per cent probability in conditions or still air on board a vessel having average background noise level at the listening posts (taken to be 68 dB in the octave band centred on 250 Hz and 63 dB in the octave band centred on 500 Hz).

In practice the range at which a whistle may be heard is extremely variable and depends critically on weather conditions; the values given can be regarded as typical but under conditions of strong wind or high ambient noise level at the listening post the range may be much reduced.

(d) Directional properties. The sound pressure level of a directional whistle shall be not more than 4 dB below the sound pressure level on the axis at any direction in the horizontal plane within ±45 degrees of the axis. The sound pressure level at any other direction in the horizontal plane shall be not more than 10 dB below the sound pressure level on the axis, so that the range in any direction will be at least half the range on the forward axis. The sound pressure level shall be measured in that 1/0d-octave band which determines the audibility range. (e) Positioning of whistles.—When a directional whistle is to be used as the only whistle on a vessel, it shall be installed with its maximum intensity directed straight ahead.

A whistle shall be placed as high as practicable on a vessel, in order to reduce interception of the emitted sound by obstructions and also to minimize hearing damage risk to personnel. The sound pressure level of the vessel's own signal at listening posts shall not exceed 110 dB (A) and so far as practicable should not exceed 100 dB (A).

(f) Fitting of more than one whistle.-If whistles are fitted at a distance apart of more than 100 metres, it shall be so arranged that they are not sounded simultaneously.

(g) Combined whistle systems.-If due to the presence of obstructions the sound field of a single whistle or of one of the whistles referred to in paragraph 1(f) above is likely to have a zone of greatly reduced signal level, it is recommended that a combined whistle system be fitted so as to overcome this reduction. For the purposes of the Rules a combined whistle system is to ge regarded as a single whistle. The whistles of a combined system shall be located at a distance apart of not more than 100 metres and arranged to be sounded simultaneously. The frequency of any one whistle shall differ from those of the others by at least 10 Hz.

2. Bell or gong

(a) Intensity of signal.-A bell or gong, or other device having similar sound characteristics shall produce a sound pressure level of not less than 110 dB at

1 metre.

(b) Construction.-Bells and gongs shall be made of corrosion-resistant material and designed to give a clear tone. The diameter of the mouth of the bell shall be not less than 300 mm for vessels of more than 20 metres in length, and shall be not less than 200 mm for vessels of 12 to 20 metres in length. Where practicable, a power-driven bell striker is recommended to ensure constant force but manual operation shall be possible. The mass of the striker shall be not less than 3 per cent of the mass of the bell.

3. Approval. The construction of sound signal appliances, their performance and their installation on board the vessel shall be to the satisfaction of the appropriate authority of the State where the vessel is registered.

ANNEX IV

DISTRESS SIGNALS

1. The following signals, used or exhibited either together or separately, indicate distress and need of assistance:

(a) a gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute; (b) a continuous sounding with any fog-signalling apparatus;

(c) rockets or shells, throwing red stars fired one at a time at short intervals; (d) a signal made by radiotelegraphy or by any other signalling method consisting of the group. (SOS) in the Morse Code;

(e) a singal sent by radiotelephony consisting of the spoken word "Mayday"; (f) the International Code Signal of distress indicated by N.C.;

(g) a signal consisting of a square flag having above or below it a ball or anything resembling a ball;

(h) flames on the vessel (as from a burning tar barrel, oil barrel, etc.)

(i) a rocket parachute flare or a hand flare showing a red light;

(j) a smoke signal giving off orange-coloured smoke;

(k) slowly and repeatedly raising and lowering arms outstretched to each side! (1) the radiotelegraph alarm signal;

(m) the radiotelephone alarm signal;

(n) signals transmitted by emergency position-indicting radio beacons.

2. The use or exhibition of any of the foregoing signals except for the purpose of indicating distress and need of assistance and the use of other signals which may be confused with any of the above signals is prohibited.

3. Attention is drawn to the relevant sections of the International Code of Signals, the Merchant Ship Search and Rescue Manual and the following signals: (a) a piece of orange-coloured canvas with either a black square and circle or other appropriate symbol (for indentification from the air);

(b) a dye marker.

THE CONFERENCE,

[ATTACHMENT 2]

RESOLUTION I

RECOGNIZING the need for participation by all Contracting Parties to the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, in the process of amending that Convention,

PARTICULARLY RECOGNIZING the need for participation in that process by Contracting Parties which are not Members of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization when consideration of amendments is undertaken by the Assembly of the Organization,

CONSIDERING that provision can be made by the Organization for such participation by States which are not Members of the Organization,

RESOLVES to recommend that the Assembly provide for participation with the right to vote by all Contracting Parties to the Convention including those which are not Members of the Organization whenever matters concerning amendment of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, are under consideration in the Assembly of the Organization.

MINDFUL of the need for early entry into force of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972.

RESOLVES to recommend that those States which contemplate becoming Parties to the Convention:

(1) deposit their instruments of ratification, approval, acceptance or accession at as early a date as possible;

(2) if they have not deposited such instruments before 31 December 1973, give the Secretary-General of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization by not later than that date an indication of the period within which they expect to be able to do so.

[H.R. 186, 95th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To implement the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "International Navigational Rules Act of 1977".

SEC. 2. For the purposes of this Act

(1) "vessel" means every description of watercraft, including nondisplacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water; and

(2) "high seas" means all parts of the sea that are not included in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of any nation.

SEC. 3. (a) The President is authorized to proclaim the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the "International Regulations"). The effective date of the International Regulations for the United States shall be specified in the proclamation and shall be the date as near as possible to, but no earlier than, the date on which the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), signed at London, England, under date of October 20, 1972, enters into force for the United States. The International Regula

tions proclaimed shall consist of the rules and other annexes attached to the Convention.

(b) The proclamation shall include the International Regulations and shall be published in the Federal Register. On the date specified in the proclamation, the International Regulations shall enter into force for the United States and shall have effect as if enacted by statute.

(c) Subject to the provisions of subsection (d) hereof, the President is also authorized to proclaim any amendment to the International Regulations hereafter adopted in accordance with the provisions of article VI of the Convention, and to which the United States does not object. The effective date of the amendment shall be specified in the proclamation and shall be in accordance with the provisions of the said article VI. The proclamation shall include the adopted amendment and shall be published in the Federal Register. On the date specified in the proclamation, the amendment shall enter into force for the United States as a constituent part of the International Regulations, as amended, and shall have effect as if enacted by statute.

(d) (1) Upon receiving a proposed amendment to the International Regulations, communicated to the United States pursuant to clause 3 of article VI of the Convention, the President shall promptly notify the Congress of the proposed amendment. If, within sixty days after receipt of such notification by the Congress, or ten days prior to the date under clause 4 of article VI for registering an objection, whichever comes first, the Congress adopts a resolution of disapproval, such resolution shall be transmitted to the President and shall constitute an objection by the United States to the proposed amendment. If, upon receiving notification of the resolution of disapproval, the President has not already notified the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization of an objection to the United States to the proposed amendment, he shall promptly do so.

(2) For the purposes of this subsection, "resolution of disapproval" means a concurrent resolution initiated by either House of the Congress, the matter after the resolving clause of which is to read as follows: "That the (the concurring) does not favor the proposed amendment to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, relating to and forwarded to the Congress by the President on

" the first

blank space therein to be filled with the name of the resolving House, the second blank space therein to be filled with the name of the concurring House, the third blank space therein to be filled with the subject matter of the proposed amendment, and the fourth blank space therein to be filled with the day, month, and

year.

(3) Any proposed amendment transmitted to the Congress by the President and any resolution of disapproval pertaining thereto shall be referred, in the House of Representatives, to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and shall be referred, in the Senate, to the Committee on Commerce.

SEC. 4. Except as provided in section 5 and subject to the provisions of section 6, the International Regulations, as proclaimed under section 3, shall be applicable to, and shall be complied with by

(1) all vessels, public and private, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, while upon the high seas or in waters connected therewith navigable by seagoing vessels, and

(2) all other vessles when on waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

SEC. 5. (a) The International Regulations shall not be applicable to vessels while

(1) in the harbors, rivers, and other inland waters of the United States, as defined In section 1 of the Act of June 7, 1897 (30 Stat. 96), as amended (33 U.S.C. 154),

(2) in the Great Lakes of North America and their connecting and tributary waters, as defined in section 1 of the Act of February 8, 1895 (28 Stat. 645), as amended (33 U.S.C. 241), nor while

(3) in the Red River of the North and rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico and their tributaries, as defined in section 4233 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (33 U.S.C. 301).

(b) Whenever a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States is in the territorial waters of a foreign state the International Regulations shall be applicable to, and shall be complied with by, that vessel to the extent that the laws and regulations of the foreign state are not in conflict therewith.

SEC. 6. (a) Any requirement of the International Regulations with respect to the number, position, range, or arc of visibility of lights, with respect to shapes, or with respect to the disposition and characteristics of sound-signaling appliances, shall not be applicable to a vessel of special construction or purpose, whenever the Secretary of the Navy, for any vessel of the Navy, or the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, for any other vessel of the United States, shall certify that the vessel cannot comply fully with that requirement without interfering with the special function of the vessel.

(b) Whenever a certification is issued under the authority of subsection (a) hereof, the vessel involved shall comply with the requirement as to which the certification is made to the extent that the Secretary issuing the certification shall certify as the closest possible compliance by that vessel.

(c) Notice of the certifications issued pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) hereof shall be published in the Federal Register.

SEC. 7. (a) The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to promulgate special rules with respect to additional station or signal lights or whistle signals for ships of war or vessels proceeding under convoy, and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating is authorized to promulgate special rules with respect to additional station or signal lights for fishing vessels engaged in fishing as a fleet.

(b) The additional station or signal lights or whistle signals contained in the special rules authorized under subsection (a) hereof shall be, as far as possible, such that they cannot be mistaken for any light or signal authorized by the International Regulations. Notice of such special rules shall be published in the Federal Register and, after the effective date specified in such notice, they shall have effect as if they were a part of the International Regulations.

SEC. 8. The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating is authorized to promulgate such reasonable rules and regulations as are necessary to implement the provisions of this Act and the International Regulations proclaimed hereunder.

SEC. 9. (a) Whoever operates a vessel, subject to the provisions of this Act, in violation of this Act or of any regulation promulgated pursuant to section 8, shall be liable to a civil penalty of not more than $500 for each such violation.

(b) Every vessel subject to the provisions of this Act, other than a public vessel being used for noncommercial purposes, which is operated in violation of this Act or of any regulation promulgated pursuant to section 8, shall be liable to a civil penalty of $500 for each such violation, for which penalty the vessel may be seized and proceeded against in the district court of the United States of any district within which such vessel may be found.

(c) The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating may assess any civil penalty authorized by this section. No such penalty may be assessed until the person charged, or the owner of the vessel charged, as appropriate, shall have been given notice of the violation involved and an opportunity for a hearing. For good cause shown, the Secretary may remit, mitigate, or compromise any penalty assessed. Upon the failure of the person charged, or the owner of the vessel charged, to pay an assessed penalty, as it may have been mitigated or compromised, the Secretary may request the Attorney General to commence an action in the appropriate district court of the United States for collection of the penalty as assessed, without regard to the amount involved, together with such other relief as may be appropriate.

SEC. 10. Public Law 88-131 (77 Stat. 195) is repealed, effective on the date on which the International Regulations enter into force for the United States. The reference in any other law to Public Law 88-131, or to the regulations set forth in section 4 of that Act, shall be considered a reference, respectively, to the Act, or to the International Regulations proclaimed hereunder.

[Executive Communication No. 482]

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION,

Hon. THOMAS P. O'NEILL, Jr.,

Speaker of the House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., January 19, 1977.

DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a proposed bill "To implement Article VI of the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions At Sea, 1972."

After the second session of the 94th Congress adjourned, the President vetoed H.R. 5446, a bill to implement the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972. The bill would have repealed the 1960 statutory International Regulations, provided for a $500 penalty for violation of the 1972 International Regulations, and required the executive branch to publish the International Regulations and to certify exemptions to certain technical requirements of the Regulations. In his veto message the President noted the need for the United States to implement the Convention before it enters into force on July 15, 1977.

The Senate gave its advice and consent to the Convention on October 28, 1975. An instrument of accession on behalf of the United States was deposited with the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (ÎMCO) on November 23, 1976. By virtue of the supremacy clause of the Constitution, the Convention and the attached International Regulations will supersede the existing statutory regulations (33 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) on the effective date of the Convention.

During consideration of H.R. 5446, Congress indicated that Congressional oversight of future amendments to the International Regulations should be required. The President vetoed H.R. 5446 because he considered the method of oversight, a one-house veto of proposed amendments by a simple resolution, to be unconstitutional. The enclosed legislation proposes that Congress maintain an oversight function by use of a joint resolution of disapproval rather than by a simple resolution. There are no constitutional objections to this procedure, and it has been utilized in other areas.

The proposed legislation establishes the requirement that the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating publish in the Federal Register any amendment to 1972 International Regulations adopted in accordance with Article VI of the Convention, and clarifies the authority of the Secretary to issue implementing regulations.

Although the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 supersedes the existing statutory 1960 International Regulations it does not repeal them. Section 5 of the bill repeals the 1960 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea to avoid any possibility of confusion.

Penalty provisions have not been included in this bill because the maximum $500 penalty approved by both Houses in H.R. 5446 is relatively ineffective when compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage that may result from a collision. At such time as the Administration proposes revisions to the statutes governing navigation on the internal waters of the United States, a uniform penalty provision will be included.

This legislation has no inflationary impact.

It is recommended that the proposed legislation be enacted by Congress. The Office of Management and Budget has advised that enactment of this proposal would be in accord with the Administration's objectives.

Sincerely,

[The draft bill became H.R. 186.]

WILLIAM T. COLEMAN, Jr.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

Washington, D.C., June 23, 1977.

Hon. JOHN M. MURPHY,

Chairman, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for the views of the Department of Justice on H.R. 186, a bill “To implement the Convention of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972."

H.R. 186 would implement the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, whien was designed to bring what is commonly called the International Rules of the Nautical Road up to date with modern maritime practice and technology.

Section 3(e) of the bill would authorize the President to proclaim any amendment to the International Regulations hereafter adopted in accordance with the provisions of Article VI of the Convention, and to which the United States does hot object. Such proclamation, after due time, would make the amendment constitute a part of the international Regulations and shall have the same effect as if enacted by statute. However, Section 3(e) is made subject to Section 3(d) of the bill, which section authorizes the Congress by concurrent resolution to pre