CL 37/2017

IHO File No. S3/8151/S-58 CIRCULAR LETTER 37/2017 22 May 2017 ADOPTION OF EDITION OF 6.0.0 OF IHO PUBLICATION S-58 - ENC VALIDATION CHECKS Reference: A. IHO CL 21/2017/Rev1 dated 15 February - Call for Approval of a New Edition of IHO Publication S-58 – ENC Validation Checks. Dear Hydrographer, 1. Reference A proposed the adoption of a new Edition 6.0.0 of IHO Publication S-58 - ENC Validation Checks - and the proposed entry into force of the new edition twelve months after its adoption by IHO Member States, as recommended by the IHO ENC Maintenance Working Group (ENCWG) and endorsed by the IHO Hydrographic Services and Standards Committee. 2. The Secretariat of the IHO thanks the 48 Member States who replied to Reference A: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States. 3. All responding Member States supported the adoption of the proposed new Edition of S-58. All Member States, except one, supported the proposed entry into force of the new edition twelve months after its adoption. Nine Member States offered comments in addition to their votes. Their comments and the outcome of their review by the Chair of the ENCWG are provided in Annex A to this Circular Letter. 4. When Reference A was issued there were 86 Member States of the IHO with three States suspended. In accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the IHO as amended, the minimum number of affirmative votes required was therefore 28. As a result, and taking into account the clarifications reported in Annex A, the proposed Edition 6.0.0 of S-58 has been adopted. Edition 6.0.0 of S-58 will enter into force on 01 June 2018, at which time Edition 5.0.0 will be retired. 5. The new Edition 6.0.0 (English version only) will be made available on the IHO website at: www.iho.int > Standards & Publications > S-58 as soon as possible. On behalf of the Secretary-General Yours sincerely, Gilles BESSERO Director Annex A: Member States’ responses to IHO CL 21/2017 and comments from the Chair of the ENCWG Copy: Chair, HSSC Chair, ENCWG Mapping our Seas, Oceans and Waterways - more important than ever  Annex A to IHO CL 37/2017 MEMBER STATES’ RESPONSES TO IHO CL 21/2017 AND COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR OF THE ENC MAINTENANCE WORKING GROUP (ENCWG) ADOPTION OF EDITION 6.0.0 OF IHO PUBLICATION S-58 - ENC VALIDATION CHECKS CANADA Vote = YES Canada supports the release of the new edition of S-58 and would like to acknowledge the hard work put forth to better the quality control checks which in turn will improve the quality of ENCs being published for navigation. DENMARK Vote = YES Denmark can approve the adoption of Edition 6.0.0 of S-58 subject to the changes indicated in the attached document which have been agreed by the S58 sub WG of the ENCWG. Comment from the Chair of the ENCWG: The referenced attachment is an amended version of S-58 Edition 6.0.0 as approved by the ENCWG at its 2nd meeting (March 2017) and further refined subsequently by correspondence. The clarifications applied were at the suggestion of software implementers. They relate to the use of the logical and spatial operators defined in section 1.4 of S-58 Edition 6.0.0. These clarifications result in an enhanced understanding by the software implementers of the S-58 tests and improved interpretation of the intent of the tests against the S-57 Standard. There has been no substantive change to the proposed Edition 6.0.0 of S-58 as presented through IHO CL 21/2017 and it is considered by the ENCWG and the software implementers that the clarifications will enhance the reports generated from ENC validation software. FINLAND Vote = YES Finland would like to point out, that the table at Test 1780 now allows value combinations that for example S-4 does not support. For example, in S-4 ‘hard’ (NATQUA 10) is a standalone expression and ‘fine’, ‘medium’ and ‘course’ (NATQUAs 1,2,3) are only used in relation to ‘sand’ (NATSUR 4). We would recommend re-checking the table content before publishing. Comment from the Chair of the ENCWG: Agreed. A review of the table associated with Test 1780 was conducted during the ENCWG2 meeting (March 2017), and the table has been amended to be consistent with S-4 and S-57 Appendix B.1, Annex A. FRANCE Vote = YES France fully agrees with the adoption of Edition 6.0.0 of S-58. A few changes have been discussed during last ENCWG2 meeting and were agreed by the entire Working Group. These changes should be taken into account for Edition 6.0.0. Comment from the Chair of the ENCWG: Agreed. See comment above against Denmark response. A-1 ITALY Vote = YES During the ENCWG2 meeting, held in Genoa last March, several amendments have been agreed by the Working Group and have been included in the document. Italy approves the adoption of Edition 6.0.0 of S-58 as amended by the ENCWG during the meeting. A copy of Edition 6.0.0, including the agreed changes, is attached to this voting form. Comment from the Chair of the ENCWG: Agreed. See comment above against Denmark response. MALAYSIA Vote = YES for the adoption of S-58 Ed 6.0.0 Vote = NO for the entry into force twelve months after adoption Appreciation for production of New Edition of IHO Publication S-58. Proposed date of entry into force: 1 January 2018. Comment from the Chair of the ENCWG: Comment noted. However there is an overwhelming majority in support of proposed adoption twelve months after publication. This time frame is principally intended to allow sufficient time for software developers to develop new versions of their software compliant with Edition 6.0.0 of S-58 and to allow ENC Producers sufficient time to evaluate their ENC portfolios against the minimum mandatory requirement for compliant ENCs (tests classified as “Critical” in Edition 6.0.0 of S-58). MEXICO Vote = YES Such edition is convenient to enable the staff producing the nautical charts to apply correctly the ENC validation software’s updates in order to continue producing nautical charts with the highest quality control. NORWAY Vote = YES Norway also strongly supports that the changes that have been worked on by correspondence after the ENCWG2 meeting are incorporated in the 6.0.0 Edition of S-58 before adoption and release. We hope that further delays in the adoption of this latest S-58 Edition can be avoided. See attached document for last version with changes incorporated until end of March 2017. Comment from the Chair of the ENCWG: Agreed. See comment above against Denmark response. PERU Vote = YES The changes to be made in the new edition of Publication S-58 - ENC Validation Checks, notably the paragraphs concerning the inclusion of a new term: “critical error” (in addition to the already existing terms: “cautions” and “errors”), will describe an error type in the ENC that, if not being solved, could affect the reading of the imported ENC in the navigation systems or, in the worst case, block the ECDIS. It is important to mention that this concept has already been included in the ENC validation software: dKART, helping in this way to improve the quality of our ENC products. A section providing new definitions and examples intended to align them with the ISO 19125-1:2004 standard also has been included. A-2 --- Dear Hydrographer, Please find attached herewith : CL 37/2017 : ADOPTION OF EDITION OF 6.0.0 OF IHO PUBLICATION S-58- ENC VALIDATION CHECKS Yours sincerely, IHO M.MOLLET