menu

International Maritime Organization / IMO

The International Maritime Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is responsible for measures to improve the safety of international transport and prevent pollution from ships. The organization deals with legal issues, including liability and compensation issues, and also promotes international maritime navigation. 

The rapid development of international trade relations at the beginning of the XIX century showed that activities aimed at improving the safety of maritime navigation should be carried out at the international level, and not by individual countries acting unilaterally without any coordination with other States.

On March 6, 1948, in Geneva, at a conference convened by the United Nations, it was adoptedConvention on the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) (Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization, IMCO).International Maritime Organization

On March 17, 1958, the convention entered into force and the newly created organization began its activities, the organization determined the following important points.

  1. To provide a mechanism for cooperation in the field of practical regulation of technical issues affecting international commercial transport.
  2. To promote and encourage the unification of practicable maximum standards in the field of maritime safety, non-pollution of the sea from ships, efficiency of navigation.
  3. Consider legal and administrative tasks that correspond to the objectives set out in the article.

At the 9th session of the Assembly of the Organization (Resolution A.358 (IX)) the name of the organization was changed because it was assumed that the term "advisory" could be mistakenly interpreted as a limitation of authority or responsibility, respectively, part of the name "intergovernmental" - indirectly, aroused suspicion and distrust.

Based on the above considerations, replacing the name withInternational Maritime OrganizationIt was absolutely necessary to enhance the role of IMO at the international level, in order to assign responsibility for the implementation of various international conventions, the creation of standards, norms related to the preservation of human life and the aquatic environment from intentional or unintentional pollution. Since May 22, 1982, its current name has been in effect. 

The headquarters of the organization is located at 4, Albert Embankment London United Kingdom.

IMO's activities are aimed at the abolition of discriminatory actions affecting international commercial shipping, as well as the adoption of norms (standards) to ensure safety at sea and prevent pollution from ships of the environment, primarily the marine environment. 

In a certain sense, the organization is a forum in which the member States of this organization exchange information, discuss legal, technical and other problems related to navigation, as well as pollution from ships of the environment, primarily the marine environment.

Currently, the International Maritime Organization has 174 member States. The governing body of IMO is the Assembly, which consists of all Member States and usually meets once every two years. 

View the list of member States of the International Maritime Organization Close the list of Member States of the International Maritime Organization

Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh,Barbados, Bahrain, Belize, Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam,Vanuatu, Hungary, Venezuela, Vietnam, Gabon, Haiti, Guyana, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Germany,Honduras, Hong Kong (China), Grenada, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica,Dominican Republic, Egypt, Israel, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iran , Ireland, Iceland, Spain,Italy, Yemen, Cape-Verde, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Qatar, Kenya, Cyprus, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Democratic people's Republic of, Costa Rica, côte d'ivoire, Cuba, Kuwait, Latvia, Liberia,Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mauritania, Madagascar, Macau (China), Malawi,Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Morocco, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Mozambique, Monaco, Mongolia, Myanmar,Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, the United Republic of Tanzania,United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal,Republic of Korea, Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Romania, El Salvador, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Senegal, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St-Kitts and Nevis, Saint-Lucia, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Syrian Arab Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom of great Britain and Northern Ireland United States of America, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan,Suriname, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Philippines, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden, Sri Lanka,Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Jamaica, Japan.

 

IMO has a council that consists of 40 states, including Russia. The States are divided into three large groups: 10 leading maritime States, 10 other States significant in terms of international maritime trade, and 20 maritime States elected to the Council in order to ensure geographical representation of various regions of the world. 

In addition to the Assembly , there are 5 committees within IMO:

  1. Maritime Safety Committee," rel="nofollow" target="_blank" >MSC- KBM);
  2. Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC - MEPC);
  3. Legal Committee (LEG - YURKOM);
  4. Technical Cooperation Committee (CCC);
  5. Committee for the Facilitation of Shipping Formalities (FAL);

and 9 subcommittees (consisting of the MSC or MEPC) and a secretariat headed by the Secretary-General. Since 2015, the representative of the Republic of Korea, Ki Tak Lim, has been elected Secretary-General at the 114th session.

All normative and legal documents prepared in the subcommittees and considered at the sessions of the Committees are considered and adopted, as a rule, at the regular sessions of the Assembly of the Organization. The most serious, strategic decisions can be made by decisions of Diplomatic Conferences organized by IMO.

IMO makes decisions in the form of Resolutions of the Organization, to which, if necessary, various documents can be attached (codes, circular letters, amendments to existing documents - conventions, code, etc.). Taking into account the stipulated conditions and terms of entry into force, such mandatory decisions must be implemented by Administrations (Governments of member countries). Decisions of the IMO Assembly that do not change or supplement the adopted conventions are advisory in nature and can be implemented by national maritime administrations by including decisions (or creating their own decisions based on them) in national legislation.

Activities of the organization

During the ten-year period after the establishment of IMO, one of the most important problems was the threat of marine pollution from ships, especially oil pollution carried on tankers.The relevant international convention was adopted in 1954, and in January 1959 IMO assumed responsibility for the application and promotion of this convention. From the very beginning, IMO's most important goals have been to improve maritime safety and prevent pollution.

International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, SOLAS - SOLAS), is considered the most important of all conventions dealing with maritime safety. The Convention was concluded in 1960, after which IMO directed its attention to such issues as the promotion of international maritime transport (the 1965 Convention on the Facilitation of International Maritime Navigation), the determination of the position of the cargo mark (the 1966 Convention on the Cargo Mark) and the Transport of Dangerous goods, the system of measuring the tonnage of ships was also revised (the International Convention on the measurement of ships in 1969).

On November 1, 1974, a new text of the SOLAS Convention was adopted at the International Conference on the Protection of Human Life at Sea. In 1988, at the International Conference on the Harmonized System of Examination and Registration of Certificates, a Protocol to this Convention was adopted. In 1992, the IMO issued the so-called Consolidated Text of the SOLAS Convention.

Torrey Canyon tanker accidentAlthough safety at sea was and remains the most important task of IMO, in the mid-60s the problem of environmental pollution, primarily marine, began to come to the fore. The increase in the number of oil products transported by sea, as well as the size of ships carrying these oil products, caused particular concern. The scale of the problem was vividly demonstratedaccidentThe Torrey Canyon tanker, which occurred in 1967, when 120,000 tons of oil fell into the sea.

Over the next few years, IMO has taken a number of measures aimed at preventing tanker accidents, as well as minimizing the consequences of these accidents. The organization has also taken up environmental pollution caused by actions such as cleaning oil tanks, as well as dumping waste from engine rooms - by tonnage they cause more harm than pollution due to accidents.

The most important of these measures wasInternational Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78) (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, MARPOL), it was adopted in 1973, and amended by the Protocol of 1978. It covers not only cases of emergency and/or operational pollution of the environment with petroleum products, but also pollution of the sea with liquid chemicals, harmful substances in packaged form, bilge water, garbage and pollution from ships of the air environment.

In 1990, the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Control and Cooperation was also prepared and signed.

In addition, IMO solved the task of creating a system aimed at providing compensation to those who suffered financially as a result of pollution. The corresponding two multilateral agreements (the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage) were adopted in 1969 and 1971, respectively. They simplified and accelerated the procedure for obtaining compensation for pollution.

Both Conventions were revised in 1992 and again in 2000, which increased the limits of compensation payable to victims of pollution. A large number of other international agreements and documents on issues affecting international shipping have also been prepared and are still being prepared under the auspices of IMO.

The huge advances made in communication technology have made it possible to make serious improvements in the maritime disaster rescue system. In the 1970s, the global disaster search and rescue system was put into operation. At the same time, the International Mobile Satellite Organization (INMARSAT -INMARSAT) was established, which seriously improved the conditions for transmitting radio and other messages from and to ships at sea.

In 1978, IMO established the World Sea Day in order to draw attention to the problem of maritime safety and the conservation of marine biological resources.

In 1992, the stages of implementation of the Global Maritime Disaster and Safety Communication System (GMDSS) were defined(Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, GMDSS). Since February 1999, the GMDSS has been fully put into operation and now a ship in distress anywhere in the world can receive assistance, even if the ship's crew does not have time to radio a signal for help, since the corresponding message will be transmitted automatically.

Other measures developed by IMO related to the safety of containers, bulk cargo, tankers intended for the transportation of liquefied gas, as well as other types of vessels. 

Special attention was paid to the standards of training of crew members, including the adoption of a special International Convention on the Training and Certification of Seafarers and Watchkeeping (International Convention for the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping, STCW - STCW), which entered into force on April 28, 1984. In 1995, the STCW Convention was significantly revised. Significant changes to the content of the STCW Convention were made later, including in 2010 at a conference in Manila (Philippines).

It is currently recommended to refer to the Convention as "STCW as amended" (STCW as amended).
In 1983, IMO founded the World Maritime University in Malmo (Sweden), which provides advanced training for managers, teachers and other specialists in the field of shipping.

In 1989, the IMO International Institute of Maritime Law was established in Valletta (Malta), which trains lawyers in the field of international maritime law. At the same time, the International Maritime Academy was founded in Trieste (Italy), which conducts specialized short-term courses in various maritime disciplines. 

Over the past years, the following main recommendations, codes and similar documents have been adopted:

  • The International Code for the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Sea (IMDG Code) in its original version was adopted in 1965; it became binding in accordance with the amendments to the SOLAS Convention adopted in 2002;
  • The Code of Safe Practice for the Transportation of Bulk Cargo (NG Code) of 1965;
  • The International Code for the Carriage of Bulk Cargo by Sea (ICMPNG) of 2008, became binding in accordance with the amendments to the SOLAS Convention adopted in 2008;
  • International Code of Signals (all functions related to this document were transferred to the Organization in 1965);
  • The 1971 Code of Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous Chemical Goods in Bulk (MCC);
  • Code of Safe Practice for Ships carrying Decked Timber Cargo, 1973;
  • Code of Safety of Fishermen and Fishing Vessels of 1974;
  • Code of Construction and Equipment of Ships carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk, 1975;
  • The 1977 Ship Safety Code with Dynamic Maintenance Principles;
  • Code of Construction and Equipment of Floating Drilling Rigs (PBU Code) of 1979;
  • The 1981 Ship Noise Levels Code;
  • Nuclear Merchant Ship Safety Code of 1981;
  • Code on the Safety of Special Purpose Vessels of 1983;0
  • The International Code on Gas Carriers (ICG) of 1983, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS Convention;
  • The International Chemical Carrier Code of 1983, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS and MARPOL Conventions;
  • Code on the Safety of Diving Complexes of 1983;
  • The International Code for the Safe Transportation of Grain in Bulk of 1991, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS Convention;
  • The International Safety Management Code (ISM Code) of 1993, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS Convention;
  • The International Code of Safety of High-Speed Vessels (Code of the Armed Forces) of 1994 and 2000, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS Convention;
  • The International Code of Life-Saving Means (CCC) of 1996, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS Convention;
  • The International Code on the Application of Fire Resistance Testing Methods (MIO Code) of 1996, became binding in accordance with the SOLAS Convention;
  • The Technical Code for the Control of Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides from Marine Diesel Engines (NOX Technical Code) of 1997, became binding in accordance with the MARPOL Convention.