NAVIGATION AND VESSEL INSPECTION CIRCULAR NO. 01-16 – CH- 3
Subj: EQUIVALENCY DETERMINATION FOR CHART AND PUBLICATION CARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS, NVIC 01-16 CH-3, COMDTPUB 16700.4 (Aug 2025)
Vessels may continue to comply with carriage requirements using printed paper charts, maps, publications, as long as they are produced by a government hydrographic authority such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), a river authority, or a foreign government. The equivalency described in this enclosure is only for domestic carriage requirements; it does not relieve any requirements contained in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS).
This guidance provides a chart equivalency only for domestic requirements and does not provide a chart equivalency for requirements contained in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS) or for the purposes of SOLAS certificates.However, it does provide navigation publication equivalency for all U.S. vessels.
The inspector should verify: a. Each ENC-derived paper chart was printed within the last six months or has been manually corrected within the last six months prior to the inspection.