Is there a mandatory requirement to carry ECDIS?
In December 2006 the Marine Safety Committee (MSC) of IMO agreed amendments to the High Speed Craft (HSC) regulations requiring all HSC craft built after 2008 to be fitted with ECDIS and existing HSC to be retrofitted by 2010. At the same meeting MSC also accepted the findings of a Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) on ECDIS presented by Norway and other nations showing the positive benefit of fitting ECDIS. As a result of this study MSC has instructed the NAV sub-committee to discuss the extension of mandatory carriage of ECDIS to other classes of vessel and to report back to them in 2008.
