Mariners view official charts as indicating high quality, currency (up to date), clear ownership and the right to publish.
Canada does not support the proposal.
Chile
A product (approved chart) produced by commercial companies by making a copy of the data of the original product of an Hydrographic Office, will never be of a higher quality than the official product. This is not the way to improve the safety of navigation. The promotion of a parallel product will lead to controversial situations, because official charts are used as legal documents and the existence of an alternative product will lead to confusion.
Chile does not support the Italian Proposal.
Cyprus
All charts will be published under the name and the responsibility of the Government of Cyprus.
Cyprus does not support the Italian Proposal.
Ecuador
The responsibility for the production of the official charts should be only of a governmental body, such as the National Hydrographic Office (NHO). "Approved" chart service would not have the quality or efficiency of the NHO as the commercial provider would not have the experience of a NHO.
Ecuador does not support the Italian Proposal.
Estonia
Estonia has no comment to make on the proposal.
Finland
Italian proposal will cause confusion on the role of private companies and may introduce legal problems for issuing digital data and authorising.
Current regulations already enable private companies to be contracted by official Hydrographic Offices for producing both paper charts and digital data.
Finland does not support the Italian Proposal.
France
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea imposes obligations on coastal States regarding safety of navigation in their maritime zones. Governments are responsible for the provision and maintenance of navigational charts, and the chart should be published under the name and the authority of the Government.
