Ship Station (Radio) Technical Regulations, 1999

37 (1) The distress signal or distress alert prescribed by the International Radio Regulations shall be used when a ship or a person is in serious and imminent danger that calls for immediate assistance. This subsection does not prohibit any ship, survival craft or person in distress from using any other signal to make known their position and obtain help.

(2) The urgency signal or urgency alert prescribed by the International Radio Regulations shall be used when a ship other than a ship referred to in subsection (1) requires assistance or when there is reason to issue a warning that the ship may transmit a distress signal or distress alert at a later time.

(3) A person who has inadvertently transmitted a distress signal or distress alert from a ship, or after transmitting the signal or alert, determines that assistance is no longer required, shall immediately cancel that signal or alert in accordance with the instructions set out in the appendix to International Maritime Organization Resolution A.814(19) entitled Guidelines for the Avoidance of False Distress Alerts.