On Sat, 22 Aug 2020 14:53:08 +1200, Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>
wrote to Freelance Traveller:

>
>
>On 22Aug2020 1424, xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> That's a broad classification. I was thinking more local to a system
>> itself ('there's a damaged freighter with a hazardous cargo being
>> salvaged in orbit x of planet y and all ships are required to
>> maintain at least 1000 km clearance' or 'the primary in this system
>> is experiencing significant coronal mass ejections at this time;
>> System Guard recommends all vessels within 100 solar diameters review
>> their radiation protocols and equipment, have appropriate protective
>> measures immediately available, etc') NOTAMS (in an nautical setting)
>> would include some bulletins about navigation aids (lights/radio/ranges/etc),
>> weather warnings, issues with anchorages
>> or harborages, spills, vessels stuck, adrift, derelict, etc, as well
>> as any areas closed to civilian traffic. In a Notice To All Spacers
>> (NOTAMS), there might be bulletins about navigational aids, system
>> emergency channels/stations, space weather events, navigational
>> hazards, port issues, spills, stuck/adrift/derelict vehicles, areas
>> prohibited to civilians, information about safe orbits around various
>> planets and satellites, a pointer to local information services and
>> dockage, etc.

>I would expect that on arrival you'd receive such notifications from the
>system's traffic control, probably from a simple repeating message
>relayed by beacons on a standard frequency. Major cautions would be
>dumped into the mail systems to be spread to and posted at neighbouring
>worlds. But then I'm not super-keen on the SPA model from GURPS
>Starports - I consider it too intrusive and it makes the customs checks
>on spaceships that haven't yet landed probably a breech of Imperial
>territoriality - and those are a common mention in Traveller adventures,
>etc. IMTU the Imperial SPA inspects starports to make sure that they're
>obeying Imperial law and treaties, and that worlds aren't doing naughty
>things like imposing selective import tarrifs, etc. or refusing basic
>starport services to ships for no good reason, charging some ships more
>than others, and so on. They probably also 'strongly encourage' ports to
>properly report shipping hazards, etc. to neighbouring worlds (by
>pointing out that poor compliance would mean an unfortunate
>re-designation as an amber zone by the IISS and/or TAS).

Customs and Immigration inbound _must_ be a system function, not an
Imperial function - the only legal authority the Imperium has in a system
is connected with the starport cession. Customs outbound may or may not
exist; if it does exist, it might be handled by either the system or the
Imperium - the system to prevent e.g., rare cultural artifacts or
endangered plants/animals from being removed; the Imperium to prevent the
export from a world of the rare item that might be forbidden in Imperial
commerce ("no, you may NOT export those nuclear warheads"). Customs in
either direction, if it exists, will likely handle Health (see next
paragraph) as well.

Health might be controlled in both directions; to control or prevent the
spread of disease, a world can legitimately say "if you test positive or
past-positive for A, B, C, you will be quarantined for X time before being
allowed to move about our territory, a positive/past-positive test for D
absolutely disqualifies you from entry to our territory"; the Imperium can
also legitimately say "if you test positive or past-positive for E, F, G,
H, you will not be permitted to enter the public areas of the starport, or
to board any ship leaving this system".

(Obviously, if there is a specific intent and agreement for a particular
"violation", with proper precautions, an infected person may be permitted
to cross the line - for example, the Abercrombie system requires a week of
quarantine for anyone testing positive for Golfringian Hamster Pox, but has
the sector's best center for the treatment of acute Furshlugginer's
Neuropathy. Jay Random has both acute Fursh and Golfpox, so arrangements
are made to properly isolate him for transport and admission to the
Abercrombie Neuropathic Hospital, without the week of quarantine, which
might adversely impact his likelihood of successful treatment for Fursh.)

(past-positive: You aren't showing an active infection, but there is strong
evidence that you have had the disease in question, and if it's one that
can resurface after many years [e.g., it's dormant but present - consider
chicken pox, which can resurface decades later as shingles], barring you
from crossing the line in the relevant direction may protect others many
years down the road. The use of past-positive as a disqualification will be
rare, and only for those infections that have proven extremely virulent and
contagious when they re-emerge.)

®Traveller is a registered trademark of
Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2020. Use of
the trademark in this notice and in the
referenced materials is not intended to
infringe or devalue the trademark.

--
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller
    The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource
xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com
http://www.freelancetraveller.com

Freelance Traveller extends its thanks to the following
enterprises for hosting services:

onCloud/CyberWeb Enterprises (http://www.oncloud.io)
The Traveller Downport (http://www.downport.com)