0030

18 May 2023
Dear Mr Glover,
As outlined to you in person during our meeting earlier this morning, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) wrote to you on 13 March 2023 to confirm that your type approved device, Maritime Systems Ltd MS44, had failed independent testing. The letter asked you to submit your proposals to rectify the failures to the MMO’s satisfaction and a deadline of 10:00am 27 March 2023 was given for submission of those proposals.
The MMO has now reviewed your plan which was received at 12:33pm on 17 March 2023. Having considered the proposals outlined by you to address the issues raised, the MMO has decided not to accept the plan and instead to formally REVOKE the Type Approval of your MS44 device, which will become effective at 12:00pm on Friday 19 May 2023. The effect of revocation is that your device will no longer be Type Approved. This means that you must not market or sell your device as an MMO I-VMS Type Approved device. We will be confirming our intent to revoke type approval in an update that will be issued online today.
If you market, sell or install your device as an MMO I-VMS type approved device after this date then the MMO will report your activities to trading standards and may consider seeking an injunction to prohibit you from selling or marketing the device in such a way. As such, we ask that your website and any marketing material is updated to reflect the fact that your device is no longer an MMO Type Approved device. If the MMO does seek an injunction against you then it may do so without further notice to you and will ask the court to order that you pay the costs of the application.
The plan that you submitted has several issues of concern, most significantly the lack of detail about how you will fix the failures identified by GMV NSL during the testing process.
In relation to IP67 certification, there is insufficient information provided about the proposed sticker to satisfy the MMO that the proposed fix has a realistic prospect of success, that it can be completed in a timely manner and that its rollout can be monitored and will be completed by persons with sufficient expertise. Specifically, you do not specify the materials to be used, the size of the patch or whether this will be manufactured by Maritime Systems or a third party. The timelines provided for completion on the devices already deployed within the fleet are vague, you have not stated whether the fix will be carried out by the fishers or by an engineer (and if an engineer then whether they will be provided by you and the timeline for doing do) and you have not set out any plan for verifying whether the fix has been completed.
The response to fixing the blackout issues identified during testing does not have sufficient detail and therefore it remains unclear on what the proposed fix actually includes. We understand from your plan that you do not have a proposed fix for this issue and that you intend to undertake multiple tests of the device with GMV NSL to establish an appropriate fix. Relying on access to
utilise the technical support of GMV NSL is not acceptable. This is cause for concern as GMV NSL are the MMO independent testers, supporting validation and assurance of I-VMS device compliance with the technical specification. It would be inappropriate and a conflict of interest for MMO independent tester to support suppliers with fixing suppliers’ issues. We were clear that we expected a proposal to fix the issues identified and this has not been provided within your response.
During your meeting with MMO and GMV NSL, you confirmed that the ‘Tamper Alert’ status code, which is a type approval specification requirement of the I-VMS positional report message, is not sent by the I-VMS device itself but is sent following manual input by an engineer following physical inspection of the device. A manual intervention from a Maritime Systems engineer if they discover the device has been tampered with does not meet the requirements outlined within the MMO type approval specification of requirements.
For the avoidance of doubt, the reasons for the MMO’s decision to REVOKE the type approved status of your device can be summarised as follows:
• The independent testing commissioned by the MMO and undertaken by GMV NSL shows that the MS44 device does not meet the I-VMS device specification set out in the MMO’s type approval specification. The specific failures identified during testing were communicated clearly in the letter, and attached report, issued to you on 13 March 2023.
• You have been afforded the opportunity to provide a plan to fix the issued identified during independent testing as notified to you in the MMO’s letter of 13 March 2023. However, you have failed to submit a plan with sufficient detail to satisfy the MMO that:
o there is a realistic prospect that you can make fixes to the MS44 device that will successfully pass re-testing and therefore meet the I-VMS type approval specification
o that the devices already installed will be fixed to the standard required by the original type approval device specification
o that the rollout of any proposed fix to new and installed devices can be completed in a timely manner
• Should the device remain type approved then there is a risk that fishers may purchase the MS44 device believing that the device meets the MMO’s type approval specification when it does not. It is in the public interest to remove the MS44’s type approval specification to protect the public, specifically the fishing community, from the risk that they will purchase the MS44 device when it does not meet the requisite device specification and as a consequence will not assist the fisher in complying with the legislation that is due to come into force.
In view of the above the MMO considers that it is necessary, appropriate and proportionate to REVOKE the Type Approval status of the device taking into account all the circumstances of the matter.
As indicated in our letter to you of 13 March 2023 the contractual relationship regarding the purchase of the MS44 device exists between Maritime Systems and the fishers that it has been sold to. You will now need to make the necessary arrangements to ensure that devices are appropriately removed and any costs reimbursed to those who have claimed grants from the MMO. This was made clear to you at paragraph 3.26 of the Requirements of Participation that you agreed to in your application to have your device type approved.
The MMO makes this decision in the public interest for the protection of the public. In coming to its decision, the MMO has considered its obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010 and does not consider that there are any relevant implications that would prohibit the making of this decision.
Given that the revocation takes effect at 12:00pm on Friday 19 May 2023 there is a window of opportunity for you to ask us to reconsider revoking the type approval status of your device. However, MMO is satisfied that revocation is the appropriate and proportionate response in the circumstance. Whilst MMO considers it is unlikely you will be able to provide further information which would change the MMOs decision, if you have any further representations to make to MMO you should provide these to us, in writing, by 10:00am on Friday 19 May 2023.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Clark
Director of Operations