811.801 Wireless/87
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
His Majesty’s Embassy have had under consideration Senate Bill No. 4619 introduced by Mr. Copeland on the 12th May1 for the purpose of amending the Communications Act of 1934.2 While the requirements of this Bill follow generally those of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1929,3 and are thus substantially in accord with those of the British Merchant Shipping Acts, the Embassy desire to point out that, while the Rules made under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1919 and 1932, require that cargo vessels of between 1,600 and 5,500 tons gross shall carry one operator, Mr. Copeland’s Bill proposes that such vessels should carry either two operators or one operator and an automatic alarm apparatus.
The Embassy would further draw the attention of the Department of State to the fact that the exemption in favour of foreign ships contained in Section 353 (c) applies only to the technical requirements of Section 355, whereas it is desirable that the existing position should be maintained, viz: that certificates issued in the United Kingdom attesting compliance with the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1929, as to wireless should continue to be accepted in United States ports as covering all the requirements of United States law regarding the wireless installation and personnel to be carried on ships and that the acceptance of these certificates should not be confined merely to the technical requirements of Section 355.
- See Congressional Record, vol. 80, pt. 7, p. 7040; for text of bill No. 4619, see ibid., pt. 8, p. 8435.↩
- Approved June 19, 1934; 48 Stat. 1064.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. i, pp. 368 ff.; for text of the convention, see Department of State Treaty Series No. 910, or 50 Stat. 1121.↩