HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 33/1

Adopted 6 March 2012
having regard to Article 20, Paragraph 1 b)
of the Helsinki Convention

UNIFIED INTERPRETATION IN RELATION TO ACCESS TO AND USE OF HELCOM AIS

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING the HELCOM Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting in Copenhagen on 10 September 2001 which decided to establish a Working Group with the purpose of facilitating mutual exchange and deliveries of AIS-data, including the construction of the monitoring system for the maritime traffic in the Baltic Sea Area,

RECALLING FURTHER Regulation 9 of Annex IV to the Helsinki Convention on the use of Automatic Identification System,

ACKNOWLEDGING the successful establishment of the HELCOM Automatic Identification System as regulated by the HELCOM Agreement on Access to AIS Information, and its contribution to the improved safety of navigation and protection of the marine environment in the Baltic Sea area,

APPRECIATING the cooperation among the Baltic Sea countries as well as Norway in maintaining and further developing the HELCOM AIS, taking place within the HELCOM Expert Working Group for Mutual Exchange and Deliveries of AIS data,

HAVING IN MIND the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, adopted by the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting on 15 November 2007, and the agreement included therein to amend the HELCOM Agreement on Access to AIS Information by 2008 taking into account the proposal elaborated by the 16^th Meeting of the HELCOM Expert Working Group for Mutual Exchange and Deliveries of AIS data (HELCOM AIS EWG 16/2007),

OBSERVING the growing interest to use HELCOM AIS data, both within the Baltic Sea countries and Norway as well as in other geographical regions,

RECOGNIZING the need for common interpretation regarding the use of and access to HELCOM AIS, in light of new services that have been made available to the AIS users, including web based historical data extract, web based real-time AIS display and real-time AIS data exchange,

RECOMMENDS the Governments of the Contracting States as well as Norway to apply the attached Guidelines on unified interpretation in relation to access to and use of HELCOM AIS,

REQUESTS the AIS Expert Working Group to regularly evaluate the implementation of this Recommendation and amend the attached Guidelines as need be.

Attachment

Guidelines on unified interpretation in relation to access to and use of HELCOM AIS

Definitions

The definitions used by IALA and IMO are used in this document.

Objective

This Recommendation provides for exchange of AIS-data free of charge between the countries in accordance with the HELCOM Copenhagen Declaration adopted on 10 September 2001 in Copenhagen. It also provides for the distribution and use of the AIS-data received from the Participating parties (HELCOM Contracting States and Norway) with a general aim of enhancing the maritime safety and protection of the Baltic Sea environment as provided for in the Helsinki Convention. Additionally, the Recommendation includes a procedure to deal with all other interests in use of these HELCOM AIS data.

Access to information

Each Participating party shall make AIS-data available for access according to the method decided by the AIS Expert Working Group via Internet as outlined in Appendix 2.

AIS-data from all SOLAS ships carrying AIS as mandatory equipment shall be made available. AIS-data for other domestic ships is recommended to filter so other countries do not see them. Ships involved in operations mentioned in Appendix 1 should preferably not be filtered.

Distribution and use of real-time, historical and statistical HELCOM AIS data

Each Participating party must restrict the distribution of received HELCOM AIS-data to the users and uses as expressed in Appendix 1.

Each Participating party is responsible for the use of distributed HELCOM AIS-data and must take appropriate actions to ensure that the recipients do not redistribute HELCOM AIS-data and that HELCOM AIS-data are only used for purposes listed in Appendix 1.

Any Participating party may, however, distribute data to a third person in the event that the participating nation is obliged by law to disclose information according to principles of public access to official records.

In order to deal with interests in distribution and use of HELCOM AIS data beyond the uses and/or users stipulated in Appendix 1, the following procedure shall be applied:

1. The HELCOM Secretariat will act as a contact point for receiving applications for granting access to and use of HELCOM AIS data.

2. The Secretariat will verify the information contained in an application for access to HELCOM AIS data.

3. The Secretariat will dispatch via facsimile and e-mail the verified application to all Participating Parties represented by the Heads of Delegation to HELCOM and contact persons for HELCOM Agreement on Access to AIS Information and the Norwegian Coastal Administration.

4. The decision by the Heads of Delegation to HELCOM and the Norwegian Coastal Administration on granting access to HELCOM AIS data or refraining from doing so will be communicated to the HELCOM Secretariat in writing.

5. Access to HELCOM AIS data will be granted only if such access is approved by all the Participating Parties.

6. The Participating Parties should consider the application and communicate the decision made to the HELCOM Secretariat within 30 days after the dispatch of the request to the Participating Parties. The HELCOM Secretariat should inform the applicant about the decision made within a fortnight.

7. A standard agreement on the use of HELCOM AIS data, providing for possible restrictions in access to HELCOM AIS data, will be signed between the applicant and HELCOM. The standard agreement is provided in Appendix 3.

8. The Danish Maritime Authority will be informed about the decision by the Participating Parties in order to implement within a reasonable timeframe the required technical solution needed for submitting the requested HELCOM AIS data to the applicant.

Information concerning private persons

When AIS-data contain information concerning private persons the Participating parties undertake to ensure protection of the privacy of these persons in accordance with the Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (for EU countries) and also to other international, European Community and national law and regulations as applicable.

No warranties

The transmitting or sending party makes no express or implied warranty as to any matter whatsoever, including the availability, accuracy, or reliability of any information or data, whether tangible or intangible, made, developed or supplied under this Recommendation, or the ownership, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose of the information, of the data made, developed or supplied.

Force Majeure

Neither Participating party shall be liable for any unforeseeable event beyond its reasonable control not caused by the fault or negligence of such party, which causes such party to be unable to perform its obligations under the Agreement on Access to AIS Information, including, but not limited to, flood, drought, earthquake, storm fire, pestilence, lightning and other natural catastrophes, epidemic, war, riot, civic disturbance or disobedience, strikes, labour dispute, or failure, threat or failure, or sabotage, or any order or injunction made by a court or public agency. In the event of the occurrence of such a Force Majeure event, the party unable to perform shall promptly notify the other party. It shall further use its best efforts to resume performance as quickly as possible and shall suspend performance only for such period of time as is necessary as a result of the Force Majeure event.

Contact persons

A list of names and contact details for contact persons will be kept and updated by the HELCOM Secretariat.

Termination of access to AIS-data

Any failure to comply with this Recommendation gives the sending or transmitting party right to terminate access to AIS-data for as long as the receiving party is not complying with the Recommendation.