The 20th Meeting of International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA) Aids to Navigation Requirements and Management (ARM 20) was held at the IALA headquarters in Paris, France, from March 31 to April 4, 2025, adopting a hybrid (both in-person and online) format. The Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Transport organized a delegation, with participants from the Northern Navigation Service Center, Eastern Navigation Service Center, Southern Navigation Service Center, as well as Jiangsu Maritime Safety Administration and Jimei University.

     During the meeting, our delegation fully engaged in discussions on various topics across three working groups: Aid to Navigation Requirements, Information Services and Presentation, and Risk Management. All seven proposals submitted by our delegation were adopted, yielding remarkable results. The proposals submitted by China covered key agenda items of the committee, including revisions to the Guide to Aids to Navigation, updates to terminology in the IALA Dictionary, the drafting of new guidelines for the Automatic Identification System (AIS), and revisions to G1106 IALA S-200 Series Product Specification. The quantity and quality of our proposals were highly commended by the Secretary-General and the Committee Chairman. Our proposal on a case study of China's quality management process for aids to navigation was incorporated into the revision of G1052 guidelines. The sharing of our practices regarding mandatory audits of aids to navigation management by International Maritime Organization (IMO) member states received high praise from the working group chairman. Other proposals actively contributed to the drafting of guidelines for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications, discussions on Marine Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)-related aids to navigation services, and the work of the Risk Management Task Group.

Looking ahead, we will continue to undertake tasks such as updating the IALA Dictionary terminology and revising the Guide to Aids to Navigation, while maintaining close attention to the update of the S-201 version and following up on relevant key agenda items. Additionally, our delegates also communicated with the Secretariat on the development of AIS model courses and the update mechanism for the IALA Dictionary terminology.

A group photo of the on-site representatives from the ARM Committee

A group photo of the on-site representatives from the China MSA　delegation