MSC.1/Circ.1481
11 June 2014
GUIDANCE
ON ENTRY INTO FORCE OF AMENDMENTS TO THE 1974 SOLAS CONVENTION AND RELATED
MANDATORY INSTRUMENTS
1 The Maritime
Safety Committee (the Committee), at its ninety-third session (14 to 23 May
2014), reiterating the decision of MSC 59 related to the four-year cycle for
the entry into force of amendments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention, reinstated the
four-year cycle and, in this respect, approved the Guidance on entry into
force of amendments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention and related mandatory
instruments, as set out in the annex.
2 Members are
invited to take into account the annexed Guidance when considering the work
arrangements of the Committee and its subsidiary bodies and when deciding on
the entry-into-force date of amendments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention and
related mandatory instruments.
ANNEX
GUIDANCE ON ENTRY INTO FORCE OF AMENDMENTS TO THE 1974 SOLAS
CONVENTION AND RELATED MANDATORY INSTRUMENTS
1 Introduction
1.1 The Committee, at
its ninety-second session, recalled that the four-year cycle for the entry into
force of amendments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention had been agreed in the past by
MSC 59 (MSC 59/33, paragraphs 26.1 to 26.7) allowing shorter periods under
exceptional circumstances if, on the basis of experience, it was deemed
necessary to do so in order to rectify a mistake or for any other compelling
reason. The Committee noted, however, that this practice had been discontinued
during recent years.
1.2 The Committee, at
its ninety-third session, noting the work done intersessionally in relation to
the process of amending the SOLAS Convention and related mandatory instruments,
approved the present Guidance on entry into force of amendments to
the 1974 SOLAS Convention and related mandatory instruments (the Guidance).
1.3 The main objective
of this Guidance is the implementation of a four-year cycle for the entry into
force of amendments to the 1974 SOLAS Convention and related mandatory
instruments, as described below.
2 Timeline for implementation
2.1 The Committee
agreed that the first four-year cycle would commence on 1 January 2016 with a
corresponding entry-into-force date of 1 January 2020. For the first four-year
cycle, amendments after 1 July 2018 not adopted under conditions of exceptional
circumstance, as described in paragraph 4.1 below, would enter into force not
earlier than 1 January 2024.
2.2 Any amendment
adopted in 2014 or 2015 would enter into force on a date as may be agreed by
the Committee.
3 Four-year cycle
of entry into force
3.1 Amendments to the
1974 SOLAS Convention, other than amendments to an article of the Convention or
to chapter I of the annex to the Convention, should be developed bearing in
mind a pre-defined four-year entry-into-force interval. Amendments outside this
period should only be allowed under exceptional circumstances, as described in
paragraph 4.1 below.
3.2 At the adoption
stage, the Committee should agree on the date of entry into force of the
amendments, taking into account the four-year cycle for entry into force, as
described in paragraph 2.1 above. In doing so, the provisions of article
VIII(b)(vi)(2) of the Convention related to the