IMO What it does and

how it works

Dr. Heike Hoppe Senior Technical Officer, IMO September 2007

IMO – specialized UN agency

Safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans

London headquarters Annual budget £25 million (2007) Secretariat: 330 staff, 50 nationalities

IMO Convention

Adopted Geneva 1948

Entered into force 1958

First IMO meeting 1959

IMO’s purpose

provide machinery for cooperation among Governments relating to shipping

encourage and facilitate adoption of highest practicable standards for maritime safety, efficiency of navigation, pollution prevention

Membership

167 Member States 3 Associate Members All major ship owning nations All major coastal states IGOs (36) and NGOs (56)

Financed by shipping nations

Panama £ 4,418,927 18.75 Liberia £ 1,913,117 8.12 Bahamas £ 1,184,527 5.02 United Kingdom £ 1,123,294 4.76 Greece £ 977,960 4.15 Singapore £ 968,209 4.11 Marshall Islands £ 940,471 3.99 Japan £ 854,025 3.62

IMO at work

Assembly (all Member States) Council (40 elected Member States) Committees:

– Maritime Safety – Marine Environment Protection – Facilitation – Legal – Technical Co-operation

MSC’s Sub-Committees

Bulk Liquids and Gases (BLG) Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes, Containers (DSC) Fire Protection (FP) Flag State Implementation (FSI) Radiocommunications and SAR (COMSAR) Safety of Navigation (NAV) Ship Design and Equipment (DE) Stability, Load Lines, Fishing Vessels Safety (SLF) Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW)

IMO instruments under MSC

SOLAS 1974 SOLAS Protocol 1988 COLREG 72 LL 1966 LL Protocol 1988 TONNAGE 1969 STP 1971

SPACE STP 1973 CSC 1972 SFV Protocol 1993 STCW 1978 STCW-F 1995 SAR 1979 SUA 1988 SUA Protocol 1988

Status of conventions

Convention Signatories % world tonnage SOLAS 74 158 98.80 LL 66 158 98.77 COLREG 72 151 98.05 STCW 78 151 98.77 TONNAGE 69 147 98.61

IMO Divisions

Maritime Safety (MSD) Marine Environment (MED) Legal Affairs and External

Relations (LED) Administration Conference Technical Co-operation (TC)

Structure MSD

Marine Technology and Cargoes –ship design and equipment, load lines,

fishing vessels, fire protection, cargoes

Operational Safety and Human Element –navigation, radio communication, STCW

Maritime Security and Facilitation

Work process

Incident/ idea/ new technology ↓

Proposal to IMO Committee ↓

Discussion → Sub-Committee, Working Group ↓

Development of draft regulations, resolution, codes, circular

↓ Adoption of new regulation

SOLAS

basic international instrument for maritime safety

specifies minimum standards for construction, equipment, operation

flag States to ensure compliance of their ships (certificates)

control provisions (port State control) amendments at regular intervals

Contents

Ch. I: General provisions Ch. II-1: Construction – Structure, subdivision and stability, machinery and electrical installations Ch. II-2: Construction - Fire protection, fire detection and fire extinction Ch. III: Life-saving appliances and arrangements Ch. IV: Radiocommunications Ch. V: Safety of navigation Ch. VI: Carriage of cargoes

Contents

Ch. VII: Carriage of dangerous goods Ch. VIII: Nuclear ships Ch. IX: Management for the safe operation of ships Ch. X: Safety measures for high-speed craft Ch. XI-1: Special measures to enhance maritime safety Ch. XI-2: Special measures to enhance maritime security Ch. XII: Additional safety measures for bulk carriers Appendix: Certificates

Mandatory under SOLAS

Substantial number of Codes, standards, guidelines and other provisions, including: LSA Code FSS Code HSC Codes IMDG Code, etc.

Amendment procedures

Explicit amendment procedure Amendments enter into force twelve months after being accepted by two-thirds of Contracting Parties

Tacit amendment procedure Amendments (other than chapter I) enter into force after twelve months unless being rejected by one-third of Contracting Parties

Amendments to SOLAS

Amendment submitted to MSC ↓

Approved for circulation (6 months) ↓

Adopted at following MSC ↓

Deemed accepted after 12 months if no objections from more than 2/3 of Members

↓ Entry into force 6 months after acceptance

Thank you.

Any questions?