The Model Agreement between the Administration and ROs Drafted

At the seventh session of the Sub-Committee on Implementation of IMO Instruments (III 7), held remotely from 12 to 16 July 2021, the draft text of the Model Agreement for the Authorization of Recognized Organizations Acting on Behalf of the Administration was finalized.

In 2016, China, New Zealand and the International Association of Classification Societies suggested that the existing Agreement be updated in line with requirements of the Code for Recognized Organizations (RO Code). This suggestion was accepted to be included into the work plan of the Sub-Committee.

The Agreement was amended as a result of consideration at some sessions and finally was submitted to the 102^nd session of the Maritime Safety Committee where some States opined that the terms “dangerous occurrences” and “accidents” in the draft text were considered to be vague and undefined and, therefore, should be deleted, while the DPRK delegation insisted that there was no need to delete the terms in question as they were used in Part 3 of RO Code as well.

The Committee, having noted that the views on this issue were almost evenly divided, instructed III 7 to further consider the draft text.

The DPRK submitted to III 7 document III 7/15/1 to justify the consistency between the model Agreement and RO Code.

The relevant working group finalized the draft Agreement after considering the proposals from the DPRK and other States.

The draft Agreement will be submitted to the 105^th session of the Maritime Safety Committee and the 78^th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee for approval.