The sixth meeting of the FM Maritime Forum Group of the working group on Frequency Management (WG FM) was held last 15-17 January in Dublin, chaired by Jaap Steenge of the Netherlands.
The FM Maritime Forum Group’s activity mainly covers issues affecting maritime mobile service and maritime radionavigation, as reported to WG FM.
The following were among the issues covered at this work meeting:
- Accompaniment of issues associated to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), aligning positions in order to defend CEPT’s position at the IMO meeting (COMSAR 17), with emphasis on matters involving modernisation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS);
- Increase of clandestine radio broadcasting activity in the 6 MHz band following the automatic monitoring of maritime frequency bands (2, 4, 6 and 8 MHz), whereby the Frequency Management project team (PT) 22 was asked to conduct a new monitoring campaign, specifically focusing on the maritime emergency frequencies, 6215 kHz and 6312 kHz;
- A document was produced, resulting from the consultation of administrations regarding frequencies used for on-board communications in territorial waters. Based on the results, a new questionnaire was drawn up and will be submitted to WG FM for approval and follow-up. This issue coincides with agenda item 1.15 of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), which is to study the possibility of allocating more spectrum for communications on board vessels in maritime mobile service, in the UHF frequency band;
- Continuation of work to revise ERC DEC (99) 01 on the harmonisation of material for the General Operator’s Certificate (GOC) and Restricted Operator’s Certificate (ROC) exams, resulting in a proposed questionnaire on the use of telex in narrow band direct printing (NBDP);
- A document was produced with results from the consultation of administrations regarding the licensing types for maritime mobile service stations in the VHF band within CEPT;
- Follow-up of ITU-R related issues in working group WP 5B, specifically concerning regulations for the automatic identification system for mobile services (AIS-MOB);
- Continuation of work on revising the report on current and future developments in maritime radiocommunications;
- The document produced with guidelines for CEPT country administrations concerning the implementation of training for the Short Range Certificate (SRC) will be submitted to WG FM and posted on the website of the European Communications Office (ECO);
- Follow-up of issues associated to the proposed directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning maritime equipment, which revokes Directive 96/98/EC, and the proposed Commission decision to continue/replace Decision 2004/71/EC concerning requisites for radio equipment in ships not covered by the SOLAS Convention in the GMDSS system.
