Tuesday 19 December 2023
Following public consultation earlier this year, a revised Marine Order 27 relating to navigation safety measures and equipment, radio equipment, and safety, urgency and distress communication will take effect on 1 January 2024.
We ran a public consultation to seek feedback on the proposed changes to Marine Order 27 between September and October 2023. We received four submissions, outlined in the consultation feedback report, along with our response.
The new marine order contains the following key changes:
- incorporating amendments to SOLAS Chapter IV ‘Radiocommunications’ from IMO Resolution MSC.496(105), noting there are no resulting changes to carriage requirements
- incorporating amendments to SOLAS Chapter V ‘Safety of Navigation’ from IMO Resolution MSC.496(105), noting there are no resulting changes to carriage requirements
- updating SOLAS requirements, including their application to regulated Australian vessels and foreign flagged vessels
- removing Schedule 2 IMO Resolutions
- minor updates to Schedule 3 GMDSS equipment for vessels to which Chapter IV of SOLAS does not apply
- removing Schedule 4 Station frequencies for GMDSS distress and safety communications
- including mandatory registration of EPIRBs on regulated Australian vessels (RAVs)
- including penalty units for turning off some equipment, including Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT)
- updating definitions, including EPIRB, qualified compass adjuster and NAVAREA X
- updating Division 4 to improve consistency with the Radio Regulations and remove duplication
- revision of formatting and terminology to reflect current drafting practice.
Read the new Marine Order 27.