ANACOM took part in various meeting recently organised by the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO), namely last 8 September, to prepare for the SES Conference (International Conference on Contracting Parties to the International Agreement on the Use of INMARSAT Ship Earth Stations Within the Territorial Sea and Ports) scheduled for this coming 9 November, but which may have to be postponed to early 2021.
Due to constraints associated to the pandemic situation and the fact that IMSO is based at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), where it holds its meetings, with the logistics coordinated by that organisation, IMSO Director-General Moin Ahmed of Bangladesh proposed the date of 12-13 November for holding the SES Conference. However, many international meetings are also held at that time of the year, which may make it hard for many delegates to attend. He is therefore considering postponement of the conference until next year and has consulted the parties before coordinating with the IMO.
In Portugal, preparations for the SES conference must be coordinated between ANACOM and the Foreign Ministry. What’s at stake is the revision or termination of that international agreement, which does not, however, contain provisions for its revision or termination. At the regional (Europe and Africa) preparatory meeting held last 8 September, the parties, among them Portugal, asked the director-general for legal support and he considered recourse to support outside the organisation.
The 26th Assembly, scheduled for November, was postponed to 17-18 December. The first part will be held by videoconference and focus on issues requiring immediate attention. The second part of the 26th Assembly will be held in early 2021, on a date still to be determined. The meeting of the IMSO Advisory Committee, in which ANACOM does not participate, was also postponed. Its 45th meeting, scheduled for last 11-12 May, had been postponed to an undetermined date due to the public health situation.
ANACOM has been coordinating its IMSO work with the London embassy, Portugal’s national representative at the IMO. ANACOM thus also participated by videoconference, along with the embassy, in the 16 July quarterly briefing organised by the Directorate. At that information session the director-general reported on developments concerning the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), especially preparations for the entry of the new GMDSS operator Iridium, and on the Long Range Identification and Tracking of Ships (LRIT) system developed by the IMO to boost maritime transport safety.
The Directorate reported that it had conducted an online course on LRIT, addressed to the states and divided into four sessions. It also reported that last 2 July it signed an agreement with the China Transport Telecommunication and Information Group Co. (CTTIC), the aim being to conduct a technical and operational assessment of the BeiDouMessage Service System (BDMSS). BeiDou is the Chinese global satellite positioning system.
