811.801 Wireless/91
The Swedish Legation to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
There is pending in the Senate a bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934, approved June 19, 1934, for the purpose of promoting safety of life through the use of radio, and for other purposes (S. 3954).4 Hearings on this bill were held before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on commerce, on April 29, 1936.
The provisions of the bill are based upon the international convention for the safety of life at sea, London 1929, not yet ratified by the United States, but in some respects they go beyond the convention. Section 354 (a) provides that cargo ships, not fitted with autoalarms, are required to carry two qualified operators, and the same shall apply to passenger ships, whether they have autoalarm or not. Section 354 (b) provides that cargo ships of 1600 gross tons or more which are fitted with an autoalarm shall carry at least one qualified operator.
Under the international convention, cargo ships of 5.500 gross tons or less are required to have one qualified operator but are not bound to be equipped with autoalarm. Cargo ships over 5.500 gross tons shall have one operator and autoalarm.
A passenger ship under 3.000 gross tons shall carry one operator and is not bound to have autoalarm in addition. A passenger ship of 3.000 gross tons and over is required to carry an operator and autoalarm.
Stricter rules have also been proposed in regard to watchers and watch time.
Section 354 (a) and (b) would apply to foreign as well as American vessels leaving any harbour or port of the United States for a voyage in the open sea or the great lakes.
The Swedish Minister would highly appreciate it if, through the courtesy of the Department of State, it could be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities that the requirements of the proposed new legislation in some respects are more burdensome for certain foreign vessels than those of the international convention.
- Subsequently amended in committee and renumbered 4619; the text of S. 3954 is printed in Safety of life at Sea Through the Use of Radio: Hearing before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, 74th Cong., 2d sess., on S. 3954 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1936), pp. 1–7.↩