NOTICE TO SKIPPERS (NTS) DOCUMENTATION:
(last update 18 June 2021)
General documents:
Standards NtS version 4.0
The Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/2032 of 20 November 2018 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No. 416/2007 of 22 March 2007. This concerns the technical specifications for Notices to Skippers as referred to in Article 5 of Directive 2005/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonised river information services (RIS) on inland waterways in the Community with the objective to support the safety of navigation and voyage planning.
- NtS XSD 4.0 package rev.1 contains all the documents listed below:
NtS Encoding Guides
The NtS Encoding Guide explains the applicability of the four NtS Message types as well as codes to be used in case of certain events. It provides NtS editors with NtS Message editing instructions, thus allowing nationally and internationally harmonised encoding of NtS Messages. Considering the increased use of the NtS Web Service, NtS Messages shall be further harmonised to ensure proper display of content on third-party systems. Uniform encoding of messages is also a prerequisite for the consideration of messages in voyage planning applications. The NtS Encoding Guide version 1.0 applies to NtS XSD 4.0 and the NtS Web Service WSDL 2.0.4.0.
Two complementary guides are available, as described below:
NtS Encoding Guide for editors:
The NtS Encoding Guide for editors is intended for editing (and publishing) NtS Messages, including step-by-step creation instructions for the proper message types including specific examples as well as explanation of codes.
NtS Encoding Guide for application developers:
The NtS Encoding Guide for developers includes guidelines for NtS application implementation, explaining logic, processes and auto/default values.
Reference data
The Notices to Skippers (NtS) part of ES-RIS facilitates automatic translation of the most important part of the notices’ content, and a harmonised structure of datasets to facilitate the integration of notices in voyage-planning systems.
In order to provide automatic translation of content, NtS Reference Tables are used, including translations of NtS code values for various languages, which are divided in 3 categories:
- the CESNI working languages
- Other languages provided in ES-RIS for information
- Languages not provided in ES-RIS
The first two categories are actively maintained by the NtS Expert Group. These two categories are published as an Annex of ES-RIS. The third category is provided only when possible. Therefore, some translation may be missing. The languages of the third category will not be published in ES-RIS.
The NtS Reference Tables are available to download and can be edited (if authorized) online
RIS Index Encoding Guide including the structure of the RIS Index as well as provisions for encoding of waterway objects within the RIS Index.
The following links include :
- The RIS Index Encoding package (zip) contains all the documents listed below:
- The RIS Index Encoding Guide (docx)
- The RIS Index Encoding Guide (pdf)
- The Annex to the RIS Index Encoding Guide (docx)
- The RIS Index Template to reference/register rivers objects
Implementation status:
An evaluation of the implementation status of NtS in Europe, as well as the implementation status of the RIS Index, is carried out annually in the NtS Expert Group:
- National NtS Service (covered corridors, v. of NtS Standard, implemented messages, way of distribution)
- RIS Index (version, availability, date of publication etc.)
- NtS Web Service and interconnections
The following additional information is available:
- Enhanced full text implementation (DE, EN, NL and FR)
- Implementation of Locations Code in Austria
- Implementation of Locations Code in the Netherlands
- Review on NtS-documentation (Report from the Netherlands)
Standards NtS version 3.0:
- NtS standard Edition 3.0
- NtS XML-Schema (3.0) with executed CR88 (used namespace)
- Reference data table
Standards NtS version 2.0:
- Standards (CCNR Standards Edition)
- Reference Data (Reference tables 3.0 (CCNR Standard Edition 2.0)
- Specifications (XML scheme v3.0 (CCNR Standard Edition 2.0)
Standards NtS version 1x:
- Standards (CCNR Standards Edition)
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 416/2007
- Reference tables 2_3(1) (Commission Regulation (EC) No 416/2007)
- Specifications (XML scheme 2.7 (Commission Regulation (EC) No 416/2007)
Member area
