Are electronic charts prescribed in France ? [Update]

This question comes up to me from time to time, and as no one is supposed to ignore the law, I feel obliged to make my contribution to the edification of the crowds (of boaters) by providing a collective response.

Manual or electronic navigation, which one to choose ?

Ship security : The official text

[Maj Division 240 from February the 6 May 2019]

By decree of 6 May 2019 replacing the decree of 23 November 1987 relating to ship safety (division 240 of the annexed regulation), Posted in the Official Journal Le 12 May 2019 and Applicable to date from June 1 2019, division D240 entitled "Safety rules applicable to sea navigation at sea on boats of length less than or equal to 24 meters ", is replaced (¹).

Concerning the mandatory ship equipment, and more particularly the documents relating to navigation, I putred Specific texts :

• Article 240-2.03 Basic armaments and safety equipment (less than 2 Milles of a shelter)

[…]
7. A way to know the hours and tidal coefficients of the day and the area considered. This document is not required in the Mediterranean.

• Article 240-2.04 Armaments and safety equipment coastal (2-6 Milles of a shelter)
  

1. Basic armaments and safety equipment.
[…]
6. The Marine Card (s), or their extracts, officials, developed from information from a national hydrographic service. They cover frequented navigation areas, are placed on paper, or on electronic media and its reading device, and are kept up to date.
7. International regulations to prevent collisions at sea (COLREGS), or a textual and graphic summary, possibly in the form of adhesive liflets, or on electronic media and its reading device.
8. A document describing the marking system of the attended area , possibly in the form of adhesive liflets, or on electronic media and its reading device.

• Article 240-2.05 Armaments and safety equipment semi-uprunner (6-60 Milles of a shelter)
  

1. Security equipment for coastal shipping.
[…]
4. The equipment to make the fix, to trace and follow a road.
5. The book of lights updated or available on electronic support and its reading device.
6. A logbook containing the relevant elements for monitoring the navigation and safety of the ship.
7. A device to receive marine weather forecasts on board.

• Article 240-2.06 Armaments and safety equipment deep-sea (+60 Milles of a shelter)
  

1. Semi-upurning armaments and security equipment provided for in the article 240-2.05.

Analysis

Electronic cartography is therefore, since April 2008, perfectly admitted, and the "material to take stock, to trace and follow a road "is no longer specified. We can therefore just as well use a compass with dry tips, parallel rule and handbearing compass either a chartplotter, iPhone and iPad equipped with appropriate software and charts.

Regarding documents, Some articles call comments :

• A way to know tide hours and coefficients : This article was raised in the navigation section less than 2 minutes from a shelter, Without precision on the format of this "means".
• A document describing the marking system of the attended area  and International regulations to prevent collisions at sea (COLREGS) : SHOM documents are no longer explicitly mentioned. This is actually, respectively, General works n ° 3 and n ° 2 of the Shom. But they can as well be replaced by any other equivalent work. On the other hand the work 1D is no longer cited, Yet essential to reading and understanding marine cards (²).
• It is clear that Cards and works can be digital, But that is not specified regarding The logbook. Can we deduce that, in the silence of the texts, It can also be digital ? I'm not so sure. Let’s not forget that the on -board book is a legal document, Opposable to third parties in the event of sea fortune, required by the authorities (Maritime Affairs), Rescue services, and… insurers !

French regulations have gradually aligned, Since the publication of the D240 division in March 2008, On British philosophy consisting in imposing minimum navigation equipment, and to leave the skipper the responsibility to embark the safety and navigation equipment corresponding to his program. It was a hell of a revolution (one another !) after having undergone, Since practically the beginnings of pleasure navigation, a huge list of mandatory and expensive safety equipment , dont, largely, no one used, and who made the fatty cabbage of the French shipchandlers.

—

(¹) Complete text in PDF format is available for download by this link.
(²) For those who have called for a glossary of acronyms found on Navionics charts, among others, I remind you that these symbols are international and that the in -depth reading of the work " 1D – Symbols, Abbreviations and terms used on marine cards ”, Allows you to learn about it.