TNAG-2897-FCO40-4171-Hong-Kong-piracy-in-the-South-China-Sea-1993 — Page 82

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can be transmitted sufficiently early to enable ships to take precautions appropriate to preventing attacks. Consideration should · also be given to defining a new "subject indicator" for "Piracy warning messages", to be included in the preamble of such messages (i.e. the "B2-character").

In order to minimize potential problems of delays and misunderstandings in distress and safety situations involving RCCs from different countries, consideration should be given to amending the SAR Convention (1979) so as to include the following requirement: "Every national RCC, which may be contacted by RCCs from other countries, shall ensure that at all times at least one person with a satisfactory knowledge of the English language, both written and spoken, is on duty".

Taking into account that some countries do not have their RCCs continuously operational, consideration should be given to amending MSC/Circ.597 so as to allow for the possibility of using coast stations as an alternative to using RCCs as the "point of contact" in cases of piracy attacks.