GOOS must therefore be designed to 'co-exist' and interact cooperatively and to mutual benefit with the other systems. These provide valuable data sets to GOOS and could in turn benefit from GOOS observations, although in many respects they are inappropriate for incorporation into a GOOS implementation framework. The design takes into account quality assurance procedures. Without quality assurance procedures, the great promise of global data sets to address specified problems will certainly not be met. Several of the principles stated above, for example D2, D3 and D4, address the need for strong oversight of the observing system and its continued review with an eye to assessing and improving its effectiveness.
Quality assurance is a fundamental part of that effort.
In order to assist nations and national agencies to decide whether they are willing and able to participate in the implementation of GOOS, there needs to be a set of principles that define the nature of participation, in terms of the 'requirements' of GOOS as conceived and consistent with the foregoing Design Principles. Contributions to GOOS will be compliant with plans developed and agreed on the basis of the above design principles. Consistent with Principle D1, GOOS is designed and implemented according to a plan or series of plans. However, it is very important for the coherence and orderly development of GOOS as well as the optimisation of cooperation between countries and the delivery of benefits, that all contributions are made with the clear intent to comply as closely as possible with these plans. Contributions will be compliant with a defined GOOS data policy.