The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), meeting for its 28th session

The Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), meeting for its 28th session in London, is expected to adopt key resolutions and amendments relating to the Organization’s mandatory audit scheme, paving the way for the scheme to come into effect by 2016 once amendments to mandatory instruments have entered into force.

The 28th Assembly of IMO will meet in London at IMO Headquarters from 25 November to 4 December 2013. All 170 Member States and three Associate Members are entitled to attend the Assembly, which is IMO’s highest governing body. The intergovernmental organizations with which agreements of co-operation have been concluded and international non-governmental organizations in consultative status with IMO are also invited to attend.

The Assembly normally meets once every two years in regular session. It is responsible for approving the work programme, voting the budget and determining the financial arrangements of the Organization. It also elects the Organization’s 40-Member Council.

Council extraordinary session
The Assembly will be preceded by the twenty-seventh extraordinary session of the Council, on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 November.

IMO Member State audit scheme
The mandatory audit scheme is seen as a key tool for assessing Member States’ performance in meeting their obligations and responsibilities as flag, port and coastal States under the relevant IMO treaties and then offering the necessary assistance, where required, for  them to meet their obligations fully and effectively.

The Assembly is expected to adopt the IMO Instruments Implementation Code (III Code), which provides a global standard to enable States to meet their obligations as flag, port and/or coastal States; the Framework and Procedures for the IMO Member State Audit Scheme; the 2013 non-exhaustive list of obligations under instruments relevant to the III Code; and a resolution on transitional arrangements.

The Assembly is also expected to adopt amendments to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966; the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969; and
the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, as amended, to make the III Code and auditing of its provisions and those of those Conventions mandatory. Following this, the Organization is expected, during 2014, to adopt similar draft amendments (which have already been approved by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) and the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC)) to  the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended; the Protocol of 1988 relating to the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966; the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended; and Annexes I to VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto, as amended, and its 1997 Protocol.

The adoption of the various amendments and their entry into force will form the basis for an institutionalized Audit Scheme.

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