The 10th meeting of the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO) Advisory Committee took place in London from 28 February to 1 March.
The main goal of this meeting was to prepare a draft Public Service Agreement Model to be signed by IMSO and future providers of satellite services under the global maritime distress and safety system (GMDSS), authorised to that end by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
At present such services are exclusively provided by Inmarsat; fulfilment of that obligation is supervised by IMSO based on a Public Service Agreement signed by both. This mechanism resulted from the process of reorganising Inmarsat as an intergovernmental body and which culminated with its privatisation, with IMSO assuring the residual intergovernmental component.
As initiatives are under way in the IMO aiming to open the provision of GMDSS services to other providers, IMSO has also launched a process to expand to the new providers the conditions currently in effect for Inmarsat. To that end it is vital to develop an agreement type for later establishment by IMSO and each of the new providers. The result of the Advisory Committee’s work will be subsequently submitted to the Assembly for approval, together with amendments to the IMSO convention reflecting the expansion of its duties to control the new GMDSS providers.
At this meeting the Committee did not finish elaborating the Public Service Agreement Model and will continue debate on same at its next meeting, which should take place at the end of May.
Portugal, which is only an observer on the Committee, was represented at this meeting by the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) and participated by means of audio-conference.
