1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-second
session (29 November to 8 December 2006), recognized concerns that
misunderstanding may exist among port State control officers regarding
some of the Type Approval certificates issued for marine products.
2 To clarify the purpose and procedures of the
Type Approval certification scheme used by the flag States, classification
societies and other recognized bodies; the Committee agreed that such
scheme include the following steps:
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.1 engineering evaluation;
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.2 witnessing the manufacturing and testing processes;
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.3 evaluating the manufacturing arrangements;
and
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.4 issuing of a Type Approval Certificate generally
valid for not more than 5 years which may be subject to annual inspections
or verification of the manufacturer’s process after all the
above-mentioned procedures have been satisfactorily completed.
3 The Committee also agreed that the validity
of the Type Approval Certificate itself has no influence on the operational
validity of a product accepted and installed onboard a ship and that
a product manufactured during the period of validity of the relevant
Type Approval Certificate need not be renewed or replaced due to expiration
of such Type Approval Certificate.
4 Member Governments are invited to bring this
decision to the attention of the national Authorities in charge of
port State control activities and all other parties concerned.