THE ASSEMBLY,
RECALLING
Article I5(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning
the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines concerning
maritime safety,
RECALLING ALSO regulation V/2 of
the International Convention for the Safety of Life at sea,1974 (SOLAS 1974), which
establishes the requirement for promulgating information on direct dangers to
navigation,
NOTING Assembly resolution A.700(17), Which establishes Standards on the
promulgation of maritime safety information using a variety of radio teleprinting
techniques, including high-frequency (HF) narrow-band direct printing (NBDP), BEARING IN
MIND regulation IV/7.1.5 of SOLAS 1974, as amended by the 1988 GMDSS Conference, which
states that "ships engaged exclusively on voyages in areas where an HF direct-printing
telegraphy maritime safety information service is provided and fitted with equipment
capable of receiving such service, may be exempt from this [INMARSAT enhanced group
calling] requirement",
NOTING ALSO that the World
Administrative Radio Conference for Mobile Services,1987, identified channels in the HF
band for the transmission of maritime safety information using NBDP, and resolved to
invite IMO to develop, jointly with other international organizations, a global
co-ordinated plan for the use of these channels (WARC-MOB-87, resolution 333),
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the
Maritime Safety Committee at its fifty-eighth session,
1. ADOPTS the System Performance Standard for the Promulgation and
Co-ordination of Maritime Safety Information using High-Frequency Narrow-Band Direct
Printing, set out in the annex to the present resolution;
2. DECIDES that broadcasts of maritime safety information using HF NBDP
techniques, intended to meet the requirements of regulation IV/7.1.5 of the 1974 SOLAS
Convention, as amended in 1988, should be in accordance with the recommendation set out
in the annex to the present resolution;
3. URGES
Governments to co-operate by ensuring that maritime safety information using HF NBDP
techniques is provided in accordance with this system;
4. REQUESTS the Secretary-General to convey this system performance
standard to the executive heads of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Hydrographic Organization
(IHO) inviting them to participate in this co-ordination effort in accordance with
resolution 333 of WARC-MOB-87.
Annex
1 Administrations desiring to broadcast maritime safety
information using high-frequency (HF) narrow-band direct printing (NBDP), in
accordance with the provisions of regulation IV/7.1.5 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention, as
amended in 1988, should notify their intentions to the IMO Sub-Committee on
Radiocommunications. The Sub-Committee will co-ordinate proposals with other
Administrations, and will make recommendations on frequencies, schedules, transmit
power, broadcast duration, and broadcast content, as well as on other pertinent
characteristics. The Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications may authorize a
correspondence panel to perform this co-ordination function between sessions if, in
the Sub-Committee's view this becomes necessary. Administrations may notify their
intentions to the correspondence panel.
2
The Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications may periodically recommend revision and
adjustments to the broadcast schedule, including shifting existing broadcasts to other
schedules, in order to meet the needs of Administrations.
3 Broadcasts should be made simultaneously on groups of
frequencies in accordance with CCIR Recommendation 688 and Radio Regulation N 3243.
4 Following approval of these broadcasts
by the Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications, Administrations should notify the
International Frequency Registration Board in accordance with the requirements of the
Radio Regulations.
5 IMO will co-ordinate
broadcasts with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International
Hydrographic Organization(IHO) and will periodically issue schedules of broadcasts.
6 Administrations providing an HF NBDP
maritime safety information service should make provisions to alert vessels with
respect to unscheduled broadcasts by digital selective calling. The system should, in
future, be made capable of automatic reception.