Resolution A.699(17)

(Adopted on 6 November 1991)

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE STANDARD FOR THE PROMULGATION AND CO-ORDINATION OF MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION USING HIGH-FREQUENCY NARROW-BAND DIRECT PRINTING

THE ASSEMBLY,

RECALLING Article 15(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 SOILAS 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 coordinated 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
SYSTEM PERFORMANCE EANDARD FOR THE PROMULGATION AND CO-ORDINATION OF MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION USING HIGH-FREQUENCY NARROW-BAND DIRECT PRINTING

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.