RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Committee,
RECALLING FURTHER article
VIII(b) of the International Convention for the Safety of Life
at Sea (SOLAS), 1974 (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention")
concerning the amendment procedure applicable to the Annex to the
Convention, other than the provisions of chapter I thereof,
NOTING resolution A.920(22) entitled “Review of safety
measures and procedures for the treatment of persons rescued at sea”,
RECALLING ALSO the provisions of the Convention relating
to the obligation of:
- shipmasters to proceed with all speed to the assistance of persons
in distress at sea; and
- Contracting Governments to ensure arrangements for coast watching
and for the rescue of persons in distress at sea round their coasts,
NOTING ALSO article 98 of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea, 1982, regarding the duty to render assistance,
NOTING FURTHER the initiative taken by the Secretary-General
to involve competent United Nations specialized agencies and programmes
in the consideration of the issues addressed in this resolution, for
the purpose of agreeing on a common approach which will resolve them
in an efficient and consistent manner,
REALIZING the need for clarification of existing procedures
to guarantee that persons rescued at sea will be provided a place
of safety regardless of their nationality, status or the circumstances
in which they are found,
REALIZING FURTHER that the intent of the new paragraph 1-1
of SOLAS regulation V/33, as adopted
by this resolution, is to ensure that in every case a place of safety
is provided within a reasonable time. It is further intended that
the responsibility to provide a place of safety, or to ensure that
a place of safety is provided, falls on the Contracting Government
responsible for the search and rescue region in which the survivors
were recovered,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its seventy-eighth session, amendments
to the Convention, proposed and circulated in accordance with article VIII(b)(i) thereof,
1. ADOPTS, in accordance with article VIII(b)(iv) of the Convention,
amendments to the Convention, the text of which is set out in the
Annex to the present resolution;
2. DETERMINES, in accordance with article VIII(b)(vi)(2)(bb) of the
Convention, that the said amendments shall be deemed to have been
accepted on 1 January 2006, unless, prior to that date, more than
one third of the Contracting Governments to the Convention or Contracting
Governments the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less
than 50% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant fleet,
have notified their objections to the amendments;
3. INVITES SOLAS Contracting Governments to note
that, in accordance with article
VIII(b)(vii)(2) of the Convention, the amendments shall enter
into force on 1 July 2006 upon their acceptance in accordance with
paragraph 2 above;
4. REQUESTS the Secretary-General, in conformity
with article VIII(b)(v) of
the Convention, to transmit certified copies of the present resolution
and the text of the amendments contained in the Annex to all Contracting
Governments to the Convention;
5. FURTHER REQUESTS the Secretary-General to transmit
copies of this resolution and its Annex to Members of the Organization,
which are not Contracting Governments to the Convention;
6. ALSO REQUESTS the Secretary General to take
appropriate action in further pursuing his inter-agency initiative,
informing the Maritime Safety Committee of developments, in particular
with respect to procedures to assist in the provision of places of
safety for persons in distress at sea, for action as the Committee
may deem appropriate.