These performance standards were made mandatory by direct reference in SOLAS V/18.4. In trying to combat this growing phenomenon, the IMO has adopted performance standards for ECDIS systems, most recently through Resolution MSC.232(82) from 2006. As learned from several surveys which are referred to later in this work, there could be many different types of errors, each with a different degree of seriousness – for instance, newer features like Particularly Sensitive Areas (PSSA) and Archipelagic Sea Lanes (ASL) may not be displayed at all by ECDIS machines running older application software. However, the authority of this strict interpretation is quickly eroded when the following aspect is taken into account: if the ECDIS machine is running an older application software, the up-to-date ENC’s may be displayed with errors. A strict interpretation of this provision would be that only the ENC’s themselves have to be updated – an action which is similar with the replacement of paper charts with up-to-date ones.
The following is a condensed exposé of the legal dispute: SOLAS Chapter V/27 establishes that ‘nautical charts shall be adequate and up to date’, but gives no further details as to what ‘up-to-date’ means for ENC’s and for paper charts.
ECDIS SOFTWARE FULL VERSION UPDATE
The legal dispute is whether there exists a legal obligation to update the ECDIS application software for vessels relying on ECDIS as the primary means of navigation. Updating the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) data rendering software: a mandatory requirement under the lex lata?.