WEND9-4B - IHO

WEND 9-4B rev1
9 TH WEND COMMITTEE MEETING
Monaco, 7-8 April 2005
PAPER FOR CONSIDERATION BY WEND
THE PURPOSE OF WEND
Submitted by:
Executive Summary:
Related Documents:
Related Projects:
WEND Task Group
The WEND Committee over several years has formulated a set of
principles guiding the production of ENCs. However, the purpose of
WEND is not compelling, and hence, a recurring issue before
WEND is the future of WEND or the need to continue its work. This
paper proposes a more relevant objective of WEND for discussion
and adoption.
WEND Terms of Reference
WEND Principles
None
Introduction / Background
The WEND Terms of Reference begin with a stated objective of:
“To promote the establishment of a World-wide Electronic Navigational Chart Database
(WEND) suitable for the needs of international shipping.”
In order to establish a more relevant and forceful objective of WEND, the WEND Task Group
discussed possible amendments to this objective. The WEND Task Group proposes for discussion the
following objective for WEND:
“The purpose of WEND is to ensure a world -wide consistent level of high-quality, updated
official ENCs through integrated services that support the chart carriage requirements of SOLAS
Chapter V, and the requirements of the IMO Performance Standards for ECDIS.”
Analysis/Discussion
The WEND Committee has been successful in adopting a set of principles intended to facilitate the
establishment of a World-Wide Electronic Chart Database. However, for numerous reasons the
realization of such a database has yet to materialize. While technical issues and availability of
resources clearly lead the list of reasons why WEND has not come to fruition, the WEND Task Group
believes a compelling case for accomplishing WEND has not been effectively communicated to all
concerned. The WEND Task Group proposes a more specific and forceful object for the WEND
Committee to help rectify this situation.
The IMO has endorsed ECDIS as meeting its chart carriage requirements because its use enhances
maritime safety and improves the efficiency of maritime operations. The WEND Task Group
believes explicitly tying the fulfilment of WEND to the satisfaction of SOLAS chart carriage
requirements provides a clear rationale for and properly elevates the importance of WEND.
Conclusions
The Proposed new wording for the object of WEND is appropriate and needed.
Recommendations
The WEND Committee is invited to discuss and adopt a new Object of WEND.

Justification and Impacts
This proposal is intended to explicitly increase the importance of the work of WEND and provide
impetus to accomplishing WEND. There are no additional resource implication due to the adoption
of his proposal.