VHF licence renewal

[Mike_Martin]

Hi Harald,

This is good fortune as I am soon starting a comparison of UK Ship Radio Licences to other adminstrations. Is that figure of 3 Euros p/a definitely correct and do you know if REGTP is centrally funded by income tax or like us has to cover its costs from revenue.

To the other matter the german licence does the same as the UK one and the rules for use of maritime radio are the same. Germany is also a member of the ITU.

Mike.

Manager,
Aeronautical & Maritime Section,
Radiocommunications Agency

 

[HaraldS]

Hi Mike,
I'm not so sure how the RegTP is funded. It was created during deragulation as formerly all these tasks rested with the German Bundes Post.
As you know there was an incredibly huge income via the UMTS licenses last year, which went into the general tax pool, so I think the RegTP is funded from there.
The Maritime section seems quite independant a group and I found them very friendly and helpful and increadibly fast: A month or so ago I added an SSB station, loaded the form from the internet, filled it out on the weekend, sent it off on Monday and had a new station license in my mail on Friday the same week.
They do charge €15 for a license change, and €63 for a new registration.
The anual fees are said to be €9.-, but I have not been charged yet. Their website says the fee for 2000 was €12 and for 2001 €9, don't ask me why anything is getting cheaper. The site also says that the 2002 fee hasn't been set yet and that they will collect 2000, 2001 and 2002 together, as they deferred collection because of insignificance and associated collection cost.

 

[HaraldS]

Hi Mike,

forgot to mention one more thing. So far the RegTP also does the exams for SRC and LRC. I heard though that by end of this year this is moving to the BSH (federal office for shiiping and hydrography) and that all operator licenses after 2002 will expire after 5 years, currently they are for lifetime. Is this similar in the UK?

 

[Mike_Martin]

Hi again Harald,

I am not aware of any plans to change the duration of the operators' certificates, however a few years ago the Flight Radio certificates changed from lifelong to ten year duration.

Mike.

Manager,
Aeronautical & Maritime Section,
Radiocommunications Agency

 

[Mike_Martin]

One of the problems that we have here is the emphasis on the pricing of radio licensing. Whereas nearly all other sectors of radio (except Amateur & CB) exist to assist in wealth creation, Aero and Maritime exist to protect safety and therefore should attract large licence fees due to priority response to the interference resolution work that they cause. However, we fight to try and keep the licences as low as possible and I assume that other administartions would do the same.

Thank you for the gen on the fee structure That is helpful, just to highlight, here in the UK the licence is always a flat fee of £20 this covers any amends required in the year and the data uploads to the ITU and HMCG. If you build in extra functionality of the system this has to be reflected in the fee which is probably why there are varying fees in Germany, the US also has the same problem.

BTW, I wouldn't believe everything you hear about either the RA or RLC's unhelpfulness, we are actually all very friendly and there are many thousands of customers that will attest to that, especially the ones who have met us at boating events like Soton or London over the years. The only people who don't really like us tend to be the ones who refuse to understand why the Maritime radio service is (has to be) regulated or want us to do something for them which we can't do.

Mike.

Manager,
Aeronautical & Maritime Section,
Radiocommunications Agency

 

[boomer]

Hi Mike - a slight aside

We will be cruising for most of the Summer and our radio licence will be due for renewal whilst we are away. The same happened last year but attempts to renew the licence 'in advance' seemed to cause all sorts of problems. So.... what should we do this year? The choice is between applying for renewal some 6-8 weeks before the current licence expires (and importantly receiving the new disc before we depart) or leaving it until we return which would mean up to 2 months 'unlicenced'. Phone calls to the Agency last year on exactly the same query proved to be particularly unhelpful, so advice please.

 

[Mike_Martin]

Hi Boomer,

This, I am afraid, is the result of ensuring that the licensing system is as cheap as possible for the majority of licensees as it leaves very little leeway for the individual, anomalous cases to be dealt with.

In order to ensure that you are "actually" licensed it is simplest to set up a Direct Debit with the RLC this will ensure that the fee is received and the UK database is updated. This just leaves the issue of proving it to a foreign administration when required, as long as you have not committed an actual offence, a foreign administration should check with the UK (your flag state) before deciding that your vessel is unlicensed, however, it doesn't always work with pleasure craft unless you are SSR. However, if you know where you will be tied up when the licence is due it can be sent to you there or you can forward it from family.

As an aside within an aside.

Some people worry about Direct Debit allowing the Agency to still take the fee after the vessel has been sold on, this will not happen as long as you just tell us that the licence needs to be cancelled when you sell the boat.

Mike

Manager,
Aeronautical & Maritime Section,
Radiocommunications Agency