Resolution A.923(22)

MEASURES TO PREVENT THE REGISTRATION OF "PHANTOM" SHIPS

(adopted on 29 November 20010

THE ASSEMBLY,

RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention of the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety and the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,

RECALLING ALSO the advice in paragraph 2.1 of the Annex to resolution A.847(20) on Guidelines to assist flag States in the implementation of IMO instruments and, in particular, the importance of providing the legal basis for general requirements for registries,

NOTING the duties of the flag State under the international law of the sea, including the provisions of article 94 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),

NOTING ALSO the continuing increase in the number of acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships reported to the Maritime Safety Committee,

BEARING IN MIND the Maritime Safety Committee's continuing discussions about appropriate measures for reporting and investigating such incidents and for eliminating the threat of piracy and armed robbery against ships,

BEING DEEPLY CONCERNED that some ships have been registered on the basis of false or inaccurate information ("phantom" ships),

RECOGNIZING the undesirability of the registration, even if accidental, by flag States of "phantom" ships,

BEING MINDFUL OF the need for vigilance throughout the international maritime community and, in particular, in the ancillary financial and logistical sectors,

1. INVITES Governments to review their ship registration procedures to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to prevent the registration of "phantom" ships;