1st Meeting of the Working Group to Support the Establishment of the SIOFA VMS (VMSWG01)

At the 10th Meeting of the Parties (MoP10), following the adoption of the CMM 16(2023) for the establishment of a SIOFA Vessel Monitoring System (SIOFA VMS), the MoP also endorsed a recommendation for the establishment of an intersessional working group to develop detailed Standards, Specifications and Procedures (SSPs) (VMSWG) for data formats and transmission, data confidentiality and security requirements, noting the agreement of MoP8 to hold an intersessional working process among interested CCPs for further discussions of the technical details of the proposed VMS.

The main responsibilities of the SIOFA VMS WG shall be as follows:

• Definition of the SSPs for the SIOFA VMS.
• Definition of the Data format and standards for transmission of VMS position.
• Definition of the Data confidentiality and security requirements, including any legal, physical and procedural safeguards to be considered, including implications on, and proposed changes to the CMM 02 (2023) on Data Standards and CMM 03 (2016) on Data Confidentiality.
• Discussion on the term ‘unique vessel identifier’ in paragraph 1 of the CMM.