Maritime experts assess compliance with international rules

Maritime experts assess compliance with international rules

Pacific Island countries often face issues setting up effective systems that ensure ships entitled to fly their national flag comply with international regulations for maritime safety, security and protection of the marine environment.

From 1 January 2016, mandatory audits under the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Member State Audit Scheme (IMSAS) are expected to commence to verify compliance with relevant international maritime conventions and the IMO Instruments Implementation (III) Code, as the audit standard.

A workshop has opened today in Suva, Fiji, organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in collaboration with the IMO and Australian Maritime Safety Authority, to assist those Pacific Island countries currently preparing for their IMO Member Audits to better understand the process, including work that may be required to address audit findings.

“The workshop will prepare maritime administrations in Pacific Island countries to be audited by the IMO and identify potential failure in discharging their obligations and responsibilities as flag, port and coastal states in relation to the IMO Conventions they are party to,” the SPC Deputy Director, Transport, Economic Development Division, Thierry Nervale, said during his opening address.

“The workshop is designed to provide the participating maritime administrations from the Pacific Islands region with advice on the structure and mechanism necessary for enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of a maritime administration in the implementation and enforcement of the provisions of the mandatory IMO instruments and the IMO Instruments Implementation Code,” the IMO’s Head, Member State Audits, Department for Member State Audit and Implementation Support, Tatjana Krilic said.

“The mandatory Scheme is expected to bring many benefits, such as identifying where capacity-building activities (for example the provision of technical assistance by IMO to member states) would have the greatest effect. Targeting of appropriate action to improve performance would be greatly improved. The member states themselves would receive valuable feedback, intended to assist them in improving their own capacity to put the applicable instruments into practice,” she said.

Moreover, the results of the audits could be systematically fed back into the regulatory process at IMO to help make measurable improvements in the effectiveness of the international regulatory framework of shipping.

The workshop runs until Friday.

ENDS

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