7 The Secretary-General shall maintain a list
of competent persons approved by the Maritime Safety Committee, including
competent persons made available or recommended by the Parties, who
may be called upon to evaluate the reports submitted pursuant to regulation I/7 and regulation I/8 and may be called to assist
in the preparation of the report required by regulation I/7, paragraph 2. These persons shall ordinarily
be available during relevant sessions of the Maritime Safety Committee
or its subsidiary bodies, but need not conduct their work solely during
such sessions.
8 In relation to regulation
I/7, paragraph 2, the competent persons shall be knowledgeable
of the requirements of the Convention and at least one of them shall
have knowledge of the system of training and certification of the
Party concerned.
9 When a report is received from any Party under regulation I/8, paragraph 3, the Secretary-General
will designate competent persons from the list maintained in accordance
with paragraph 7 above, to consider the report and provide their views
on whether:
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.1 the report is complete and demonstrates that
the Party has carried out an independent evaluation of the knowledge,
understanding, skills and competence acquisition and assessment activities,
and of the administration of the certification system (including endorsement
and revalidation), in accordance with section
A-I/8, paragraph 3;
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.2 the report is sufficient to demonstrate that:
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.2.1 the evaluators were qualified,
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.2.2 the terms of reference were clear enough
to ensure that:
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.2.2.1 all applicable provisions of the Convention
and STCW Code, including their amendments, are covered by the Party’s
quality standards system; and
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.2.2.2 the implementation of clearly defined objectives
in accordance with regulation I/8,
paragraph 1 could be verified over the full range of relevant activities,
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.2.3 the procedures followed during the independent
evaluation were appropriate to identify any significant non-conformities
in the Party’s system of training, assessment of competence,
and certification of seafarers, as may be applicable to the Party
concerned, and
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.2.4 the actions being taken to correct any noted
non-conformities are timely and appropriate.footnote
10 Any meeting of the competent persons shall:
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.1 be held at the discretion of the Secretary-General;
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.2 be comprised of an odd number of members, ordinarily
not to exceed five persons;
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.3 appoint its own chairman; and
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.4 provide the Secretary-General with the agreed
opinion of its members, or if no agreement is reached, with both the
majority and minority views.
11 The competent persons shall, on a confidential
basis, express their views in writing on:
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.1 a comparison of the facts reported in the information
communicated to the Secretary-General by the Party with all relevant
requirements of the Convention;
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.2 the report of any relevant evaluation submitted
under regulation I/8, paragraph
3;
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.3 the report of any steps taken to implement
the amendments to the STCW Convention and Code submitted under paragraph
5; and
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.4 any additional information provided by the
Party.