Procedures For Amendments To Ll66

INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION

E IMO

MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE 80th session Agenda item 3

MSC 80/3/6 16 February 2005 Original: ENGLISH

CONSIDERATION AND ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO MANDATORY INSTRUMENTS Procedures for amendments to the 1966 Load Lines Convention Note by the Chairman SUMMARY Executive summary:

The Committee is hereby informed of the unanimous acceptance procedure for the proposed amendments to the 1966 Load Lines Convention, specified in article 29(2) of the Convention

Action to be taken:

Paragraph 10

Related document:

MSC 79/23/Add.1, annex 6

Background 1 The Committee will recall that, at its seventy-ninth session, it adopted the proposed amendments to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966, and approved an associated draft Assembly resolution (MSC 79/23, paragraph 3.101 and MSC 79/23/Add.1, annex 6) for subsequent adoption by the twenty-fourth session of the Assembly in accordance with article 29(3) of the 1966 Load Lines Convention. These amendments constitute modifications to the certificates, issued under the Convention, whereby a new wording regarding the date of completion of survey is included in the certificates. 2 At that time, the Chairman referred to other procedures for amendments specified in article 29 of the 1966 Load Lines Convention and offered to consider the issue in detail and submit appropriate proposals to this session for consideration. 3 In this context, it should be mentioned that article 29 (Amendments) of the 1966 Load Lines Convention specifies that the Convention may be amended, upon the proposal from a Contracting Government, by: .1

amendments by unanimous acceptance (article 29(2) of the Convention);

.2

amendments after consideration in the Organization (article 29(3) of the Convention; and

.3

amendments by a conference (article 29(4) of the Convention). For reasons of economy, this document is printed in a limited number. Delegates are kindly asked to bring their copies to meetings and not to request additional copies.

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4 In view of the fact that the procedure referred to in paragraph 3.2 above has already been applied by MSC 79 when adopting the aforementioned amendments and that the procedure for adoption of an amendment by a conference, referred to in paragraph 3.3 above, would entail arrangements for holding the Conference, this document addresses only the procedure for amendments by unanimous acceptance. Amendment by unanimous acceptance 5 The unanimous acceptance procedure is specified in article 29(2) of the Convention as follows: “(2)

Amendment by unanimous acceptance: (a)

Upon the request of a Contracting Government, any amendment proposed by it to the present Convention shall be communicated by the Organization with a view to unanimous acceptance.

(b)

Any such amendment shall enter into force twelve months after the date of its acceptance by all Contracting Governments unless an earlier date is agreed upon. A Contracting Government which does not communicate its acceptance or rejection of the amendment to the Organization within three years of its first communication by the latter shall be deemed to have accepted the amendment.

(c)

Any proposed amendment shall be deemed to be rejected if it is not accepted under subparagraph (b) within three years after it has been communicated to all Contracting Governments by the Organization”.

6 In this respect, it should be borne in mind that subparagraph (e) of article 29(3) of the Convention (amendment after consideration in the Organization, i.e. adoption by the MSC and the Assembly as referred to in paragraph 3.2 above) states that: “(e)

Nothing in the paragraph shall prevent the Contracting Government which first proposed action under this paragraph on an amendment to the present Convention from taking at any time such alternative action as it deems desirable in accordance with paragraph (2) or (4) of this article.”

7 It follows from the above, that in accordance with article 29(3)(e) of the Convention, one or more Contracting Governments may submit a formal request to the Secretary-General to circulate the aforementioned proposed amendment to all Contracting Governments for unanimous acceptance. In other words, it can be concluded that the procedures specified in articles 29(2) and 29(3) can be applied one after another or applied simultaneously. 8 In view of the above, the following can be considered at the twenty-fourth session of the Assembly: .1

the Assembly adopts the proposed amendments, in accordance with article 29(3) of the Convention as proposed by MSC 79 and if, in the future, the proposed amendments are requested to be circulated for unanimous acceptance in accordance with article 29(2) of the Convention, and are accepted within three years, a circular letter could be issued by the Secretary-General informing

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Contracting Governments that, in view of the entry into force of the amendments, no further action, as invited by the Assembly resolution, is necessary; however, .2

if, during Assembly, a Contracting Government advises of its intention to request, or requests, the Secretary-General to circulate the proposed amendments for unanimous acceptance and there is no State which, at least at that stage, rejects or expresses its intention to reject the amendments, the Assembly may proceed with the adoption of the proposed amendments in accordance with article 29(3) of the Convention as proposed by MSC 79 and, when adopting the resolution, it may include therein a paragraph to the effect that the Assembly resolves that, if the amendments enter into force by the unanimous acceptance, the resolution on the adoption becomes obsolete.

9 In this context, it should be mentioned that MSC 79 adopted amendments to the 1988 LL Protocol similar to the aforementioned amendments (which, as indicated in paragraph 1 above, constitute modifications to the certificates only). Therefore, following the entry into force of the amendments to the 1988 LL Protocol, the load line certificates, as modified, can, in accordance with resolution A.883(21) on Global and uniform implementation of the harmonized system of survey and certification (HSSC), be issued by the Contracting Governments to the 1966 Load Lines Convention, during the period prior to the entry into force of the amendments to the Convention. This is because, as stated in operative paragraph 2(b) of resolution A.883(21), States which are Contracting Governments to the 1966 Load Lines Convention, but not Parties to the 1988 LL Protocol may issue certificates in the form prescribed by the 1988 LL Protocol as modified by annex 2 to the resolution. The resolution also invites port States, whether or not they are Parties to the 1988 LL Protocol, to accept the certificates so issued as equivalent to the certificates issued under the Load Lines Convention in force for those States. Action requested of the Committee 10

The Committee is invited to note the above information and take action as appropriate. __________

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