the IWC under Article V. Some years later, in 1972, an international observer scheme was introduced. Under the scheme, observers appointed by the IWC were stationed at the whaling operations of the member governments to confirm their compliance with agreed whaling regulations. For obvious reasons, the Scheme has lapsed since the end of commercial whaling. As part of the development of a comprehensive Revised Management Scheme, the IWC is currently discussing an appropriate framework for new supervision and control procedures and a Working Group was set up in 1994 to discuss the various issues involved.