FCC Updates Maritime Emergency Communications Requirements

The FCC amended its rules to retain radiotelephone requirements for vessels subject to the recently expired Great Lakes Agreement (GLA) with Canada, effective immediately, per a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. The GLA established requirements on the usage and maintenance of VHF communications equipment for safety purposes aboard all vessels 65 feet or over in length, most towing vessels and vessels carrying more than six passengers for hire on the Great Lakes. The FCC incorporated the requirements into its rules. Following consultation with the U.S. Coast Guard, the FCC also modified the rules to require inspections every 48 months, rather than the 13 months previously required. “Ensuring the availability of critical maritime communications has been one of the Commission’s fundamental obligations since the earliest days of the Communications Act,” the notice said: “Similar to the terrestrial emergency 911 system, the maritime services provide for the unique distress, as well as the operational and personal communications, needs of vessels at sea and on inland waterways.”