Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Maritime Administrator (the "Administrator") has issued a Ship Security Advisory No. #01-17, ADVANCE NOTICE OF POLICY CHANGE – HANDLING OF SHIP SECURITY ALERT SYSTEM TRANSMISSIONS as attached.
Outlines are as follows. Please note the Policy Change effective 1st April 2017.

1. From 1st April 2017, RMI Administrator will no longer receive Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) alerts directly from any vessel. The SSAS alerts including test messages must be received by the Company (Company Security Officer (CSO) or Alternate Company Security Officer (ACSO)) or a Company-designated qualified third party and only real SSAS alerts must be transferred to the RMI Duty Officer by the Company.
2. The Company must ensure that the SSAS unit is reprogrammed so that alerts are only transmitted to CSO or ACSO or the Company-designated qualified third party (the Company-designated Competent Authority) and the Administrator's email address ("Y6Z…@register-iri.com") must be removed from the unit’s program settings.
3. It is recommended that a radio service technician is contacted so that reprogramming of the SSAS unit can be scheduled at a convenient time, possibly along with the other routine service, rather than waiting until 1st April 2017, the date for this policy change.
4. Revisions to the Ship's Security Plan (SSP) should be made as may be required. Any changes to the SSP resulting from this change in policy will not require special approval by Recognized Security Organization (RSO)*.

* ClassNK deals with these revisions as Minor Amendments for which approval is not required but to be recorded in the revision history. Please apply for the confirmation to your convenient ClassNK office nearby, if you amend the SSP.

(To be continued)