RESOLUTION MSC.135(76)

 (adopted on 12 December 2002)

ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR THE SAFE CARRIAGE OF PACKAGED IRRADIATED NUCLEAR FUEL, PLUTONIUM AND HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES ON BOARD SHIPS (INF CODE)

THE MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE,

RECALLING Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Committee,

NOTING resolution MSC.88(71), by which it adopted the International Code for the Safe Carriage of Packaged Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Wastes on Board Ships (hereinafter referred to as “the INF Code”), which has become mandatory under chapter VII of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”),

 NOTING ALSO article VIII(b) and regulation VII/14.1 of the Convention concerning the procedure for amending the INF Code,

 RECOGNIZING the need to amend the INF Code to align it with the amendments to chapter VII of the Convention adopted by resolution MSC.123(75),

HAVING CONSIDERED, at its seventy-sixth session, amendments to the INF Code proposed and circulated in accordance with article VIII(b)(i) of the Convention,

1.         ADOPTS, in accordance with article VIII(b)(iv) of the Convention, amendments to the INF Code, the text of which is set out in the Annex to the present resolution;

2.         DETERMINES, in accordance with article VIII(b)(vi)(2)(bb) of the Convention, that the amendments shall be deemed to have been accepted on 1 January 2004 unless, prior to that date, more than one third of the Contracting Governments to the Convention or Contracting Governments the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than 50% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant fleet, have notified their objections to the amendments;

3.         INVITES Contracting Governments to note that, in accordance with article VIII(b)(vii)(2) of the Convention, the amendments shall enter into force on 1 July 2004 upon their acceptance in accordance with paragraph 2 above;

4.         REQUESTS the Secretary-General, in conformity with article VIII(b)(v) of the Convention, to transmit certified copies of the present resolution and the text of the amendments contained in the Annex to all Contracting Governments to the Convention;

5.         FURTHER REQUESTS the Secretary-General to transmit copies of this resolution and its Annex to Members of the Organization, which are not Contracting Governments to the Convention.

ANNEX