The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has issued a reminder to mariners of the dangers posed by counterfeit Admiralty products.

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The warning from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is in response to an increase in the number of counterfeit Admiralty charts and publications in circulation.

Now it has issued a guide to help sailors identify a genuine chart from a fake one.

Counterfeit products pose a danger to the safety of vessels and crews. Information in the counterfeit version may not be up to date and pages of publications may be missing.

They are often very hard to identify as counterfeit – even with a genuine version and a counterfeit version side by side.

The UKHO has taken a number of preventative measures, including a new watermark on paper charts.

These measures are outlined in the Guide to Identifying Genuine ADMIRALTY Products.

Recently updated, the guide contains visual examples and explanations to help to distinguish official Admiralty charts and publications from counterfeit versions.

The carriage of counterfeit documents is against the law in all countries that have signed the Berne Convention (the vast majority of countries) and authorities in those countries have the power to seize counterfeit documents.

Anyone with suspicions over the authenticity of their Admiralty charts and publications is encouraged to contact the UKHO by emailing customerservices@ukho.gov.uk.

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