SAR Convention

The SAR Convention is the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, adopted at a conference in Hamburg on 27 April 1979 and in force from 22 June 1985. It commits Contracting Governments to a coordinated international SAR plan so that, wherever a person is in distress at sea, the rescue is coordinated by a SAR organization and, where needed, by neighboring states cooperating across boundaries. It divides the oceans into search and rescue regions, each with a responsible state running a Rescue Coordination Center (RCC), and sets the procedures for receiving a distress alert and conducting the search. It works with the GMDSS for distress alerting and the IAMSAR Manual, the joint IMO and ICAO operational guide.