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Navigation, radio and VDRLesson 6 of 7

The AIS annual test

You will know what the AIS annual test covers, who may carry it out, how to time it with the safety equipment survey and how to keep AIS data right between tests.

12 minutes · For signed-up learners, free · Rules checked 20 October 2026

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The automatic identification system (AIS) is the ship’s electronic name badge. Every few seconds it broadcasts who she is, where she is and what she is doing, and every nearby ship, vessel traffic service and coastal authority builds its picture from those messages. If the MMSI is wrong, the GPS antenna position is entered wrongly, or the gyro input has dropped out, the ship appears to everyone else with the wrong name, in the wrong place or pointing the wrong way.

SOLAS regulation V/18.9 requires an annual test of the AIS, and the IMO circular MSC.1/Circ.1252 sets out how. In the Tokyo MOU’s 2017 PSC campaign on safety of navigation, 107 inspections in the Asia-Pacific region alone found an AIS not transmitting the correct particulars. This lesson covers the test and how to plan it.

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The rest of this lesson, the interactive When is the next AIS annual test due? and the quiz are open to signed-up learners. It's free, takes a minute, and opens every lesson in all 14 courses.

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In this lesson

  • Try it: When is the next AIS annual test due?
  • In plain words
  • In detail
  • What the rules say
  • Flag and class notes
  • Key numbers
  • What inspectors find
  • Work it out: a calculator
  • Questions people ask
  • Quiz: 6 questions

Sources

  1. 1 SOLAS 1974, as amended, regulation V/18.9, as reproduced in IACS Unified Interpretation SC279, Annual testing of VDR, S-VDR, AIS and EPIRB (June 2016), with the interpretation on timing. https://iacs.org.uk/
  2. 2 IMO MSC.1/Circ.1252, Guidelines on annual testing of the automatic identification system (AIS) (22 October 2007), annex paragraphs 1 to 4 and appendix (AIS test report). https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Safety/Documents/IMO%20Documents%20related%20to/MSC.1-Circ.1252.pdf
  3. 3 SOLAS 1974, as amended, chapter V, regulation 19, paragraph 2.4. IMO consolidated edition (sales publication). https://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-the-Safety-of-Life-at-Sea-(SOLAS),-1974.aspx
  4. 4 IMO Resolution A.1207(34), Survey Guidelines under the Harmonized System of Survey and Certification (HSSC), 2025, annex, paragraphs 5.12, (EI) 1.1.4.33.13 and (EA) 1.2.2.39. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/IIIS/Documents/A%2034-Res.1207%20-%20SURVEY%20GUIDELINES%20UNDER%20THE%20HARMONIZED%20SYSTEMOF%20SURVEY%20AND%20CERTIFICATION%20(HSSC),%202025%20(Secretariat).pdf
  5. 5 IMO Resolution A.1106(29), Revised guidelines for the onboard operational use of shipborne automatic identification systems (AIS) (adopted 2 December 2015), annex, paragraphs 22 to 25. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1106(29).pdf
  6. 6 Maritime and Coastguard Agency, MGN 465 (M+F), Navigation – Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) – Annual Testing (February 2013), paragraphs 1.1 to 1.4. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a8021c840f0b62302691b4e/MGN_465.pdf
  7. 7 IACS Unified Requirement Z17, Procedural requirements for service suppliers, annex 1, section on firms engaged in surveys, inspections and testing of radio communication equipment (applies also to AIS) (text read: Rev.11, 2015; check the current revision). https://iacs.org.uk/
  8. 8 Tokyo MOU, Report of the 2017 Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Safety of Navigation, including ECDIS (November 2018), Table 1, question 7. https://www.tokyo-mou.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/CIC-Safety-of-Navigation-including-ECDIS-Report-p.pdf
  9. 9 IMO Resolution A.1206(34), Procedures for port State control, 2025 (adopted 3 December 2025), appendix 12, item 42. https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/AssemblyDocuments/A.1206(34).pdf

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