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Other coastal States situated in areas where piracy and armed robbery are taking place
.1 In order to be able to respond, as quickly as possible, to any
report from ships on piracy attacks, every piracy threat area should be adequately covered by coast (earth) stations which are continuously operational and which preferably are situated in the littoral State responsible for the area or in neighbouring States.
.2 Neighbouring countries having common borders in areas which can be
characterized as piracy threat areas, should establish co-operation agreements with respect to preventing and combating piracy and armed robbery. Such agreements should include the co-ordination of patrol activities in such areas.
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.6
Every country is recommended to ensure that each national RCC, which may be contacted by RCCs from other countries is capable at all times of communicating in English. Thus, at least one person with a satisfactory knowledge of the English language both written and spoken should always be on duty.
In order to minimize co-ordination problems and possible delays in cases when distress/safety messages related to a specific area is received by coast (earth) stations and RCCs in other countries, it is recommended to arrange common meetings/seminars for key personnel from both areas for the exchange of views and to establish suitable procedures and actions in different types of situations. Consideration should also be given to arranging common exercises to verify that procedures and actions are effective.
Subject to IMO approval, if an attack is reported in an area covered by NAVTEX transmissions, a piracy attack warning with category "Important" or "Vital", as appropriate, should be transmitted whenever such warnings can be transmitted sufficiently early to enable ships to take precautions appropriate to preventing attacks. If an attack is reported in an area which is not covered by NAVTEX transmissions, a piracy attack warning should be transmitted as an EGC SafetyNET message through the INMARSAT system.
In this respect, relevant authorities are recommended to make arrangements with one or more Coast Earth Station(s) covering relevant areas, So as to be registered as "information providers".
Those countries that have established, or which plan to establish, radar surveillance and/or VHF DF (direction finding) systems, are recommended to investigate the potential suitability of such facilities for anti-piracy purposes. If such facilities are judged to be suitable for such purposes, the facilities and procedures necessary for their rapid and efficient use should be established.
International Maritime Organization
.1
To further contribute to the prevention of piracy and armed robbery, consideration should be given to authorizing warnings of piracy attacks to be transmitted through the NAVTEX system with priority "Important" or "Vital", as appropriate, whenever such warnings
W/9181e
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