The Maritime Safety Committee,
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Resolutions - Maritime Safety Committee - Resolution MSC.434(98) - Performance Standards for a Ship Earth Station for use In the GMDSS - (Adopted on 16 June 2017) - The Maritime Safety Committee,

The Maritime Safety Committee,

 RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Committee,

RECALLING ALSO resolution A.886(21), by which the Assembly resolved that the functions of adopting performance standards for radio and navigational equipment, as well as amendments thereto, should be performed by the Maritime Safety Committee on behalf of the Organization,

RECALLING FURTHER regulations IV/10.1 and 14.1 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as amended, concerning radiocommunications for the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), which require, respectively, that ships remaining in sea area A3 be provided with a ship earth station and that such ship earth stations shall conform to appropriate performance standards not inferior to those adopted by the Organization,

FURTHER RECALLING resolution A.1001(25) by which the Assembly adopted the criteria and requirements for mobile-satellite communication services being designed for use in the GMDSS,

NOTING that the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) oversees certain public interests in satellites' operations, including the continued provision of satellite services for the GMDSS,

RECOGNIZING the need to prepare performance standards for satellite communication equipment designed in accordance with resolution A.1001(25) in order to ensure the operational reliability of such equipment and to avoid, as far as practicable, adverse interaction between satellite communication equipment and other communication and navigation equipment aboard the ship,

HAVING CONSIDERED, at its ninety-eighth session, the recommendation made by the Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue at its fourth session,

1 ADOPTS the Performance standards for a ship earth station for use in the GMDSS, set out in the annex to the present resolution;

2 RECOMMENDS Governments to ensure that every ship earth station which forms part of the GMDSS:

  • .1 if designed to operate in a mobile satellite service recognized on or after 1 January 2021, complies with the relevant requirements of resolution A.1001(25) and conforms to performance standards not inferior to those specified in the annex to the present resolution; and

  • .2 if designed to operate on a mobile satellite service recognized before 1 January 2021:

    • .1 conforms to the relevant requirements of resolution A.1001(25) and to the performance standards not inferior to those specified in the annex to the present resolution; or

    • .2 conforms to performance standards not inferior to those specified in the annex to:

      • .1 resolution MSC.130(75) on Performance standards for Inmarsat ship earth stations capable of two-way communications, if installed after 1 February 1999;

      • .2 resolution A.808(19) on Performance Standards for Ship Earth Stations Capable of Two-Way Communications, if installed on or after 23 November 1996 and before 1 February 1999;

      • .3 resolution A.698(17) on Performance Standards for Ship Earth Stations Capable of Two-Way Communications, if installed before 23 November 1996;

3 INVITES IMSO to coordinate with the recognized GMDSS service providers with a view to ensuring consistency between their ship earth station design and installation guidelines and the performance standards specified in the annex to the present resolution.

Parent topic: Resolution MSC.434(98) - Performance Standards for a Ship Earth Station for use In the GMDSS - (Adopted on 16 June 2017)
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