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
and the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,
RECALLING FURTHER that recommendation 2 of the International
Conference on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969 recommended the acceptance
of the tonnages measured under this new system as the parameters referred
to where those terms are used in conventions, laws, and regulations,
while recognizing that transition to this new system should cause
the least possible impact on the economics of merchant shipping and
port operations,
NOTING that article 3(2)(d) of the 1969
Tonnage Convention provides for certain ships to retain their
national tonnages for the purpose of applying relevant requirements
under other existing international conventions, if they do not undergo
alterations or modifications which the Administration deems to be
a substantial variation in their existing gross tonnage,
NOTING ALSO that the Interim Schemes for Tonnage Measurement
of resolutions A.494(XII), A.540(13) and A.541(13) effectively extended
this use of national tonnages to certain other ships, for the purpose
of applying relevant requirements, respectively, of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS),
1974, as amended, the International Convention on Training, Certification
and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, and the International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified
by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (MARPOL),
NOTING FURTHER that resolutions A.758(18) Application
of recommendation 2 of the International Conference on Tonnage Measurement
of Ships, 1969 and A.791(19) Application of the International
Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969 to existing
ships were adopted to address identification of national tonnages
on International Tonnage Certificates (1969) and other pertinent certificates,
including Ship Safety Certificates and International Oil Pollution
Prevention Certificates,
BEING AWARE that amendments to the SOLAS, STCW and MARPOL Conventions
made subsequent to the adoption of resolutions A.494(XII), A.540(13)
and A.541(13) have led to misunderstandings over the use of national
tonnage when applying newly established tonnage-based requirements
for ships measured in accordance with the provisions of the 1969 Tonnage Convention and the Interim Schemes for
Tonnage Measurement, highlighting the need for updated recommendations
on this matter,
RECOGNIZING the necessity of uniform implementation of the 1969 Tonnage Convention with regard to national tonnages,
HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations made by the Marine
Environment Protection Committee at its sixty-fifth session and the
Maritime Safety Committee at its ninety-second session,
1 ADOPTS the Recommendation on the use of
national tonnage in applying international conventions, as
set out in the annex to the present resolution;