The Assembly

 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, by resolution A.649(16), it adopted the Code for the Construction and Equipment of Mobile Offshore Drilling Units, 1989 (1989 MODU Code) to promote the international operation of mobile offshore drilling units,

 NOTING that mobile offshore drilling units continue to be moved and operated internationally,

 RECOGNIZING the need to establish a more rational method for reviewing the intact stability criteria based on advanced technological computerized means and more realistic environmental conditions,

 FURTHER RECOGNIZING that chapter 3 of the 1989 MODU Code allows for alternative stability criteria to be considered by Administrations,

 HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendation made by the Maritime Safety Committee at its fifty-seventh session,

  1. ADOPTS an example of alternative intact stability criteria for twin-pontoon column-stabilized semisubmersible mobile offshore drilling units, 1989, as set out in the Annex to the present resolution;

  2. RECOMMENDS that Governments concerned accept the application of this example as being an equivalent to the provisions of paragraph 3.3.1.2 of the 1989 MODU Code;

  3. INVITES all Governments concerned to consider putting this alternative into effect and to evaluate its use;

  4. FURTHER INVITES all Governments concerned, through the Organization, to exchange experience gained as a result of the application of this alternative;

  5. AUTHORIZES the Maritime Safety Committee to amend the alternative as necessary after consultations with relevant organizations.