Sec.  80.1119   Receipt and acknowledgement of distress alerts by coast stations
and coast earth stations.

   (a)  Coast  stations  that  receive  a  distress  alert  should  defer
   acknowledgement for a short interval so that receipt may be acknowledged by
   a Rescue Coordination Center. Where an acknowledgement is not forthcoming
   within 3 minutes, the coast station in receipt of distress alerts must
   ensure that they are routed to a Rescue Coordination Center as soon as
   possible. Coast stations must provide assistance for distress communications
   when requested to do so by the U.S. Coast Guard. (This subpart does not
   specify any radio watches for coast stations.)

   (b) Coast earth stations in receipt of distress alerts must ensure that they
   are routed as soon as possible to a Rescue Coordination Center. Coast earth
   stations must relay, as soon as possible, an acknowledgement of a distress
   alert from a Rescue Coordination Center.

   (c) Certain messages must be carried without charge, regardless of the means
   by which they are transmitted:

   (1) Distress alert messages;

   (2) Search and rescue coordination messages;

   (3) Medical assistance messages where an imminent danger to life is present,
   or

   (4) Urgent meteorological or navigational danger messages passed in the
   ship-to-shore direction.