The Maritime Safety Committee, at its sixty-sixth session
(28 May to 6 June 1996), and the Marine Environment Protection Committee,
at its thirty-eighth session (1 to 10 July 1996), considered the problems
faced by companies operating multi-flagged fleets when implementing
the ISM Code and agreed there was a need for guidance to Administrations
and companies in view of the fact that such companies must, under
the terms of the SOLAS Convention, have a document of compliance issued
by the Administration, an organisation recognized by the Administration
or at the request of the Administration by another contracting Government.
Accordingly, the Committees prepared the annexed guidance and
invited Member Governments to bring it to the attention of their maritime
Administrations and relevant industry organizations.