IMO News_3/04

From the meetings
• Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation
• 50th session•
• 5 - 9 July 2004
Facilitation Committee • From the meetings
31st session •
19 - 23 July 2004 •
Committee approves FAL Convention
amendments
Navigation sections of Fishing
Vessel Code and Guidelines
approved
The Sub-Committee approved the
proposed amendments to the draft revised
chapter X of the Fishing Vessel Safety Code
and to the draft revised chapter 10 of the
draft revised Voluntary Guidelines, for
submission to the Sub-Committee on Stability
and Load Lines and on Fishing Vessels Safety
(SLF), which is co-ordinating revision of the
Code and Guidelines.
Uniform application of
COLREG Rule 1(e)
The Sub-Committee endorsed the draft
MSC circular providing additional guidance
for uniform application of COLREG Rule 1(e)
and forwarded it to the MSC for approval.
COLREG Rule 1(e) states that “when a
vessel of special construction or purpose
cannot comply fully with the provisions of any
of these rules with respect to number,
position, range or arc of visibility of lights or
shapes, as well as to the disposition and
characteristics of sound-signalling appliances,
such vessel shall comply with such other
provisions in regard to number, position,
range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes,
as well as to the disposition and
characteristics of sound-signalling appliances
as her Government shall have determined to
be the closest possible compliance with these
rules in respect of that vessel.”
Use of the destination-field in
AIS messages
The Sub-Committee endorsed the draft
SN/Circ. on Guidance on the use of
UN/LOCODE in the destination field in AIS
messages. The draft circular proposes use of
the UN/LOCODE in a standardized way in
the AIS destination field, which would
eliminate confusion and allow automatic
processing of the information.
Use of ECDIS to be evaluated
The Sub-Committee agreed to establish a
correspondence group to evaluate the use of
ECDIS and look at possible changes to the
carriage requirements for ECDIS. The group
will submit a report to NAV 51 in July 2005.
The Facilitation Committee approved draft
amendments to the FAL Convention intended to
modernise the Convention to enhance the facilitation
of international maritime traffic and take into
account the revised Kyoto Convention on the
Simplification of Customs Procedures, established
under the auspices of the World Customs
Organization.
The proposed amendments include the following:
• the use of risk management to enhance border
control procedures to facilitate the legitimate
circulation of persons and goods
• a proposed draft Recommended Practice that
public authorities should develop procedures to
use pre-arrival and pre-departure information to
facilitate the processing of information required
by public authorities to expedite release and
clearance of cargo and persons
• a draft Recommended Practice that all
information should be submitted to a single point
to avoid duplication
• encouragement of electronic transmission of
information
• the addition of reference to the International Ship
and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and
SOLAS chapter XI-2 in the Standards and
Recommended Practices which mention security
measures.
If adopted as intended at the next FAL Committee
session, in July 2005, the entry into force date would
be set as 1 January 2007.
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) and the International Organization
for Migration.
The meeting noted that the SOLAS and SAR
amendments relating to persons rescued at sea
(which were adopted in May 2004) would, if
accepted by Member States, place for the first time,
obligations on Contracting Governments to “coordinate
and co-operate” in progressing the matter
so that assisted survivors are disembarked from the
assisting ship and delivered to a place of safety
within a reasonable time.
The meeting reaffirmed the need for the
development of a common approach at the UN interagency
level. It also agreed that IMO had completed
its work in closing the gap identified in the
regulations relating to search and rescue and
delivery to a place of safety. Any further
supplementary guidance would only be required for
the post-rescue phase and was beyond IMO’s remit.
Development of explanatory
manual on FAL Convention
The Committee approved the framework for the
development of a draft explanatory manual on the
FAL Convention. The aim is to adopt the manual in
2006. A correspondence group was established to
develop it.
The Committee agreed a standard
minimum data-set that ships could
expect to be required to transmit
prior to entry into port
Persons rescued at sea
The Committee also approved a proposed FAL
amendment relating to persons rescued at sea, to be
included in a standard in Section 2 - Arrival, stay and
departure of the ship. The proposed amendment
would require public authorities to facilitate the
arrival and departure of ships engaged in the rescue
of persons in distress at sea in order to provide a
place of safety for such persons.
The Committee was informed that a second
meeting of the United Nations inter-agency initiative
relating to the rescue of persons in distress at sea
was held at IMO Headquarters (12 July 2004),
chaired by IMO. It was attended by representatives
of the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of
the Sea (DOALOS) – which on this occasion also
represented the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), the Office of the United Nations
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