International Maritime Committee / MMK

The International Maritime Committee is a non-governmental organization that aims to promote by all appropriate means and activities the unification of maritime and commercial law, as well as maritime customs and practices.

In 1897, at the initiative of the Association of International Law, in order to promote the unification of the norms of maritime and commercial law, maritime customs and practices, an international non-governmental organization was founded - the International Maritime Committee (Comité Maritime International) CMI, which dealt with the topics of maritime law. The Organization carried out unification by drafting international agreements, developing uniform norms of national legislation, studying and generalizing customs and practices of their application, encouraging the creation of a national association for the law of the sea in various countries. 48 maritime law associations are members of this organization.

According to the rules of the MMK, only one association in the country (unless the Assembly decides otherwise), if its goals correspond to the goals of the committee, and its members (any individuals and legal entities) are connected in their activities with the sea and trade or are specialists in maritime law and merchant shipping, can become a member of the International Maritime Committee. If there is no national association in the country and if any organization of this country nominates itself as a member of the International Maritime Committee, the Assembly may agree to such membership after it is satisfied that the goals, or one of the goals pursued by this organization, is the unification of maritime and commercial law, as well as maritime customs and practices.

Only individual members of the association, which nominates them for honorary election, can be full members of the MMK. Temporary members are citizens of States that do not have their own associations, admitted to the session of the MMK Assembly without the right to vote. The organs of the International Maritime Committee are the Assembly, the Executive and Administrative Councils, and the President. The Assembly consists of all members of the Committee and members of the Executive Board.

The MMK Charter provides for the formation of subsidiary bodies, subcommittees and working groups. MMK maintains close contacts with other organizations in the field of international maritime law (UNCTAD, UNCITRAL, IOMC, UNIDROIT), has consultative status with IMO, is engaged in the development of norms of private international maritime law.

The International Maritime Committee has prepared more than 30 draft conventions, 16 of which were adopted at international conferences, among them in particular:

• International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules concerning Collisions of Ships, 1910;
• Assistance and rescue at sea (1910);
• Limitations of Shipowners' Liability (1924);
• Seizure and bail of courts (1926);
• Immunity of State courts (1926);
• International Convention on the Liability of Nuclear Ship Operators, 1962;
• Marine Mortgages and Mortgages (1967);
• Athens Convention on the Carriage of Passengers and Their Baggage by Sea, 1974.

What does MMK do:

• Develops draft conventions, international agreements;
• Promotes the formation of national associations of the law of the sea, providing a structured link between them;
• Interacts with relevant international organizations;
• Studies and summarizes the experience and practices of the application of existing conventions.

In recent years, the organization has been developing draft conventions on maritime insurance, reservations on bills of lading, on maritime arbitration, the legal status of terminals, ships in foreign ports, registration of ships, problems of accelerating the ratification of conventions by States.

The organization also publishes collections of international conventions on the law of the sea, documents of the International Maritime Committee and other reference literature.

The headquarters of this organization is located in Antwerp (Belgium). The official website of the organization https://comitemaritime.org.

Associations of International Maritime Law in RUSSIA

The decision to establish a public organization in Russia, the Association of International Maritime Law, was made in 1968 by the supreme leadership of the USSR.
In December 1968, the Founding Meeting of the Association, an independent public organization of lawyers dealing with the problems of maritime law, was held in Moscow. The initiators of the Association were Soviet lawyers and international figures.

In 1969, the Association was admitted to the International Maritime Committee (IMC), an international non–governmental organization that unites maritime law associations from many countries of the world since 1897 and played a significant role in the development of international maritime law at that time.

The members of the Association are specialists of shipping companies, ports, law firms, scientists, teachers and graduate students of universities and research institutes, employees of federal executive authorities of Russia: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Science, Ministry of Defense, Rosrybolovstvo, Ministry of Natural Resources, etc.

During its existence, the Association has firmly taken its place in public and scientific life, is recognized as a community of qualified specialists in the field of maritime law, enjoys well-deserved authority not only in the country but also abroad.

Members of the Association took an active part in the development of very important drafts of legislative and other regulatory legal acts: the Law of the Russian Federation "On the State Border of the Russian Federation", Federal Laws: "On the Continental Shelf of the Russian Federation" in 1995, "On Internal Waters, Territorial Sea and Adjacent Zone of the Russian Federation" in 1998, "On Exclusive Economic Zone of the Russian Federation" 1998, "On Seaports of the Russian Federation and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" 2007; Code of Merchant Shipping of the Russian Federation 1999, Members of the Association also participated in the preparation of comments to these legal acts.Unfortunately, Russia's membership in MMK has been suspended since 2017.

Below is a table of participants of the International Maritime Committee