Circular Letter
MSC-MEPC.2/Circ.2

GENERAL MATTERS IMO REQUIREMENTS ON CARRIAGE OF PUBLICATIONS ON BOARD SHIPS

(1 June 2006)

1. The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-first session (10 to 19 May 2006), and the Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its fifty-third session (18 to 22 July 2005), in order to give guidance on the carriage of publications on board ships, approved the IMO requirements on carriage of publications on board ships as set out in the annex.

2. The Marine Environment Protection Committee and the Maritime Safety Committee will review and update, where necessary, the list of publications contained in the appendix to the annex.

3. Member Governments are invited to bring this circular to the attention of port State Control officers, Companies and audit teams according to the ISM Code, organizations performing the ISM Code certification, ship operators and all other parties concerned.

Annex.

IMO REQUIREMENTS ON CARRIAGE OF PUBLICATIONS ON BOARD SHIPS

1. The main purpose of this circular is to provide guidance in a concise form to Administrations, shipowners/operators, port State control officers (PSCOs), companies and audit teams according to the ISM Code and organizations performing the ISM Code certification of IMO requirements on carriage of publications. The publications explicitly required by IMO instruments to be carried on board ships are listed in the appendix.

2. IMO instruments such as the SOLAS, MARPOL, LL, COLREG and STCW Conventions deal with many operational aspects, inter alia, navigational responsibilities, safety-related training/drills on board, safe cargo handling, oil spill prevention, collision avoidance activities and watchkeeping standards. Therefore, these publications, although not expressly required by IMO instruments, may need to be carried on board in order to improve the crew’s knowledge and to enhance the implementation of IMO instruments. No deficiency or non-conformity should be filed by port State control authorities and/or ISM auditors against ships not carrying such publications on board unless otherwise required by the ship’s Safety Management System (SMS) manual.

3. In circumstances where copies of national regulations incorporating the provisions of the required instruments are provided on board, relevant publications need not be carried. Similarly, nothing in the IMO requirements preclude ships from carrying publications required by IMO instruments and published by Administrations.

4. The publications may be carried in the form of electronic media such as CD-ROM in lieu of hard copies. Acceptable publications in electronic form should be those issued by IMO or an Administration or a body authorized by an Administration to ensure correctness of their contents and to safeguard against illegal copying. A medium could either contain a publication or as many publications as possible. In any case, the media should be treated in accordance with the document control procedures in the ship’s SMS including procedures for timely update.

5. Notwithstanding paragraph 4 above, the publications for emergency use, such as the International Code of Signals and the IAMSAR Manual should always be available in the form of hard copies, bearing in mind that such publications need to be readily available for use in case of emergency without being restricted to a specific place and by the availability of a computer.

Appendix.

Publications required to be carried on board ships*