1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its sixty-third
session (16 to 25 May 1994), approved a standard format for the document
of compliance required by regulation II-2/54.3 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention,
as amended. The Committee further agreed that the period of validity
of the document of compliance should not exceed 5 years and should
not be extended beyond the expiry date of the valid Cargo Ship Safety
Construction Certificate issued to the ship concerned under the provisions
of SOLAS regulation I/12.
2 The Committee, at its seventy-fifth session
(15 to 24 May 2002), in view of the amendments to SOLAS chapter II-2, adopted by resolution MSC.99(73), approved a revised
standard format for the document of compliance required by regulation II-2/19.4 of the 1974 SOLAS
Convention, as amended, applicable as from 1 July 2002. This format
is reproduced in MSC/Circ.1027.
3 The Committee, at its seventy-ninth session
(1 to 10 December 2004), recognizing the need to take into account
the amendments to table 19.3 of SOLAS regulation
II-2/19 which had been adopted by resolution
MSC.134(76), decided that it was necessary to highlight the
prohibition on stowage of class 5.2 dangerous goods under deck or
in enclosed ro-ro spaces in documents of compliance required by regulation II-2/19 of the 1974 SOLAS
Convention, as amended, for any ship built on or after 1 July 2004
when issuing or renewing the said documents.
4 The Committee, recognizing also that this prohibition
on stowage under the IMDG Code also applies to all ships built before
1 July 2004 and subject to regulation
II-2/19 (or II-2/54) of the 1974 SOLAS Convention, as amended,
also decided that the prohibition on stowage should be taken into
account when renewing documents of compliance for:
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.1 any passenger ship built on or after 1 September
1984 and before 1 July 2004;
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.2 any cargo ship of 500 gross tonnage or above
built on or after 1 September 1984 and before 1 July 2004; and
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.3 any cargo ship of less than 500 gross tonnage
built on or after 1 February 1992 and before 1 July 2004.
5 Furthermore, the Committee, at the same session,
agreed that the standard document of compliance format set out in MSC/Circ.1027 should be used when renewing
documents of ships subject to SOLAS regulation II-2/54 applicable
before 1 July 2002, and that in such cases the references to regulations II-2/19 and II-2/19.4 appearing in the standard
format should be replaced by references to regulations II-2/54 and
II-2/54.3 respectively.
6 The Committee, at its eighty-first session (10
to 19 May 2006), agreed the inclusion of a standard format for a document
of compliance with special requirements for high-speed craft carrying
dangerous goods as required by paragraph 7.17.4 of the 2000 HSC Code, although the draft amendments
to the Code were not adopted.
7 The Committee, at its eighty-fourth session
(7 to 16 May 2008), in view of the envisaged adoption of the amendments
to table 19.3 in SOLAS chapter II-2 and
table 7.17-3 in the 2000 HSC Code, subsequently
adopted by the Committee at its eighty-fifth session (26 November
to 5 December 2008) by means of resolutions MSC.269(85) and MSC.271(85), respectively,
approved revised standard formats for the document of compliance required
by regulation II-2/19.4 of
the 1974 SOLAS Convention, as amended, and by paragraph 7.17.4 of
the 2000 HSC Code, as amended.
8 The Committee, at its eighty-fourth session,
confirmed that the period of validity of the document of compliance
should not exceed:
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.1 five years for cargo ships and should not be
extended beyond the expiry date of the valid Cargo Ship Safety Construction
Certificate issued to cargo ships concerned under the provisions of
SOLAS regulation I/12; and
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.2 one year for passenger ships and should not
be extended beyond the expiry date of the valid Passenger Ship Safety
Certificate issued to passenger ships concerned under the provisions
of SOLAS regulation I/12.
9 The Committee, at its eighty-fourth session,
further agreed that:
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.1 it is still necessary to highlight the prohibition
on stowage of class 5.2 dangerous goods under deck or in closed ro-ro
spaces when issuing or renewing documents of compliance according
to the revised standard formats; and
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.2 the revised standard formats should be used
when renewing documents of compliance for existing ships subject to
SOLAS regulation II-2/1.2.3 and
that, in such cases, the reference to regulation
II-2/19 appearing in the revised standard format should be
replaced by “II-2/19.3 as
applicable according to II-2/1.2.3”.
10 The revised standard formats of the document
of compliance recommended for use and acceptance by Member Governments
and Contracting Governments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention and the 2000 HSC Code are set out in annex 1 and annex 2, respectively.
11 Member Governments are invited to draw this
circular to the attention of authorities responsible for issuing and
renewing documents of compliance, bodies acting on behalf of these
governments, and shipowners, ship operators and masters, with a view
to harmonizing the practices of the various Administrations.
12 Member Governments are also invited to draw
this circular to the attention of authorities tasked by the port State
with carrying out inspections of ships, and to recommend them to take
the above into account when discharging their responsibilities.