The Navy, through the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN), is the National Institution whose function is to promote and coordinate Brazil's participation in the activities of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (COI) related to Ocean Services and Ocean Mapping. The National Oceanographic Data Bank (BNDO), in turn, emerged with the approval of the Decree of January 5, 1994 as a Depositary Center of the IOC, to help DHN manage the data under its custody. The Military Organization responsible for the operation of the BNDO is the CHM, and its activities are specified in Article 4 of the aforementioned Decree, namely:
- obtain, receive, analyze, verify the coherence of received data, organize, control, archive and disseminate oceanographic data;
- maintain oceanographic data exchange with similar national and foreign institutions within the scope of the IOC;
- maintain a bibliographic collection of IOC publications and documents, for dissemination to the national scientific community;
- coordinate, control and supervise, with the participation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the national programs for obtaining oceanographic data.