Digital selective calling: The weak link of the GMDSS

Digital Selective Calling (DSC) is causing serious problems for Search and Rescue (SAR) providers. Administrations must seriously consider the humanit arian and legal implications of continuing the implementation of DSC. They may be in violation of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, the Internatio nal Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, by knowingly implementing communica tions technology that may jeopardize lives at sea even though the primary i ntent of DSC is to establish a suitable distress alerting method. States ma y very well open themselves to legal liability if loss of life or environme ntal damage can be linked in any way to the known faults of DSC.