The Netherlands Ministry of Economical and Climate Affairs, has proposed a change in the legislation of frequency space with notification obligation.
The new law stipulates that in order to apply or maintain a ship station licence a vessel has to be:
- registered in the ships registrar of the Netherlands, which is managed by the Kadaster (OR)
- owned by a resident of the Netherlands (OR)
- owned by a company registered in the Netherlands (OR)
- owned by a Netherlands passport holder
As soon as the law is approved by parliament and published, the governing agency Agent Telecom will give licence holders that do not meet the above criteria, no more than 12 months to either cancel the ship station licence or register the vessel in the ships registrar of the Netherlands.
For the year 2019 ship station licence holders that do not meet the criteria have nothing to worry about as the MMSI, ATIS and CallSign will remain active.
Before the end of 2019, we strongly advise that one either registers their boat in the ships registrar of the Netherlands, in case one wants to keep the Dutch ship station licence, or register in a ships registrar of an another country, and apply for a new ships station licence.
Why the changes?
The reason The Netherlands Ministry of Economical and Climate Affairs proposed an amendment of legislation was because a many Dutch MMSI, ATIS and Callsign numbers were being issued to vessels that were not even registered in the Netherlands. Boats sailing under foreign flags and not registered in the formal ships registrar managed by the Kadaster, nor in the informal registrar managed by the Watersportverbond or the KNMC, were using Dutch ship station licences.
What about ICP holders?
Boats owners with a valid ICP issued by either the Watersportverbond or the KNMC can no longer make use of the ship station licence as issued by Agentschap Telecom. They are best advised to either register their vessel in the ship registrar of the Netherlands, or in an other country and apply for a new ship station licence.