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International Maritime Organization / IMO

The International Maritime Organization or IMO (International Maritime Organization, IMO) is an international intergovernmental organization, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations, serves as an apparatus for cooperation and information exchange on technical issues related to international merchant shipping.

The rapid development of international trade relations at the beginning of the 19th century contributed to the ratification of a huge number of interstate agreements relating to the safety of navigation. Various agreements have been adopted on the prevention of collisions of ships, the measurement of ships,

By the end of the 19th century, a proposal was made to start creating a permanent industry association to consider the problems of operational safety of navigation. In 1888, the Scandinavian countries put forward a proposal to start the creation of the International Maritime Bureau in order to solve the problems of seaworthiness of a technical nature.

The result was the founding of the International Maritime Committee in 1897, which dealt with maritime law topics. The Committee adopted several conventions (commonly known as "Brussels"), later taken as the basis of modern ones.

In Geneva, on March 6, 1948, at a conference convened by the United Nations, it was adoptedConvention on the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO)).

It was the first international body in history dedicated exclusively to maritime affairs. On March 17, 1958, the convention entered into force and the newly created organization began its activities, the organization determined the following important points.

1. Provide a mechanism for cooperation in the field of practical regulation of technical issues affecting international commercial transport.

2. Facilitate and encourage the unification of practically feasible maximum standards in the field of maritime safety, non-pollution of the sea from ships, and the efficiency of navigation.

3. Consider legal and administrative tasks corresponding to the goals enshrined in the article.

At the 9th session of the Assembly of the organization (Resolution A.358 (IX)) its name was changed as it was assumed that the term "consultative" could be erroneously interpreted as a limitation of powers or responsibilities, respectively, the part of the name "intergovernmental" - indirectly, aroused suspicion and mistrust.

Based on the above considerations, replacing the name withInternational Maritime Organizationwas absolutely necessary to increase the role of IMO at the international level, in order to lay responsibility for the implementation of various international conventions, the creation of standards, norms related to the preservation of human life and the aquatic environment from intentional or unintentional pollution.

Since May 22, 1982, its current name has been in effect.International Maritime Organization or IMO. The organization is headquartered in London.

The activities of the IMO are aimed at the abolition of discriminatory actions affecting international merchant shipping, as well as the adoption of norms (standards) to ensure safety at sea and prevent pollution from ships of the environment, primarily the marine environment.

In a certain sense, the organization is a forum in which the member states of this organization exchange information, discuss legal, technical and other problems related to shipping, as well as environmental pollution from ships, primarily the marine environment.

As of 2016, the IMO has 171 member states and 3 associate members (Faroe Islands, Hong Kong, Macau). The supreme body of the organization is the Assembly of Member States. Assembly sessions are held every 2 years.

Member States of the International Maritime Organization

Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bahrain, Belize, Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Vanuatu, Hungary , Venezuela, Vietnam, Gabon, Haiti, Guyana, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Germany, Honduras, Hong Kong (China), Grenada, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic , Egypt, Israel, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Yemen, Cape Verde, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Qatar, Kenya, Cyprus, China, Columbia, Comoros, Congo, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Kuwait, Latvia, Liberia, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mauritania, Madagascar, Macau (China), Malawi, Malaysia , Maldives, Malta, Morocco, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Mozambique, Monaque o Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, United Republic of Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea , Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Romania, El Salvador, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Senegal, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Syrian Arab Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Faroe Islands Fiji, Philippines, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Chile, Switzerland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Jamaica, Japan.

There is also the IMO Council, which consists of 40 states, including Russia. The states are divided into three large groups: 10 leading maritime states, 10 other states significant in terms of international maritime trade, and 20 maritime states elected to the Council in order to ensure the geographical representation of various regions of the world. In addition to the Assembly, there are 5 committees within the IMO:

Maritime Safety Committee (MSC - KBM);
Committee for the Protection of the Marine Environment (Marine Environment Protection Committee, MEPC - MEPC);
Legal Committee (LEG - YURKOM);
Technical Cooperation Committee (TCC);
the Committee for the Facilitation of Navigation (FAL);

and 9 sub-committees (under MSC or MEPC) and a secretariat headed by the Secretary General. Since 2012, the representative of Japan, Koji Sekimizu, has been elected Secretary General.

All normative and legal documents prepared in the subcommittees and considered at the sessions of the committees are considered and adopted, as a rule, at the regular sessions of the Assembly of the Organization. The most serious, strategic decisions can be taken by the decisions of the Diplomatic Conferences organized by the IMO.

The IMO takes decisions in the form of Resolutions of the Organization, to which, if necessary, various documents (codes, circular letters, amendments to existing documents - conventions, codes, etc.) can be attached. Subject to the stipulated conditions and terms of entry into force, such binding decisions should be implemented by the Administrations (Governments of the Member States). Decisions of the IMO Assembly that do not change or supplement the adopted conventions are advisory in nature and can be implemented by national maritime administrations by incorporating decisions (or creating their own decisions based on them) in national legislation.

Organization's activities

IMO's first task was to adopt a new versionInternational Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the most important of all conventions dealing with maritime safety. The Convention was concluded in 1960, after which the IMO turned its attention to such issues as the facilitation of international maritime transport (Convention to Facilitate International Maritime Navigation, 1965), determination of the position of the load line (Load Line Convention, 1966) and the transport of dangerous goods, was also the system for measuring the tonnage of ships has been revised (International Convention on the Measurement of Ships, 1969).

On November 1, 1974, at the International Conference on the Safety of Life at Sea, a new text of the SOLAS Convention was adopted. In 1988, at the International Conference on the Harmonized System of Inspection and Licensing, a Protocol to this Convention was adopted. In 1992, the IMO published the so-called Consolidated Text of the SOLAS Convention.

Although maritime safety has been and remains the most important task of the IMO, in the mid-60s, the problem of environmental pollution, primarily marine, began to come to the fore. The growth in the amount of oil products transported by sea, as well as the size of the ships carrying these oil products, was of particular concern. The scale of the problem was demonstrated by the accident of the Torrey Canyon tanker in 1967, when 120,000 tons of oil fell into the sea.

Over the next few years, the IMO adopted a series of measures aimed at preventing tanker accidents, as well as minimizing the consequences of these accidents. The organization has also taken on environmental pollution caused by activities such as cleaning oil tanks, as well as the dumping of machinery space waste, which, by tonnage, causes more damage than pollution from accidents.

The most important of these measures wasInternational Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), it was adopted in 1973 and modified by the 1978 Protocol. It covers not only cases of accidental and/or operational pollution of the environment by oil products, but also pollution of the sea by liquid chemicals, harmful substances in packaged form, bilge water, garbage and air pollution from ships.

In 1990, the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Control and Cooperation was also prepared and signed.

In addition, the IMO faced the challenge of creating a system aimed at providing compensation to those who suffered materially as a result of pollution. The respective two multilateral agreements (the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage) were adopted in 1969 and 1971, respectively. They simplified and accelerated the procedure for obtaining compensation for pollution.

Both Conventions were revised in 1992 and again in 2000 to increase the limits of compensation payable to pollution victims. Under the auspices of the IMO, a large number of other international agreements and documents on issues affecting international shipping have also been prepared and continue to be prepared.

The tremendous advances made in communication technology have made it possible to make major improvements in the maritime distress rescue system. In the 1970s, a global system for search and rescue in distress was put into operation. At the same time, the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) was created, which seriously improved the conditions for transmitting radio and other messages from and to ships at sea.

In 1978, the IMO established World Maritime Day to draw attention to the issue of maritime safety and the conservation of marine biological resources.

In 1992, the stages for the implementation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) were defined. Since February 1999, the GMDSS has been fully put into operation and now a ship in distress anywhere in the world can receive assistance, even if the ship's crew does not have time to transmit a signal for help by radio, since the corresponding message will be transmitted automatically.

Other measures developed by the IMO concerned the security of containers, bulk cargoes, LPG tankers and other types of ships.

Special attention was paid to crew training standards, including the adoption of a special International Convention for the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping, STCW, which entered into force on April 28, 1984. In 1995, the STCW Convention was significantly revised. Significant changes to the content of the STCW Convention were made later, including in 2010 at a conference in Manila (Philippines).

It is currently recommended to refer to the Convention as "STCW as amended" (STCW as amended).
In 1983, IMO in Malmö (Sweden) founded the World Maritime University, which provides advanced training for managers, teachers and other professionals in the field of shipping.

In 1989, the IMO International Institute of the Law of the Sea was established in Valletta (Malta), which trains lawyers in the field of international maritime law. At the same time, the International Maritime Academy was founded in Trieste (Italy), conducting specialized short-term courses in various maritime disciplines.