Resolution A.958(23)

PROVISION OF HYDROGRAPHIC SERVICES

(adopted on 5 December 2003)

THE ASSEMBLY,

RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations concerning maritime safety and marine pollution from ships,

RECALLING FURTHER resolution A.706(17), as amended by which it adopted the World-Wide Navigational Warning Service,

BEARING IN MIND the provisions of regulations 2, 9, 13, 19, 27, 31 and 34 of the revised chapter V of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, which entered into force on 1 July 2002,

BEARING IN MIND ALSO the provisions of regulation 9 of the revised SOLAS chapter V, under which Contracting Governments undertake to arrange for the collection and compilation of hydrographic data and the publication, dissemination and keeping up to date of all nautical information necessary for safe navigation,

RECALLING ALSO that by its Resolution 53/32, the United Nations General Assembly (1998) invited States to provide Hydrographic Services needed for the safety at sea and the protection of the marine environment,

FURTHER RECALLING that by its resolution 5 the International Conference on Marine Pollution, 1973, recommended that the Organization continue its work on the development of measures for the minimization of accidental spillages,

RECALLING FINALLY resolution A.532(13) on collecting and Forwarding of Hydrographic Data,

RECOGNIZING the close relationship between the safety of navigation and the prevention of pollution from ships,

NOTING that the collection and dissemination of accurate and up-to-date hydrographic information is vital to safe navigation,

APPRECIATING that in many parts of the world, waters used by international shipping have not yet been surveyed to modern