CIRCULAR LETTER
MSC/Circ.1024
GUIDELINES ON VOYAGE DATA RECORDERS (VDR) OWNERSHIP AND RECOVERY
(adopted
on 21 May 2002)
1.
The Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-fifth session (15 to 24 May
2002), adopted the annexed Guidelines on Voyage Data Reorders (VDR) Ownership
and Recovery which have been developed to support provisions of the revised
regulation V/15, as amended by resolution MSC.99(73), and, in particular, the
carriage requirements for voyage data recorders under revised regulation V/20,
which is to enter into force on 1 July 2002.
2.
These Guidelines reflect the five basic issues relevant to VDR ownership and
recovery which are ownership, custody, recovery, read-out and access to the VDR
information, as envisaged by the revised SOLAS chapter V.
3.
In view of the complexity of the matter, close co-ordination and co-operation
among interested parties, as appropriate, in any recovery operation of VDRs is
encouraged.
4.
Member Governments are invited to bring these Guidelines to the attention of
all parties concerned.
ANNEX.
GUIDELINES ON VOYAGE DATA RECORDERS (VDR) OWNERSHIP AND RECOVERY.
1.
The ship owner will, in all circumstances and at all times, own the VDR and its
information. However, in the event of an accident the following guidelines
would apply. The owner of the ship should make available and maintain all
decoding instructions necessary to recover the recorded information.
Recovery of VDR and relevant information.
2.
Recovery of the VDR is conditional on the accessibility of the VDR or the
information contained therein.
.1 Recovery of the VDR
information should be undertaken as soon as possible after an accident to best
preserve the relevant evidence for use by both the investigator* and the ship
owner. As the investigator is very unlikely to be in a position to instigate
this action soon enough after the accident, the owner must be responsible,
through its on-board standing orders, for ensuring the timely preservation of
this evidence.
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* The term investigator refers to the Marine
Casualty Investigator as per the terms of the Code for Investigation of Marine
Casualties and Incidents
.2 In the case of
abandonment of a vessel during an emergency, masters should, where time and
other responsibilities permit, take the necessary steps to preserve the VDR
information until it can be passed to the investigator.
.3 Where the VDR is
inaccessible and the information has not been retrieved prior to abandonment, a
decision will need to be taken by the Flag State in co-operation with any other
substantially interested States* on the viability and cost of recovering the
VDR balanced against the potential use of the information. If it is decided to
recover the VDR the investigator should be responsible for co-ordinating its
recovery. The possibility of the capsule having sustained damage must be
considered and specialist expertise will be required to ensure the best chance
of recovering and preserving the evidence. In addition the assistance and co-operation
of the owners, insurers and the manufacturers of the VDR and those of the
protective capsule may be required.
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* Refer to paragraph 4.11 of the Code for the
Investigation of Marine Casualties and Incidents, as adopted by resolution A.849(20).
3.
In all circumstances, during the course of an investigation, the investigator
should have custody of the original VDR information in the same way that the
investigator would have custody of other records or evidence under the Code for
the Investigation of Marine Casualties and Incidents.
4.
In all circumstances the investigator is responsible to arrange down loading
and read-out of the information and should keep the ship owner fully informed.
In some cases the assistance of specialist expertise may be required.