CIRCULAR LETTER
MSC/Circ.1036

INTERPRETATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CODE FOR APPLICATION OF FIRE TEST PROCEDURES (FTP CODE) AND FIRE TEST PROCEDURES REFERRED TO IN THE CODE

(adopted on 21 May 2002)

1. The Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-fifth session (15 May to 24 May 2002), with a view to ensuring uniform application of the fire test provisions of the FTP Code containing vague wording which is open to diverging interpretations, approved unified interpretations prepared by the Sub-Committee on Fire Protection at its forty-sixth session, as set out in the Annex.

2. Member Governments are invited to use the annexed interpretations as guidance, when applying relevant provisions of the FTP Code for the testing of new materials, tested on or after 1 July 2002 in order to fulfil the requirements of the 1974 SOLAS Convention, and to bring the interpretations to the attention of all parties concerned.

3. Member Governments are also advised to take into account earlier interpretations to the FTP Code and fire test procedures referred to in the Code, as given in circulars MSC/Circ.964 and MSC/Circ.1004.

ANNEX.

INTERPRETATIONS TO THE FTP CODE AND FIRE TEST PROCEDURES REFERRED TO IN THE CODE.

1. Interpretation to the FTP Code.

Paragraph 5.2.4 - Type approval.

Type approval certificates for windows should state which side of the window was exposed to the heating condition during the test.

The certificate should include a reference to optional test(s) such as hose stream test and/or thermo radiation test.