RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Committee,
RECALLING ALSO that, at its eighty-seventh session, it had
approved resolution MSC.298(87) on
Establishment of a distribution facility for the provision of LRIT
information to security forces operating in waters of the Gulf of
Aden and the western Indian Ocean to aid their work in the repression
of piracy and armed robbery against ships (the distribution facility),
NOTING that the Secretariat had established a distribution
facility at IMO Headquarters and that a number of naval forces engaged
in operations against the perpetrators in waters of the Gulf of Aden
and the western Indian Ocean (the area) had advised that the use of
the distribution facility had proven to be efficient and was providing
security forces with a holistic picture of the ships operating in
the area, enabling them to more effectively and efficiently deploy
the limited available naval and military assets and enhancing the
protection they offered to shipping and mariners transiting the area,
NOTING ALSO that, at its eighty-ninth session, it had agreed
that the addition of polling functionalities to the distribution facility
should be implemented as an "opt-in" arrangement in the LRIT system
where each flag State would have the ability to determine which security
force, if any, would be entitled to transmit polling request messages
to any of their own ships,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its ninetieth session, a technical
solution for adding polling functionalities to the distribution facility,
1 AGREES that the addition of polling functionalities
to the distribution facility will allow security forces to more accurately
identify the current position of ships approaching areas of high risk
of piracy attack;
2 AGREES ALSO to the implementation of the above
polling functionality as an "opt-in" arrangement where the participation
of flag States will be completely voluntary and each flag State will
have the ability to determine which security force, if any, will be
authorized to poll the position of any of their own ships that might
be approaching areas of high risk of piracy attack;
3 ADOPTS amendments to resolution
MSC.298(87) on Establishment of a distribution facility, the
contents of which are set out in the annex to the present resolution;
4 INSTRUCTS the Secretariat to implement and test
the above functionalities in the distribution facility, taking into
account the relevant decisions of the Committee, and to amend the
Web interface of the LRIT Data Distribution Plan so as to allow SOLAS
Contracting Governments to decide which security force(s), if any,
would be authorized to transmit polling request messages to any of
their own ships;
5 ENCOURAGES SOLAS Contracting Governments to
consider, in case they have not done so, providing flag State LRIT
information to security forces operating in the area and allowing
them to transmit polling request messages to ships flying their flag
when approaching areas of high risk of piracy attack;
6 INVITES the Secretary-General to issue a circular
letter advising all SOLAS Contracting Governments on the availability
of the above functionality within the distribution facility and describing
the "opt-in" process.