The 18th meeting of the Maritime Forum Group of the Frequency Management working group (WG FM) was held last 26-28 January at the offices of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, chaired by Jaap Steenge of the Netherlands.
The Maritime Forum Group’s activity mainly covers issues concerning the service environment.
Various issues were considered at this work meeting, of which the following stand out:
- Drafting of a proposal to forward to WG FM with a view to cancelling the decision concerning ERC/DEC/(99)17 on automatic vessel identification systems;
- Monitoring of matters associated to the International Maritime Organisation, specifically preparation of the third meeting of the sub-committee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue scheduled for March 2016 in London;
- Maritime radiocommunication and cyber-security, possible affected areas in the scope of maritime communications;
- In the context of the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) results were evaluated along with their impact on maritime radiocommunication. The agenda for the next conference (WRC-19) was also evaluated, focusing especially on items associated to maritime radiocommunication;
- Drafting of a proposed questionnaire to forward to WG FM to gather information from administrations about the implementation status of Decision ERC DEC(99)01, on harmonisation of material for the general operator’s certificate and restricted operator’s certificate exams, revised on 3 July 2015.
