RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention of the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in
relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety
and the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,
RECALLING ALSO Resolution A.741(18), by which it adopted
safety and pollution prevention management requirements through the
International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and
for Pollution Prevention (International Safety Management (ISM) Code)
and Resolution A.788(19) on Guidelines on Implementation of the International
Safety Management (ISM) Code by Administrations,
RECALLING FURTHER that the 1994 Conference of Contracting
Governments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life
at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, adopted a new chapter
IX on Management for the Safe Operation of Ships by virtue
of which the ISM Code became mandatory for certain ships as from 1
July 1998,
FURTHER RECALLING that, in response to concerns about progress
with ISM Code certification by shipping companies and ships to which chapter IX would apply as from 1 July 1998,
the Maritime Safety Committee, at its sixty-sixth session, and the
Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its thirty-eighth session,
approved MSC/Circ.761/MEPC/Circ.311 on timely and effective implementation
of the ISM Code,
ALSO RECALLING Resolution A.848(20) on
Implementation of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code,
in operative paragraph 7 of which it invited Member Governments and
Contracting Governments to the SOLAS Convention to:
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(a) be aware that there was a significant amount
of work required to ensure application of the ISM Code to other general
cargo ships and mobile offshore drilling units of 500 gross tonnage
and upwards by 1 July 2002; and
-
(b) expedite the process of application of the
ISM Code to those ships well in advance of the enforcement date,
NOTING the importance of Governments being mindful of the
considerable time needed for effectively implementing the ISM Code
on cargo ships other than oil tankers, chemical tankers, gas carriers,
bulk carriers and cargo high-speed craft of 500 gross tonnage and
upwards, as well as on mobile offshore drilling units of 500 gross
tonnage and upwards, and thus of the need for well-planned time schedules
for the implementation process, which should be put in place in good
time before the Code's second implementation date of 1 July 2002,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the Maritime
Safety Committee at its seventieth session,
1. URGES Member Governments, Contracting Governments
to SOLAS and the industry to take urgent appropriate action to ensure
that ships and shipping companies liable to ISM certification as from
1 July 2002 are so certificated and prepared in all respects to comply
with the requirements of the Code thereafter;
2. DRAWS the attention of Member Governments,
Contracting Governments to SOLAS and the industry to the fact that
SOLAS Regulation IX/2 does not provide
for any extension of implementation dates for the introduction of
the ISM Code;
3. INVITES Member Governments, Contracting Governments
to SOLAS and the industry to bring this resolution to the attention
of all concerned, particularly shipowners, ship operators and managers,
shipping companies and classification societies.