Published on: 18 March 2021
This consultation seeks industry views on the draft Merchant Shipping (Radio Communications) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 that propose to implement an up-to-date version of Chapter IV of the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS) into UK law and give direct effect to future changes to Chapter IV by means of a power to make an ambulatory reference to those international requirements.
The 2021 regulations will amend the existing Merchant Shipping (Radio Installations) Regulations 1998 to limit their application to ships engaged on domestic voyages which fall outside the scope of Chapter IV.
This package of legislative changes will include the introduction of two new M-Notices; a Merchant Shipping Notice that will revise the (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)) requirements in the 1998 regulations and a Marine Guidance Notice that gives guidance on aspects of the application of Chapter IV.
A full list of consultation questions is detailed in section 5 of the consultation document.
The consultation and all its supporting documents including the proposed M notices can be found here.
Responses and the evaluation form are welcome from Tuesday 16 March 2021 until Tuesday 11 May 2021. To respond to the consultation, the response form will need to be filled out and either send directly to the MCA via radio.consultation@mcga.gov.uk (please copy the British Marine technical team in to help form our industry response) or via the British Marine technical team via technical@britishmarine.co.uk with MCA radio consultation in the subject line.