RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in
relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety,
RECALLING ALSO that, while Regulations
III/40.7.1 and 41.9.2 of the International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, require the ship's name and port of registry
to be marked on rigid liferafts and lifeboats, there are no such requirements
therein for marking inflatable liferafts,
RECOGNIZING that properly marked inflatable liferafts may
considerably facilitate the initiation or effective conduct of a search
and rescue operation or the determination as to whether such an operation
is necessary,
NOTING that a simple and inexpensive means of ship identification
in cases mentioned above has been developed,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the Maritime
Safety Committee at its sixtieth session,
INVITES Governments to require that:
(a) inflatable liferafts carry a means of identification
showing the name and port of registry of the ship to which the inflatable
liferaft belongs;
(b) the identification can be easily updated,
without opening the inflatable liferaft container; and
(c) to the extent practicable, existing inflatable
liferafts are also marked in the same manner.