Panama Marine Authority has given notice to ClassNK of the following matters by Merchant Marine Circulars as summarized below.

1. Annual Test of AIS
As from 1 June 2008, IMO MSC.1/Circ.1252 "Guidelines on Annual Testing of the Automatic Identification System(AIS)" is applied to Panamanian flag ships.
At periodical SE surveys on or after 1 June 2008, ClassNK confirms completion of an annual test of AIS by an "AIS Test Report".
Panamanian flag ships are requested:
- to carry out annual test of AIS in accordance with the Guidelines by a qualified radio inspector of an approved radio firm, and
- to retain the "AIS Test Report" issued by the radio firm on board the ship.
For further details, please refer to Merchant Marine Circular No. 155 attached.

2. Registration of EPIRB ID
SOLAS Reg.IV/5-1 defines that each contracting government undertakes to register GMDSS IDs so as to make information on these IDs available to rescue co-ordination centres on a 24-hour basis.
In this connection, the Panama Marine Authority requests owners and operators of Panamanian flag ships to register EPIRB IDs of their Panamanian flag ships in the Cospas-Sarsat* International Registration Database. The Database is available on URL:
https://www.406registration.com/
For further details, please refer to Merchant Marine Circular No. 158 attached.
* Cospas-Sarsat : International organization managing and operating satellite systems for Sat-EPIRBs.

3. Annual Performance Test of VDR/S-VDR
Annual performance test of VDR/S-VDR is defined in regulation V/18.8 of SOLAS Convention as amended and has been carried out in accordance with the regulation.
The Panama Marine Authority announced that IMO MSC.1/Circ.1222 "Guidelines on Annual Testing of Voyage Data Recorders (VDR) and Simplified Voyage Data Recorders (S-VDR)" was applied to Panamanian flag ships.
Hereafter, at periodical SE surveys, ClassNK confirms completion of an annual performance test of VDR/S-VDR by a "Test Report"* is