Personal Locator Beacon registration: 15 minutes that could save your life

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is proposing an update to bring PLBs under the same registration requirements that currently apply to Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs).

The change would require people to register their current and any new PLBs with the MCA – free of charge – if they are used in a maritime environment, ranging from sea and coast to inland rivers and lakes.

Registration means that when a PLB is activated, HM Coastguard can use the details to identify, verify and locate the person in distress and send help more quickly and effectively in an emergency.

PLBs broadcast a location on the same 406MHz frequency as bigger EPIRBs but are designed to be worn on the body, rather than on a vessel or liferaft, and are always manually activated.

The set of updates also reflects changes in technology and extends registration obligations to hovercraft and other types of watercraft.

Linda Goulding, UK Distress and Security Beacon Registry Manager, said:

Spending just 15 minutes registering a PLB online could make all the difference to being found and recovered safely from a life-threatening situation.

Simply register any existing 406MHz PLBs, and any new ones you buy in future, on our customer self-serve webpage, as people currently do with their EPIRBs.

Make sure you keep your registration up to date to ensure search and rescue teams can find you in an emergency.

To respond to the consultation by the deadline of 30 January 2025, visit Consultation on the merchant shipping (EPIRB and PLB registration) regulations 2025.

To register a PLB or EPIRB, visit Register a UK 406 MHz beacon.

Background

PLB rescue case studies: 

• Radiobeacon to the rescue for man overboard ‘in a flash’ 

• Locator beacons bring rescue to crew of dismasted yacht drifting in the dark 

This update relates to the UK revoking and replacing the Merchant Shipping (EPIRB Registration) Regulations 2000 with the Merchant Shipping (EPIRB and PLB Registration) (Radiocommunications) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 to include updated registration requirements for EPIRBs and introduce new registration requirements for PLBs.  

The proposed Regulations will also amend other Statutory Instruments, including the Merchant Shipping (Radiocommunications) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and the Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023.  

These amendments will include the implementation of discrete changes to international safety requirements under SOLAS Chapter IV and necessary changes as a consequence of the proposed Regulations being introduced.